I woke up the next day feeling slightly more alive. Everything over the past few days had been mentally and physically exhausting. Sorting out my sleep schedule seemed to help though. Sleep was always good.
My muscles groaned in protest as I stretched my arms above my head and a yawn pulled at the edges of my mouth. My phone flashed on the table next to me and I picked it up reflexively. After barely a second of scrolling, I realised that I hadn't spoken to Anika since Friday. Shit, she's gonna be so mad. There were a plethora of messages asking how I was that then got more panicked as time went on.
Oh god, I need to call her.
But should I tell her everything? I didn't even know if she would believe me. Though, if I looked convinced enough Anika would probably come around. We could trust each other.
Some evidence wouldn't be amiss though. Something that might help convince her. There was Kili's sword, that could help. And maybe-
-Oh wait. I had even better proof. I filmed the whole thing when I was scared we would be abducted by aliens.
I scrolled down to the most recent videos and there it was. Bright and blinding. Kili fell out and then followed the warg. That's when I must have dropped my phone because the screen went black.
Watching the video sent a chill through me. I can't believe that actually happened. Strangely though, the video didn't pick up any of the weird noises that came from the portal. None of the singing or voices that called out and seemed to penetrate deep into your bones. Instead, it only picked up the general sounds of the forest.
As well as the screaming and snarling of course. They were still very prominent.
I shook my head. Nope. Not dealing with that today. Steeling myself, I held up the phone and dialled Anika's number. This was worth a phone call rather than a text. She picked pretty much straight away.
"Where have you been? I thought you were dead!" Anika's concerned voice rang down the phone "I was so close to calling the police, you don't even know."
"I'm so sorry Anika," I said, rubbing a hand down my face. "So much shit happened that I haven't really had much time to pick up my phone."
"Shit? What kind of shit? Are you okay?"
"I don't even know where to start," I rubbed the bridge of my nose.
"Put me on video messenger. I wanna see you," she implored.
After fiddling with apps for a minute, Anika's face finally filled up the screen. Her eyes were wide and she was biting her lower lip.
"Heeey babe" I waved.
"Don't heeey me, tell me what's wrong?" she interrupted.
I swapped hands with my phone so I could lift up the injured one. The bandage covered nearly my whole forearm and it would probably be a good place to start. Angling my phone I made it so my arm was in full view.
"Well, this happened," I said, waving my arm about.
"Jesus, how did you do that?" Anika sucked air through her teeth "You didn't fall down a mountain did you?"
"Not quite," I shook my head. "I would have preferred If I did, I think. No, this was caused by a wild animal."
"An animal? You don't have rabies right? How did that even happen? Did you anger a goat or something?" Her questions came so fast I almost didn't catch them all.
"No I didn't anger a goat," I said, slightly affronted. "More like a wolf-thing."
Anika's eyebrows drew together. "A wolf? Why the fuck was there a wolf, we live in England?"
I realised then that I didn't really want to do this over the phone. It would be a lot easier face-to-face. The real face-to-face, not just video calling.
"Is there any way you could come over? I feel like it would be a lot better if we could do this in person."
"Uh, I've got lectures until 1 so I'll only be able to come around after that," said Anika "Are you really gonna leave me on edge all day? I won't be able to concentrate. I need the deets"
"You'll get them all don't worry. I love yooou." I said
"Love you too, don't get eaten before I get there," She said, pointing her finger at me
"I won't. I promise".
We both waved goodbye and I put my phone down. I inhaled deeply through my nose and exhaled out of my mouth, puffing out my cheeks. Hopefully, she will take the news well and we can all live happily ever after.
I left my room and I saw that Kili was still asleep. I say saw. Really, I heard him snoring through the door. The living room was empty when I made it down the stairs. So was the kitchen. I looked around, confused. Mum should be here. Her bedroom door had been left open when I walked past. When I peered through the window, I saw the sun shining on the back garden. That's when I saw the light catch on a blonde head. Oh, there she is. She sat on a rattan seat, facing away from the house. Though I had no idea why she would be outside.
I made my way out of the back door towards her. The grass was slightly damp as it brushed my exposed ankles. I was about to announce my presence when the words died in my mouth.
