David would have to have lived somewhere. It made sense. She just had to know if he was ok. At some points she wondered why she even bothered herself in caring about him, but she couldn't find a correct answer.
"Oh heyo Ball! Nice to see you back home on time. Don't get into cars of people you don't know by the way that how people die," Johnson said to her arrival. He was sitting in a little make it yourself café in the science center; it was a very bland place.
"Not good. David was taken to the ER. He was beaten up," Ball said, "And that is why you must! Bring me over to the hospital to visit him!" Ball demanded.
"Oh, demanding eh?" Johnson said. He was eating a ham sandwich, "It's nice of you to want to see him. I guess we can go. I have been late on all of your emotional records, and we can hack into the medical data to see if there is anything new, in his files,"
"Anything new?" Ball looked at him funny.
"Remember? He is our current project. What if the activator is starting to grow on him?" Johnson giggled, "I am actually excited! You see anything odd with him at all?"
"No," Ball said honestly.
"That is expected. But we can always look at his blood," Johnson was smiling for the wrong reasons, "Blood never lies. Alright, come on, let's go. I want to see prog-ress!"
They walked there, because "It is really nearby, and there is NEVER any room for parking,"
When they were inside Johnson took charge. He went up to the lady at the front desk and took out his phone.
"Have you seen this meme, uh, I mean boy?" He said pointing to his phone.
It made Ball start to wonder about David's reputation. He was often on people's phones, something she didn't have.
"Oh, He was dismissed already. Needed to get some rest, but we need room in the emergency section all the time so he couldn't stay here. Nothing serious. He should be home," The lady at the front desk said checking her computer. Johnson was disappointed. He wanted to hack.
"We must go to David's dwelling!" Ball said.
"You can do that, but I'm going to stay here," Johnson said.
"What? You are going to leave me alone?" Ball was worrying about it already.
"Relax. You know where his apartment building is. Just go in and ask where he lives," Johnson then walked up to the lady at the desk and began a long string of conversations that he hoped would eventually get him to David's medical records.
Although Johnson was right in front of Ball, she already felt like she was without him. She knew where David's building was, but humans were tall and capable of anything.
She turned around, exiting into the daylight and sidewalk traffic. She was used to something similar, but school traffic was mostly kids that she had seen. These adults were far more capable and unpredictable than the teens. There were also way more of them around.
What if they start a mob to end me? What if they blame me for the sound? Or maybe they are still mad about my stampede!
She could feel the eyes on her. Whenever there was a laugh she assumed that it was something wrong with her, and whenever she made eye contact with someone she assumed they were thinking odd of her. She wanted to hide, but she was too close to the building to go back now, and why even bother going back in the first place?
Luckily the doors to the building opened up on their own. There was a sort of dimly lit wood aesthetic going on. The lobby lounge had quiet people working independently on laptops or books. Coffee smell was amongst them. A front desk caught Ball's eye.
If this is like the one in the hospital, perhaps the lady at this desk will have information that I need.
She tried to ignore the looks she got from the people diligently working, and just walked up to the desk.
"Excuse me!" Ball said. The front desk lady had been on her phone so she hadn't seen Ball walk in.
"Huh?"
"Down here,"
The Lady looked down the edge of her desk. She was surprised.
"Aren't you that robot from the news?" She asked nonchilantly.
"I am an object," Ball cleared up, "Do you know where David lives?"
"You mean like, David Davis, David Wander or the aw seriously David?" The lady asked.
"The last name you mentioned. Do you mind me asking why David is associated with this aw seriously?" Ball asked. The lady scrolled around her phone.
"Hold on a sec… Ok here," The lady faced her phone towards Ball as it played a short video. It was a wide shot of a very crowded stairwell at the highschool. There was a fight going on at a visible platform. Already at the bottom of the stairs stood David waiting for traffic to clear up. He was holding some sort of ceramic art project. The fight had one student push another down the stairs. It was too crowded for the fighter to freefall, so he just fell into the other students causing them to trip up and fall. Like dominos they all caught up to David at the bottom of the stairs. They did not only crush him, but they had caused him to drop his ceramic. He had all the air knocked out of him, but he still reacted with his now classic phrase.
