Follow You

My legs ached as I let the door behind me close off the night. I sighed as the quiet apartment stared back at me, letting myself decompress as I listened to the light rain. Stretching, I stepped into the kitchen, setting my lunchbox on the counter. I glanced at the time for a moment, considering whether I should stay up or go to bed. It wasn't a very hard decision. I laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to take me. Every part of me was sore. Thankfully, my eyelids soon grew heavier and heavier before I began dozing off to the sound of the rain.

Sometime in the night, my heavy sleep was disturbed by a sudden jostling. I heard a slight yelp of surprise and sat up, rubbing my eyes. Even in the pitch darkness of my room, I could see two distinct eyes staring back from the end of the bed. I flicked on my bedside lamp, illuminating the girl before me. She didn't speak at first, but instead she looked rather perplexed. I blinked away the sleepiness in my eyes and stared at the strange girl. She stared back, blank-faced. Her eyes were a pale orange yellow with dark rings surrounding her irises. Her hair was a two-tone of black and white and her black dress was torn in places and looked as though it were melting in others. She held a book in her hands.

"Um… am I dreaming?" I asked, hoping it was my first lucid dream. A part of me did assume it to be real, however.

She tilted her head, still expressionless. "I don't think so," she said, calmly.

I nodded, getting off my bed. "Okay…" We stared at each other for a second. "So? Who are you?"

"Shiori Novella."

I shook my head. "That doesn't tell me much."

"True." She paused, her piercing eyes seemingly digging into my soul. "You don't seem scared of me."

"Should I be?"

She smirked. "No. Probably not."

"Alright." The conversation died once again. "How did you get here?"

She shrugged, holding up the book. "This, I think." She flipped it open and showed me the book. The pages were blank. "Huh. Well, it wasn't blank before." She snapped the book shut. "Oh well. It was mostly archived anyway."

I squinted at her. "You're a strange one." I sighed. "So, if you are indeed anything other than a hallucination, then the door is over there. I'm going back to sleep."

"Oh? You're kicking me out?"

I shrugged. "I don't know you, you don't know me, and I'm sure you'd rather not stay in my crusty apartment."

Shiori tilted her head again. "Hmm." She smiled. "What are your hobbies?"

"What?"

"What do you like to do?"

I shook my head. "Why do you care?"

"You seem interesting. I wanna archive you."

I narrowed my eyes a little. "Okay…" I crossed my arms. "I play video games." I looked away. "And I write short stories when I can."

Her face lit up. "Oh! Really? What genre?" She stepped closer.

"Um. Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, drama. Mostly those."

"Any romance?"

I nodded, scratching my neck as I looked away. "Yeah, I dabble a little. It's never any good though."

She grinned from ear to ear as she stared up at me. "Can I read them?"

My eyes went wide. "Um… I don't know. Look, I don't think I'm all that great at it, I just do it as a hobby and—"

She grabbed my hand, eyes wide with excitement. She was as giddy as a kid asking for candy. I'm not sure what I expected of her, but it certainly wasn't this. "I have to read them."

My hands grew clammy as she held onto them. I couldn't meet her gaze anymore. I sighed. "Okay. Sure. Feedback is always good, I suppose."

She giggled. "I can't wait!" She flashed a toothy grin and lets go of my hands. "So? What else?"

I shook my head. "What else what?"

"Tell me more!"

I shrugged. "Well, what do you wanna know?"

She shrugged, pausing as she thought for a moment. "Well, you're a human, yes?"

I furrow my brow. "And you aren't?" I ask, a little skeptical.

"Well, I'm not like you," she explained. "I am cursed with forbidden knowledge. That's why my hair looks like this." She ran a hand through the white side of her hair.

"Ahh. Well, yeah, I'm a normal human then."

She nodded, smiling to herself. "I see." She looked off and then looked back. "So, can I read your stories now?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, fine, I guess. But I need to sleep."

She shook her head. "That's okay. I can watch over you," she says in a low voice, smiling.

