Hello there. Sorry it took a little while before updating. Thank you all for reading! The next chapter is on its way!
The bell rang, cutting their conversation short. Myra hurried off, but Erik lingered. He would still get to class on time, but he preferred to wait until the halls were mostly clear. He noticed Myra look back at him once before continuing on her way. "What a strange girl." he thought.
After a moment or two, he moved to throw away his food. Power-walking to science, he found his way blocked by two abnormally large and muscular boys.
"Where do you think you're going?" one asked, with a menacing look.
Erik didn't speak, only tried to slip past them. Using their combined mass, the two thugs blocked any small crack he could try to slide through.
"Why do you wear that mask?" the other said, clumsily making a grab for it. Erik ducked out of the way easily. When the boy had made a grab for his mask, he took a step forward. Using this chance, Erik slid past the hooligans. He ran off quickly and silently, the two boys lumbering barbarically behind him.
He almost sprinted the rest of the way, arriving somewhat out of breath but on time. Taking his signature seat in the far corner, he regained his composure with deep controlled breaths. He was far too used to this sort of harassment to be phased much by the encounter. It had started already.
The day continued with no more encounters from the two boys, but Myra was always in his mind. She was the first human to not cringe or laugh cruelly in his presence. Although their meeting had been short, he knew he would remember it always.
At least the teachers seemed to respect his solitude, they didn't call on him at all. The final bell rang and Erik went to sit on the low wall near the street to wait for his mother. He wasn't sitting for long before Myra came up to him. She seemed to have been running. Dropping her bag on the wall next to him, she caught her breath.
"Hey. How are you?" she asked. "Why do you continue to associate with someone like me?" he thought, with a mixture of aggravation and curiosity.
"Fine." He didn't look at her, still unsure how to act toward other humans. "How are you?" "That's the polite answer, right?" he thought, unsurely.
"Fine. So where do you live?" she asked. Erik paused, unsure how to answer. He pondered his reply. "Can I really tell her where I live? It's so . . ." He opened his mouth to speak, but a loud voice interrupted him.
"Myra!" It sounded like her mother, or perhaps her nanny, who had come to pick her up. She winced at the call. "I wonder if they don't get along well." Erik thought. Myra ran off in the direction of the voice, waving cheerily to him.
Erik saw Myra's maternal figure look disdainfully at him before turning to Myra. Before driving off, he saw the guardian start interrogating her.
It wasn't long before his own mother showed up. The small car passed the entryway and stopped a little up the street. Erik walked up to where it had stopped and got in. "She's still ashamed." he thought darkly.
They rode in silence all the way. The two rarely talked anyway. He was used to it by now. They pulled up to a once-grand house.
The perimeter was surrounded by low hedges that had once been square but were now growing, unrestrained. The house itself was rather large, surrounded by a spacious overgrown lawn. The old brick face had years' worth of tarnish on it and all the windows were protected by iron bars. It had many rooms, but most were rarely used and merely collecting dust. The old manor sat in a once-grand neighborhood with all the other once-grand houses.
Erik carried his black tattered backpack up, up, up to the very top of the stairs. Getting to one of the rooms, he pulled a ladder down from a small hatch in the ceiling. He climbed up the ladder and pulled the string on the single light bulb that illuminated the attic. A poorly constructed wooden desk and a old rickety chair sat in the corner. An old bedframe was covered with a dirty moth-eaten mattress, a thinning blanket and a small pillow. Some dim light shone though a boarded up window. This small space was his room.
He was forced to live up in the attic as punishment. His mother believed he would never become anything important. She knew he would never get a job, and therefore never be an asset to the family. His punishment for this was to live apart from her, in this little attic.
Dropping his bag on the mattress, he took out his books. Taking out an old stub of a pencil with a useless black eraser from a small drawer in the desk, he began his work.. Sitting on the little rickety wooden chair, he found himself staring off into space. In spite of himself, he couldn't get his thoughts off Myra. Turning back to his homework, he attempted to make his mind focus on something else.
The light flickered for a moment before going out. In the distance he heard thunder roll. Feeling around in the darkness, he took a candle and matches out from under his bed. Lighting the candle, he turned back to his work. There was a great clap of thunder, and the downpour started. Great heavy drops pounded on the roof with relentless vigor.
Then he heard the rhythmic drip, drip of water coming through the ceiling like Chinese water torture. Groaning, he called downstairs through the trap door in the floor.
"Mom! There's a leak!"
"Then get a pot!" she shouted up.
Sighing, he went downstairs to get a container to hold the water. He returned in a moment with a small iron saucepan. He placed it underneath the leak and turned back to his homework.
After only writing two sentences of his essay, he found himself staring off into space again, thinking of Myra.
"I wonder how she's doing." he thought, resting his head on his palm. "I wonder what she's like. Actually, I hope I see her again tomorrow." Coming out of his revere, he blinked at his previous thought. He had never desired other human company before. "I hope we become friends."
"Friends." He said the word out loud, working his tongue around it. Erik liked the sound of that word. "Friends." he thought, inwardly smiling as he turned back to his essay. "This might not be such a bad year after all."