"Wow," Ball said. She was more mildly concerned than anything.
"Yep. That's it. I'll help you get to his apartment," The lady got out of her seat and walked over to the elevator. It opened up and a couple of business dressed humans sleepily walked out.
"Night shift," One groaned.
"Afternoooon," One howled.
The lady ignored them and entered along with Ball. The lady noticed that Ball was looking at the floor.
"Are you an escapee?" She asked.
"Huh? Oh no, I am not. I am just visiting David on account of his injury. Socially, it is a kind gesture. He is my strongest, and wisest ally. I must not let him go to waste,"
"How many friends do you have?" The lady asked.
"Friends? Or allies?"
"Both,"
"I have 3 friends and 10+ allies," she said bluntly, "I will tell you that my allies and friends are much more limited than it seems. I believe I might be in danger…"
"Why do you think that?"
"People are saying things about me that are not true, and I do not believe that anything will get my reputation back on track. I can only hope that more people will want to believe me rather than deny me. If the school is overrun by my enemies than I will no longer be able to enjoy education there, and my allies along side me will be persecuted and most likely beaten straight to the hospital! They may be able to be treated, but I, not being a human, may perish…"
"Ok then," The lady said.
The elevator door opened up. Ball followed the lady to a doorway as she walked over to it. She knocked on the door. Ball helped.
"Yes?" An elderly man answered opening the door.
"Your grandson has a visitor," The lady said.
David's grandfather looked down at her.
"Oh. Nice to see such diverse company," He said calmly.
"Who is it!?" David asked from some other room.
"Uhh. A sphere from your student exchange program?" The elderly man tilted his head.
"WHAT!" David rushed over to the door, " Ball! Uh. W-what are you doing here?" David's nose was a little blue and he was holding an ice pack on his head.
"I wanted to see if you were well," Ball said blatantly.
"Oh, cool. Well I'm as.. I'm good," David stuttered, "You can come in, if you want,"
"Will do," Ball walked in.
"Bye," the lady said.
David's apartment was rather cluttered since it was small. The counter space was always filled with things for future use. A living room stored a couch and a television. David's grandfather flopped himself back there and unpaused the anime program.
"Sorry for the mess," David said, "We never get visitors so it's always like this,"
"It is like a cave," Ball said.
David didn't know how to respond. It wasn't a negative or positive comment.
"I guess it just needs bats," He joked. Ball looked around for any bats. She didn't see any.
"What do you do in here? It is your home, but what activities do you.. do?" Ball asked. At her home she tested, but she assumed that David as a human didn't do that.
"Uh, well right now I'm working on a project," David entered his room. It also, had a computer, desk, bed and window. Contrasting, the room had a sliding door closet, a dresser, and the ceiling hung many different variations of paper airplane. Around his bed were scribbly doodles of ideas or angry reactions written on wall. The wall had a rough texture that could fall off if you flicked some of it.
"What type of project?" Ball asked him.
This is his main dwelling area. He has dwelled here much longer than I have ever lived. The walls must be stock full of history and memory. Ball was looking at lost change stuck in between the carpet and the wall.
"It's for school," He sat in down in his desk chair and sighed. He also placed his hand on his forehead and weaved it through his hair; It was a sign of his stress, "I have to finish tonight, but I just started it so it'll be a while,"
Ball watched as he controlled the layers of website by a wireless device on his desk. I did not know of what computers could do…
"May I take a look?" She was still on the ground.
"Sure," David swiftly moved Ball from the floor to his desk.
"Fascinating," She couldn't keep her eye's off the computer.
"Oh, well yeah, computers are pretty cool. They are a multitool of information and entertainment. Ya see, you move the mouse around and in the computer it moves a cursor," David was excited for Ball's curiosity, but every moment he spent talking to her felt like another reminder of how much time he had to finish, "You can click stuff. With the mouse using the left side or the right. The left just activates something," David clicked a search bar, "And the right click can give you options about something you hover the cursor over. Uh, the keyboard lets you type in any word box. So you can input words into em. If you type something into the search bar and press 'enter' then you can get answers to a question or anything else you're looking for."