Mum was just staring, hardly blinking. She looked as if she hadn't even heard me approach. Her mouth was set in a thin line and her eyes held the definitive shine of unshed tears. I froze, concerned and uncertain.
We hadn't really had a chance to talk about what had happened. The way mum had cried out at the portal closing. A full cup of tea was on the table next to her. Stone cold. She could have been out here for god knows how long. I shuffled forward as silently as I could.
"Mum?" I said, voice almost a whisper.
The sound seemed to shock her out of it. She blinked rapidly and sucked in a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" I said
She looked at me then, a small smile on her face "Oh Leah, I'm sorry I was too deep in my thoughts. I didn't even hear you coming,"
Mum reached forward and picked up her mug, taking a sip. Her nose wrinkled up in disgust and she put it back down "Oh it's cold."
I walked over and sat next to mum on the seat. "We haven't really had a chance to talk since the 'thing'," I said "Did it do something to you? You seemed so hurt."
Mum reached over and squeezed my hand, a pleasant smile on her face. "Of course not darling. I'm okay."
I pulled my hand out of hers. She was obviously lying. You don't react like that if nothing happened. "I'm not an idiot mum, obviously something happened," I pleaded.
She sighed. For a moment it looked like she wasn't going to say anything. When she did, it was in a low voice. "I'm not sure, it's just" she sighed "when that light was open it made me think of your father"
Dad? Why would it make her think of him? She saw my confused look and carried on.
"It was like when I was in front of it, he was all I could think about. All different kinds of memories ran through my head. All him, all happy and when it disappeared it hit me hard," she looked at me with a sad smile "I'm sorry for making you worry,"
So it was the thought of dad that was making mum hurt so much. I could understand that we all get caught up in grief sometimes. Though I have no idea why the portal made her think of dad. It's not as if dad had ever been a disembodied light in the middle of a field.
Thinking back, I do remember mum acting this way before. Most of the time she had tried to hide her grief from me, probably to protect me in some way. She had gotten better at hiding her grief over the years. That's probably why her reaction shocked me so much. But I am older now. I don't want her to hide her feelings from me.
"It's okay mum," I said, leaning my head on her shoulder.
She wrapped her arm around my back and held me to her. A kiss was planted on the crown of my head.
Kili woke up a little while later. Bleary-eyed, groggy and wearing pyjama bottoms that were too long for him. He wasn't a morning person evidently. I informed him that a friend of mine was coming over and that we could trust her with the secret. He seemed a bit wary but excited to meet someone new. Then I told him that if he was meeting my friend that he needed to get dressed. Which he readily agreed with.
I waited downstairs while he got dressed. When he arrived, descending the stairs like a colourful masterpiece, my mouth dropped. He had a long sleeve button-down covered in multi-coloured patterns. Red, blue, yellow and green, kind of like a bowling alley carpet. The left sleeve was unbuttoned to accommodate the cast. Then on top of that was a short sleeve t-shirt that was blue and covered in tiny pictures of sharks. Kili didn't even know what a shark was he just thought they were cool. Then to top it all off, he had bright green trousers. Masterpiece indeed. I definitely needed a picture of this.
"Hey Kili, I want to try something," I said as Kili came into the living room.
He arched an eyebrow in response. "Depends what it is."
"You just stand there," I said while moving him to stand against the wall. "And smile."
I lifted my phone up and moved back a few steps. Kili looked confused.
"Come on smile," I encouraged. "Trust me. It's cool, or 'cold' if you prefer."
Kili relented and gave a very forced grin. I guess that's the best I was getting. I then took a few photos; In portrait mode, because I wanted the whole outfit in there. Dropping my hand back down I assessed whether the photos were adequate or not. Yes, they were all good.
"Right come and see," I said, motioning with my hand for him to come forward.
He inched forward cautiously. When he was next to me, I angled the phone towards him. His face lit up in wonder and he reached out to hold the phone.
"That's me!" He said, a huge grin on his face.
"It is," I grinned back
"Can you do more? We should do another one."
"Of course," I said, "Let's take a selfie this time."
I held my phone up and flipped the camera to front-facing. Kili's eyes lit up.
"Durin's beard, It's us and it moves," he said, moving his head around and watching the image on the phone do the same. Like a shadow boxer.
