"Taaaaaaaavroooooooos."
I sighed inwardly at the voice that called me.
"Or should I say Torasnore. Seriously why are you so lame?"
I could feel a frown forming on my lips. My friends had been planning a trip to the local bowling alley which I had just told them I would be bowing out of. Bowling isn't really something you can do when you're stuck in a wheelchair.
"Uh… sorry Vriska, I didn't mean to um upset you."
"Ugh. Grow a backbone already. Jeez. Lets go befosnore puts me to sleep."
I watched them go, a handful of my friends, leaving me behind as usual. It was fine, I was used to being alone. It hadn't been like this when I was younger but the wheels that moved me also bound me. No one wanted to spend time with the boring crippled kid anymore. The next sigh I muttered was out loud. Turning my chair to head for home I spotted another of my friends with one of her acquaintances. She was talking animatedly but his dark glasses seemed to be pointed in my direction. Something about his grim expression sent a shiver down my spine. He was always unnerving.
The wind picked up and the strange boy turned away.
I didn't go home. I wasn't looking forward to the dark, empty room full of old wounds and reminders. There breezes were stronger here, tugging my unstyled mohawk this way and that. The school's elevator went up to roof, it was my favourite place. The only way up here was to have an elevator key. From up here I could see the bowling alley I would never go to. Four stories up, this was higher than the fall that had taken my legs from me. Even now I could still hear Virska's voice telling me to fly as her little girl hands pushed me off the balcony. Funny, the distance had scared me so much then. Right now it seemed so inviting.
My chair bumped the edge, my useless feet dangled over the void.
"What do you think you're doing."
It wasn't a question. I didn't recognize the voice, deep and surly. Hands grabbed the handles on the back of my wheelchair, pulling me back with so much force that I slipped off of the seat. Sprawled across the rooftop, inches from the void I had been staring into.
"Sorry." A large hand came into view, then another pulling me off the ground as if I weighed nothing.
"Its uh, okay." I could feel my cheeks go hot as he placed me back in my damned chair. The strange boy still worn his dark glasses but he faced away from me and I could see his eyebrows knit together. We sat in uncomfortable silence before I realized that he was still waiting for me to offer up an explanation. "I was uh, just, you know, looking."
It was a weak excuse. We both knew it.
"Looking." The word fell flat. Its echoes died out and those large hand returned to handlebars. This time the movement was smooth, turning me away from my planned fate and guiding me back to the small box that brought me up here. "Next time you go looking bring a friend." The box felt even smaller than before, the companion took up more space than I.
"Uh, okay."
I was wheeled to the front entrance, out into the slowly setting sun. At the sidewalk I felt the light weight upon the back of my seat lift. He stood beside me, gaze out on the empty road before us. Still contemplative he requested my cell phone. Maybe requested wasn't the right word, demanded was closer to the tone he used. I handed it over, watching him from the corner of my eye, his shoulder length hair falling over his cheeks. He handed it back after a moment of fast moving fingers walking away without another word. I stared at the phone in my lap, face flushed. My contacts were open a new number imputed. I stared at the name.
Equius.
That night my phone buzzed with a text from an unexpected source.
Equius: D - I know they give you a hard time and call you weak
Equius: D - Your friends I mean
Equius: D - But I wanted to tell you that I think
Equius: D - You might be one of the STRONGEST people I know
Summer was here. I hate the summer. It was hard enough convincing my friends to spend time with me during the school year but in the summer everyone had better things to do then spend their time with their wheelchair bound friend. Most of them spent the summer running various LARPing campaigns, something I couldn't do anymore even if I wanted too. When I was much younger my summers were spent at Nepeta's farm, their family had a small stable. I loved to ride. Something else I could never do again. Even she was busy in the summer, helping out with the animals. All I had were books and stories.
Doubtless to say when my phone buzzed one afternoon with a fresh text message I was surprised.
Nepeta: :33 *Nepeta bounces over to say hello*
Tavros: uH, i SAY HELLO BACK, aND UH, wONDER HOW i CAN HELP YOU
Nepeta: :33 H33H33 well, I just wanted to ask if you're doing anything tomewrow!