Ball took in what he said about the computer. Since the search bar was already selected she just began typing. She did so with one foot while balancing on the other.
'Where is Craeggs?' She slowly typed. She pressed enter. The results didn't look promising.
"You aren't going to find anything too specific. If nobody knows than the computer doesn't either. I don't mean to be rude, but I must finish my project. I have to present it tomorrow or I have a really high chance of failing. He doesn't take lates. Uh, but you can still hang out with me while I work."
"I would enjoy the last option," Ball said. To give David some typing space she hopped off the desk and jumped onto the bed. From there she sat and watched David preform copy and pastes of images, collections of information being read, and the putting together of a PowerPoint. Something that worried her was David's reoccurring whimpers. He was in pain.
A migraine and numb nose was close to defeating him. He had received a minor concussion, and was in no shape to work so hard so late.
It was almost disturbing to see him so weak. It had only been about a half hour before David literally passed out and dropped his head on the keyboard. He of course, picked himself back up immediately, but he just went straight back to work.
"David… David!" Ball said.
"What?" David groaned.
"You are working beyond what is healthy. You are not feeling well," Ball said worriedly.
"My health isn't as important as this," David didn't look away.
"You should take a break," Ball suggested.
"There isn't enough tIMe for a break," his voice cracked.
"You are going to PERISH! If you continue to work this way," Ball said.
"But my-"
"I will complete you school project,"
"I can't ask you of that. I need to know about my research, I need to present. And no offense, but how can I trust you to make a project that is.. well done," David said. He turned his chair around to talk.
"In your health you will have no choice but to accept my help. Your head fell onto the keyboard while working and has added a few 'a's and still you have not noticed. You cannot trust your unrested brain to make a well done powerpoint on the history of vacuum cleaners anyway," Ball made a good case.
"...It's still cheating," David said.
"The purpose of the powerpoint presentation is to research and present. I will tell you what you need to know, and you will be presenting, so you will fifil both," Ball said. She had David convinced. He sighed.
"Ok. You can work on it while I take a nap. But if you start to lose interest or need something don't hesitate to wake me up," David stood up and walked over to his bed. Ball switched places with him, "Read the rubric. It has all the stuff you need to have in the project," David said. It was a little muffled by the belly down position he laid on his bed.
Ball looked over to the rubric she was standing on and began reading it. She looked over the presentation's current state. The first 3 slides weren't so bad, but from what the rubric said David needed 10 slides that didn't include the title. Ball looked at the clock.
It's only 4:37 pm. I have a grand amount of time to work on this. School starts roughly at 7:15 am, but I will have to already be in school by then, so I have more till 7:00 am. Rounding, that gives me at least 15 hours to work… This should be easy.
The sun had set, and Ball had worked diligently. She noticed that David's breathing was different than before. It was similar to Dora's sleeping breathing, so she assumed correctly that he was asleep. Ball remembered when she first slept. She realized now that David was completely helpless. It must mean that he feels safe here.
She remembered when the aliens had first arrived and froze Johnson. She had trouble sleeping because of the danger she believed she was in. He trusts that I will not do the same thing? Even after the sound?
David had never even asked about the sound. The lad was too focused on her, and his project. He has only known me for a few days, yet he trusts me enough to rest nearby me. Ball thought about whether there was any reason to be scared of someone like her anyway.
She was weak, and could easily be thrown off her balance. She didn't even have sharp teeth or fists that could help her in a fight. She was almost always helpless to just about anyone she encountered, but it seemed a fear of her possible 'super sound' was scary enough to the rest of the population to begin the collect against her. Speaking of sound, the television had shut down leaving the apartment silent.
"Where are you going?" David said out of the blue.
Ball was surprised. What did he mean?
"David?" She jumped off the desk onto his bed. He still looked very much asleep, "I am not going anywhere! I will stay until your project is completed,"
David didn't reply.
"How's it going in this joint?" David's grandfather said in a cool hipster manner despite this crinkled voice.