"Keep still and smile," I said, smiling at his reaction.
He did so without protest this time and with a genuine smile.
What followed was essentially a photoshoot. Kili directed what he wanted, where he wanted to be, the angle etc. Mum walked in on us hanging off of the edge of the settee. Our backs were on the cushions but our heads dangled off the front of the seat. We were in hysterics. For some reason, everything was funnier when you were upside down. It was probably all that blood rushing to your head. I couldn't stop laughing at the facial expressions Kili was making. Mum simply laughed while shaking her head.
The photo shoot ended pretty soon after that. We still had a couple of hours to kill before Anika would show up so I decided to show Kili some more music. We were in the garden, in the little seating area. It was a nice day, only a bit chilly when the wind blew your way. I had just returned from the house with headphones in tow. Plugging the headphones into my phone I checked that sound was coming through them. I put one earbud in my ear and adjusted the volume so it wasn't too loud. Don't want to give the boy a heart attack.
Satisfied with the volume, I handed both earbuds to Kili. He grabbed them delicately, looking like they might explode. "Put them in your ears," I said, motioning to my own ears.
Slowly he moved them to his ears, seeming very cautious.
"Right, tell me when you can hear something," I said, pressing play on the song.
You could tell the moment the music started playing because his eyes went comically wide.
"IT'S MUSIC," he shouted, a happy grin on his face.
I winced at the volume of his voice and took out one of his headphones. "You don't have to shout Kili. I can hear you when you speak normally."
"Really?" he said puzzled "But I had to speak over the music."
"Only you can hear the music because you have the headphones," I explained.
"Oh right," he said, then he frowned a little "I don't want to be the only one who can hear it. You should be able to hear it too".
Aww, that's thoughtful of him. It made me smile. I then took the earbud that was in my hand and put it into my own ear.
"Now we can both listen to it," I said.
A new song then started drifting through the headphones.
Your color's fading
'Cause I kept you waiting
It's a wild wild world
And you're a wild wild girl
Our sun's still shining
But it seems half the size
And it's a wild wild world out here
Before my time runs out
What If I run away to Mars?
Would you find me in the stars?
Would you miss me in the end?
If I run out of oxygen?
When I run away to Mars
We sat like that for a little while, just listening to songs. Occasionally I would sing along. Kili seemed to be developing a preference for certain types of music over others.
"So, what kind of music do you like the best then?" I inquired.
"I like whatever you sing, of course," he said with a very big grin.
I could feel my face heating up. Why doth mine cheeks betray me? I gave him a gentle shove and told him to shut up.
"You blush so easily," he laughed, poking my cheek with a finger.
I swatted his hand away. "Stop poking me," I tried to say in a serious voice but a smile may have betrayed me.
"Seriously though, what do you like?" I asked.
He paused for a few moments, deep in thought. "I guess I like louder songs and ones where you can hear the instruments," he said "I do like some of the stranger ones too, I have no idea how you make some of those noises. Not like any instrument I've ever heard"
That gave me some ideas about what music I could introduce him to. Rock bands seem to be the best place to start like ACDC or Queen. He'd probably like some more modern stuff too. I'll show him some Killers and Loveless.
"I love music, always have done," said Kili, his eyes focused on the trees in front of him. "I would always drag Fili and Amad to one of the music halls. They'd grumble about it but I think they liked it really."
"I would just stand there listening to the instruments, and the voices would bounce off the walls. Amad bought me a violin for my birthday once and I was so excited I practised it nearly every hour. She nearly regretted that gift" he laughed.
"I always wanted more. When the people stopped playing I would be sad, I'd have to wait until the next day to hear more. But here. Here you can listen to it whenever you want. It's incredible."
Hearing how much Kili loved music gave me a warm feeling in my chest. He had such passion in his voice when he spoke about it.
"I used to put on music shows for the whole family to watch," I added.
I couldn't remember too much about them because I was very young but mum had told me about them.
"I would make up my own songs and dances and I made everyone sit down and watch them. Mum told me that I would also make Lachlan be my backup dancer," the memory made me giggle. "I always wanted to become a singer. To be famous and sing in front of thousands of people. Things don't work out that way though. I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"I think you'd be a great singer," Kili said with a smile.