I stared at her. "I guess I can stay up then."

I walked over to my computer and sat down, booting it up before pulling up my stories folder. Shiori watched over my shoulder as she grinned as she stared at my background. "So, you do like anime, then."

"Never said I didn't."

"I know."

I pulled up my latest unfinished story and got up to let her sit and read it. She seemed to get sucked into the story, so I walked off and got some drinks. I sat her glass down in front of her as she finished reading the short story.

"So?" I asked, taking a sip of water. "Mediocre? Good? What's the verdict?"

"Better than I expected," she said, leaning back.

"Thanks, I guess?" I pulled up another one, the next one a story I had completed. After a while of reading, she beamed at the pages. She started reading quicker.

"Ooh, I like this one!"

I smiled a little. "Ah, well, thanks. I'm glad."

Shiori looked over her shoulder at me, grinning as she gazed into my eyes. "Can I read one of your romance stories?"

"Ugh. I dunno. I've had people read them and give feedback before and everyone always says that they're bland. You won't like them."

She swiveled my chair to look at me. "You don't know that."

I shook my head. "No, I don't." I look into my glass, swishing the water around the sides. I purse my lips and suck in a deep breath. "Fine." After a few clicks, I scrolled through some of my works and opened another story. "It's embarrassing, but it's the only romance I've finished."

I laid down on the bed, letting the moments tick by as she read the story. It was something I've never shown anyone, but she read it in full. After a little bit, she spoke up.

"You should write more."

I chuckled. "That a good or bad thing?"

She shook her head before turning to me. "It's a good thing," she said with a warm smile. She faced me, grinning. "I think you're a good writer."

My face heated up slightly at the compliment. "Well… thanks." I chuckled, shaking my head. "You know? You're a lot nicer than I thought you would be."

"Why? Did you think I'd be psycho?"

"Considering how you look? Yeah."

She giggled, putting on a mocking tone. "What? You don't like the goth girlfriend look?"

I shook my head, laughing with her. "I do, I do. I just figured you'd be a little crazier than a passionate book worm."

"How rude!" She said with a grin. "I am plenty crazy."

I shrugged. "You seem pretty normal to me." I lay down on my bed. "Just a little odd is all."

"Well, I do eat with scissors pretty regularly."

I blink as I sit back up. "Really?" Shiori nods, staring at me with a faint smile. "Huh. Well, that's a little alarming, but alright." She giggled again. She glanced down at her feet before looking back up at me. Silence filled the room as she stared at me. I looked at her for a moment. "You said you were an archiver?"

She nodded. "Yep. I archive anything and everything I can get my hands on." She chuckled. "Although, I may have gotten a bit carried away. I got locked up for a long time after reading through a book of forbidden knowledge."

I shook my head. "You have some crazy stories, huh?"

She grinned. "I got plenty more if you wanna hear them." She paused for a few moments as she looked at me. "Why don't we do something interesting?"

I tilted my head. "Like what?"

Shiori pulled out the blank-paged book and flipped it open again. She took one of the pens on my desk and wrote out a long paragraph. She quickly signed the bottom and handed me the book and the pen. "Become a Novelite for me."

I scanned the page, seeing a contract written out on the page. "Why? I don't even know what that is."

She grinned, sitting next to me. "You can be my follower, and I will share all sorts of knowledge with you. I can teach you lots of things." She giggled. "Don't you think that kind of thing can make your stories better?"

I glanced back down at the page. "Is this permanent?"

She shook her head. "Not really. It's just a formality." She paused. "Although, I'll be very, very sad if my first Novelite leaves me." Her gaze pierced my heart and soul as she smirked at me. "You wouldn't leave me all alone, would you?"

I stay silent for a while, running it through my head. I read the contract over and over, double, triple, and even quadruple checking it to be sure. I nodded as I quickly signed my name. "Sure. I'll follow you, Shiori." I handed her the book. "I'll be in your care."