Tavros: nO, i DON'T HAVE ANY PLANS, uH EVER
Nepeta: :33 Purrfect! Do you still live in that appurrtment complex near the school?
Travos: yES
Nepeta: :33 Even better! Be outside tomewrow around noon then okay?
Travos: uH OKAY BUT, wHY?
Nepeta: :33 Its a secret! :33
It was more than strange but it stirred something inside me. I found myself looking forward to the next day. That startled me more than the text message. How long had it been since I had looked forward to anything? Since the first day of my confinement to this chair I had started to die inside. Was this what it had been like to live? With the odd text on my mind I found my usual refuges within the pages of my books impossible to visit, instead time crawled by as the sun started to set.
By the time the elevator took me down to the lobby I was already regretting my decision. Surprises had never been something I enjoyed, I disliked them even more these days. When I rolled myself onto the sidewalk I wasn't certain that I wouldn't throw up the small breakfast I'd had. I was hunting for my keys to go back in when it sounded like a car pulled up to the curb. I froze, back facing whoever had just exited the car.
"Tavros."
My name was called by a voice I had not heard since that fateful day. I'd been waiting to hear it, I hadn't realized. My wheels squeaked as I turned back around. He was just as large and intimidating as I remembered. What was he doing here.
"Are you ready to go?" He opened the car's backseat door as he asked, expression unreadable behind dark glass.
"Uh, I guess." I wheeled myself over to where he stood waiting, more confused than I had been before. He was friends with Nepeta, perhaps she had asked him for help in transporting me? But then why had she not said as much the day before. I tried not to let my worry show on my face though I knew my nerves had furrowed my brow. The silence only strained them further. At the edge of the curb I stared into the car, uncertain if I was really meant to get it. Lost in thought a thud upon the handles behind me brought me back to the present. The hands held my wheelchair steady as I pulled myself into the cool car interior.
I was blushing, I could feel it. Normally my friends would have insisted they lift me onto the seat rather than let me do it myself. Did they not realize that in the solitude of my home I was left to do such things alone? The confidence that I could handle the simple task made my stomach flutter from something other than nerves. They returned once more when the silence settled in again. Equius sat in the front of the car, his straight dark hair acting as a curtain between us. Even his driver was quiet for the duration of the trip. I stared at the scenery passing me by, wondering where we were going. Nepeta's family's farm was on the other side of town from here.
I balked against the seat when we turned into one of the ritzier houses in town. I'd never been this way before, my family could barely afford the apartment and medical bills in the dangerous neighbourhood. I didn't know why I was surprised, I had known Equius had come from a better off family, everyone had said so, I just hadn't been expecting to be a guest at his house. With the car stopped my silent host brought my chair out of the truck where he had stowed it, holding it in place once more for me while I dragged my useless legs out of the car. The house was big, with sweeping stairs leading up to the main door. About to point out the problem with that I noticed a ramp, hidden artfully behind the front garden bushes. Despite it being in hiding the concrete looked new. I wondered to myself if it had been newly installed though why he would need a ramp here I had no idea.
Inside was just as grand and a lot less friendly for my chair. The sullen boy mumbled an apology as he hoisted myself and the chair down the stairs. It seemed nearly effortless for him. I was jealous of his strength, something I would never possess again, at least not in a full bodied sense. The room he deposited me in was brightly lit and littered with metal and wire. He left me by the door to rummage though what looked to be a multilevel toolbox. The sounds of shifting metal filled the room for a moment before he turned to stare at me though those ever present lenses.
"Remove your pants."
My eyes went wide as I struggled for words.
"Uh, what?"
His eyebrows knit together and he looked puzzled.
"Did Nepeta not tell you what we are doing?"
"N-no." My words were a little more than a squeak, my hair whipping wildly about as I shook my head. This only made his frown deepen.
"I needed something to occupy my time this summer. Nepeta and I were thinking that you could assist in that." My face was just as confused as before. "I wanted to see if I could create something to assist with your legs."