Anika arrived not long after 1. I left Kili in the garden listening to music while I went to the front door. Anika bundled her way inside as soon as the door opened.
"Right, tell me everything," She said.
We sat down on the settee and I tried to explain as best as I could. I told her the whole story and showed her the video to back it up. She was very disbelieving at first but slowly she was coming around to the idea.
"This is mental. How the hell is this happening?" she said, looking to me for an answer.
I shook my head "How am I supposed to know" I said, rubbing my temples "This whole thing is just wild. I need a scientist or something."
Anika looked at me with narrowed eyes "Did you just wish really hard for a dwarf in shining armour?"
I scoffed at her and slapped her on the arm, heat rising in my cheeks "Not helpful."
"I want to meet him," said Anika, suddenly very restless and bouncing in her seat "I've never met a Middle Earth dwarf before."
I told her to follow me to the garden. Kili was where I left him, sitting down and listening to music. He had both earphones in and didn't hear us approach. Trying not to startle him, I gently tapped on his shoulder. He turned, quickly taking out the headphones. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Anika next to me.
"Hi," Anika waved, "I'm Anika, Leah's friend".
Kili seemed taken aback by Anika. "So many braids," he whispered with wonder, "You must have accomplished many great deeds."
Anika seemed very pleased with herself. "Well of course I have," she said, both hands folded over her chest. Then she reached over and nudged me "Tell him of all my great deeds Leah."
"What, like the time you got chased by a goose?" I laughed.
Anika gasped "That's slander. I was rescuing Rosie from a vicious goose attack. If anything, I'm a hero."
Kili looked quite confused about our exchange. Deciding not to leave him in the dark I explained. "Here people's braid don't really symbolise anything they're mostly just for personal preference"
"Erm, they symbolise the fact that I look hot as hell. I'll have you know" Anika interjected, then she sighed. "She's right though. I wear my hair like this because I like it not because I'm some superhero."
"Oh, I see!" Then Kili seemed to remember himself and got to his feet.
"I'm Kili" he bowed "At your service"
We spent the rest of the day just talking amongst ourselves. Kili would tell us some stories from his home and we would tell him stories about ours. A lot of my and Anika's stories seemed to be at the expense of the other. I didn't mind though. I seemed to be in the weird minority that loved people knowing about their embarrassing stories. If it was funny why shouldn't other people hear it?
Anika had started questioning Kili "Wait so how old are you?"
"I'm 77," said Kili.
From what I can remember, that made Kili a young dwarf, just coming of age. So in terms of human years, he was about our age, early 20s.
"77? Holy shit you're an old man!" Anika snorted.
Kili looked scandalised. "I'll have you know I am a young dwarf, not a man."
Anika was still giggling "Okay I won't call you an old man… How about geriatric?"
"I have a feeling that's not good either," said Kili.
"It means exactly the same thing," I informed him.
Anika had stopped laughing now and wiped a tear from her eye "I'm gonna call you Geri"
Kili just sighed, seeming resigned to his fate.
A week went by and I realised that I had to go back to Uni. As Mum had gone back to work, Kili was going to have to come with me. I didn't feel comfortable leaving Kili on his own just yet and I don't think Kili would like being alone either. It wouldn't be a problem though. My Uni never asks anyone to wear their student I.D so anyone could just walk into any lecture.
I was in a bed shirt and a pair of shorts when I came into the living room. Kili was sitting on the settee. He went bright red when he saw me. It was only after seeing his reaction that I realised I was probably showing more skin than I should. I doubt Kili had seen many girls' legs before. Walking around the house in booty shorts probably wasn't the best plan.
"Oh hello," he coughed, avoiding eye contact.
"Sorry" I laughed nervously. "Shorts probably aren't the most appropriate thing."
"I've got to get used to quite a lot in this world," he laughed, looking back at me.
His eyes flitted back down to my legs and he froze, eyebrows knitted together. He was staring, transfixed by my leg. It made me self-conscious and I looked down to see what he was staring at.
Well crap, I forgot about that. It's probably quite a shock to see your dwarven homeland tattooed on a random person's body.
"What is that?" he said pointing to my right thigh.
"It's a tattoo…" I said
"But that…that's Erebor. You have Erebor tattooed on your leg," He said incredulously.
"Okay, okay hear me out. I was a big fan of your stories before I even knew you really existed. I wanted something to show that," I said, flustered.
Kili still looked a bit sceptical but didn't push it any further. Then suddenly he broke out into a mischievous grin "So you must really like Dwarves then"
"Oh get that grin off your face," I said, face heating up.
There were two buses I needed to catch to get to Uni. One took us into town and then the other would take us onto campus. We quickly learned that Kili was not a fan of buses. After learning about my car accident, he was very wary of motor vehicles. Apparently, the lack of seatbelts made buses even worse. When we got off the first bus, Kili was very pale.
I put my hand on his shoulder "It's okay Kili, you'll get used to it."
"If you say so," He mumbled.
Anika waved at us from a few stops down. The uni bus was already there and a large group of people were piling onto it. Oh god, I hope there's a seat. I doubted Kili would be happy if he had to stand. Jogging a little, we reached Anika. We may have pushed in a little bit but it's fiiine.
We piled onto the bus and tried to find a seat. There were two towards the back, one opposite each side of the aisle. I pushed Kili in front of me eager to get the seats before anyone else. We made it to the seat, just about and I pushed Kili down into it. Anika took the seat opposite and then the bus was moving. I had to grab onto the pole to stop myself from falling.
Kili was looking around "Is there no other seats?"
"Don't think so. Quite a few people are standing now," I said, feet sliding a bit.
"You should have this seat. I shouldn't be sitting while you have to stand," he said earnestly.
I think it was probably a dwarf trait. Females in their society were treated with the utmost respect because there were so few of them. Which probably meant that many dwarves did things so that the dwarrowdams didn't have to. Like standing on the bus and giving her your seat. While it was heartwarming, it was completely unnecessary. I had more experience standing on a bus than he did.
"Kili, honestly, I'm fine. The bus should only take 15 minutes tops," I said.
Kili seemed adamant though. Even tried to get out of his seat. That's when two arms wrapped themselves around my torso and pulled me backwards. I half fell into Anika's lap.
"See now everyone's happy," She smiled
"Thanks, babe," I said
"No problem, darling," she laughed.
Kili settled down then and sat back down. Anika then began twirling a strand of my hair in her fingers.
"You know this is the part in the rom-com where you put my hair behind my ears," I said, raising my eyebrows suggestively.
She lifted the ends of my hair up towards me "Is it also the part of the rom-com where you get a haircut? Because you're getting split ends."
"Rude," I said, pulling my hair out of her hand.
"I haven't got any lectures at 12 so I was planning to sneak into yours," Anika said "I want to see what Kili thinks of University," she nodded her head towards Kili.
"As long as I don't have to do any of the work I'll probably be fine," said Kili and then wrinkled his nose "I'm not very scholarly."
I only had two lectures today. However, the first one was two hours long and the next one started straight after. 3 hours of joy. First up was my cognitive neuroscience module. Thankfully, I actually enjoyed this one and the lecturer was really nice. His name was Jim Brooks and he got very excited about FMRIs.
"Right hello 2nd-year students, today we'll be following on from last week's lecture on FMRI" he paused for a moment, looking around "We'll also be looking at Aphasia, we'll touch on that further into the lecture".
Kili and I had found a place towards the middle of the lecture hall. I got my notebook and pens out ready to take notes. Notes however didn't come. I was terrible at note-taking during a lecture. I normally had to write them up afterwards. Boredom began to creep in and I itched to play with my hair. I stopped myself however because I was a good friend and didn't want to make Kili uncomfortable. This meant it was time to initiate origami mode.
I tore a piece of paper out of my notebook. Kili saw me and raised an eyebrow in confusion. He leaned forward and whispered, "Aren't you supposed to be listening."
I turned my face to him, resting my chin on my hand. "Technically, yeah but I'm not very good at it."
He then copied my stance and held his own chin in his hand "You know, If I ever didn't listen to my tutors they'd clip me round the ear"
"Is that a threat?" I mocked.
"Maybe," he grinned.
"Oh shush," I whispered, returning to my origami.
I decided to make a little flower first. Once it was finished, I offered it to Kili.
"Here you can have it," I said, putting it into his hand.
He became very still, just staring at it in his hand. "Is this a flower?" he whispered after a moment.
"Yes, I think it's supposed to be a rose or a lotus flower," I clarified.
Kili nodded back. He was holding the flower in his hand very delicately as if it was made of glass.
"You don't have to be too delicate with it," I joked "I can always make you another one."
The corners of his lips twitched up and he very carefully placed the flower in his pocket. A slight pink tinge to his cheeks.
That was an odd reaction.
Turning back to face the front, I tuned back into the lecture. "There are a few different kinds of Aphasia, but we're only going to focus on two. That is Broca's aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia. Now aphasia, Is an impairment in language and speech production brought about by damage to the brain. Did I say the word aphasia too many times? I feel like I did." he laughed
"Anyway, Wernicke's area is towards the centre of the brain in the temporal lobe" He used a laser pointer to indicate at a picture of a brain on the board. "When this area gets damaged, language comprehension becomes impaired. Often they can still speak fluently, all the words are real words, but it's gibberish. Like 'My cat door through air".
The slide changed over to another picture of a brain. Only this one had a different area highlighted.
"And this one is called Broca's area, it is located in the frontal lobe," he motioned to the front of his head with his hand. "Damage to this area can cause similar yet different symptoms. Language comprehension remains intact. They can fully understand what is being said to them. However, the impairment then comes from speech production. They struggle to form the words that they want to say and it comes out as something else".
It was actually quite interesting. However, the lecturer quickly moved on to a different topic and I tuned back out again.
Anika met us outside the lecture theatre for my next class and we followed in behind a group of other students. Anika decided that we should sit near the back. We managed to get some seats in the middle of the row. I was on the left, Kili was in the middle and Anika was on the right.
"I think we should have a selfie to commemorate," said Anika, reaching for her phone.
Kili looked very excited and agreed with her. Anika flipped her camera to front facing and angled her phone so that we were all in the photo.
"Say cheese," she said.
Kili moved just as she took the photo. His eyebrows were drawn together and he was looking around confused.
"Dude you moved. The picture is blurry," Anika huffed.
"Where's the cheese?" Kili said, confusion lacing his voice.
"What?" Anika laughed.
"The cheese," Kili clarified "You said cheese but I don't see any."
I giggled at his cluelessness "She's not on about real cheese Kili it's an expression,"
"I still don't get it," Kili said, shaking his head. A few strands of hair fell in front of his eyes.
"If you say 'Cheeeese'" I extended the word cheese showing my teeth "It sort of makes you smile, so people say it before taking a photo"
His face formed an O shape as he finally understood. He then started repeating the word cheese to himself, moving his lips in an exaggerated fashion.
"Can we take the photo now?" Anika said, exasperated.
Kili stopped saying the word cheese and leaned forward. I followed suit and Anika managed to take a few photos.
The lecture started and it was boring as hell. Something about psychodynamic processes. That was until they got to the juicy topic of Freud.
"As we all probably know by now Freud had some very strange ideas about child development. His most famous one of course is that all boys want to have sex with their mothers and that all girls want to have sex with their fathers"
"WHAT?" Kili yelled from the back of the lecture hall.
Quite a few students started laughing, probably thinking he was trying to be funny. Kili however, looked distraught and disgusted. I quickly covered his mouth with my hand before he could yell anything else. Anika was losing it next to Kili, tears in her eyes. I motioned with my finger for Kili to shush while also trying to contain my own laughter.
The lecturer looked slightly amused and then started to carry on with his lecture when it looked like people had calmed down. Anika was trying to be silent but I think that made her want to laugh more.
I slowly removed my hand from Kili's mouth.
"That's disgusting! I would never! I think I'm going to be sick!" Kili whispered harshly. His face had gone bright red.
Anika was barely containing herself, his words not helping. Her laughing had started to set me off too.
"I know Kili, Freud was just a gross, old, crazy man from years ago." I patted him on the shoulder "No one actually thinks it's true I promise."
"This world is weird," he mumbled under his breath, face still red.
I was inclined to agree.