"David spoke to me, but he is still asleep!" Ball said.
"Oh, that's just his sleep talking. It doesn't really mean anything. Once he told me that most doors are made of wood. I always like to tell him about it when he wakes up," the elder said.
"Should I inform him when he wakes?" Ball asked.
"You do whatever you think is cool. I'm gonna get some shut eye. Don't stay up too late!" David's grandfather walked down to his room.
It was silent again.
Ball looked over at David's face. She had never been so close. She decided to take it in. He breathed with his mouth because of how damaged his nose was. Ball delicately moved his bottom lip with her foot so that she could see his teeth.
I also have teeth. Neither of our teeth are all that sharp.
She wanted to look at his eyes, but she feared it would wake him. Even her own eyes were delicate. She could still remember from a basic understanding that his eyes were alien to hers. She saw out of these black lines, and she stood on black lines too. Her mouth was also a black line until she opened it.
Am I like a drawing?
Ball hopped back over to the desk. She took a pencil and drew herself on the rubric.
Am I.. unreal? No... just not, human. No wonder people think I am an alien. I look more like them than I do human.
She looked at herself through the dimmed computer monitor. It was true, and there wasn't much she could do about it.
She had thought about being human occasionally. It would be convenient, but it wouldn't be who she was. Ball didn't yearn to be human, she wanted to be accepted...
Well, if they will not accept me than I do not need them! I have mastered the art of math and PowerPoint research! I have mastered skills no human could ever do in just a 8 days of life! Why do I need them! -to tell me my worth!?
She began to work again. There were about 5 more slides she had to still create.
Although she tried to deny it, Ball felt absolutely alone. It didn't matter that David was right behind her, or that she had Oscar and Dora as friends too. All she could think about the the major rage the student body was starting to have against her; and that there were many different types non electrical vacuum cleaners that worked mediocre at best.
It was 11:05 pm when she finished. She would've been done sooner if it wasn't for the learning curve.
What to do now?
She was so used to working on and on in the silence, that changing gears to sleep seemed odd. She wasn't even tired.
Should I go home?
It didn't seem wise. There were a lot of steps needed to get back. Ball hadn't planned out her trip home. She looked over at David. The lad had moved closer to the wall over time.
He is most likely as unaware of his movements the same way he is unaware of his sleep speech.
Sleep seemed like something to do, when there was nothing to do. It reminded her of when she was grounded and had nothing but naps to spend the time. Ball hopped from the desk over to the bed. She had almost forgotten that humans were warm. It was a nice reminder. She fell over beside him and flipped herself over so she was upside down.
For the first time she found herself dreaming. Her dream developed from her thoughts about the wall drawings.
Drawings...
The thought layered and morphed until her imagination created a little story all by itself. In the dream Ball was a 2d drawing on a light gray plane. She was already talking to a darker gray square. The square was commander of an operation going on a layer behind them. Two dimensional shapes (mostly other squares) were bringing black blocks up a tower to continue building it.
"Why do you build?" Ball asked him.
"We need to be remembered. There is too many of us now," The square said.
"Well if there are are so many of you then why must you be remembered?"
"We're always going somewhere," The square was now a rhombus somehow. What he said didn't exactly make sense.
"Then who will remember you?" Ball asked.
"We will," The square was now back to normal. A 'tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tic!' could be faintly heard. It bothered Ball but she ignored it.
"Then why do you need this if you will not forget yourselves?"
"A memory is a foot," The square said. It didn't make any sense, but Ball understood it. The meaning was that they will always be around to remember themselves. Tap tap tic!
A hexagon fell from the tower along with the block it was carrying. On impact it shattered and, like an egg, its liquids shot everywhere, although it was red like blood. The shapes walking by stopped to mourn. Ball looked at them. They all started to look like they had been shattered and put back together. They had cracks, but did not break. Only a short while later did they begin to continue. Tap tap tap tap tap tic!
"Maybe if we are not here we will remember ourselves by our things," The square said, "Like that is used for pictures," The square pointed a foot to a computer. Tap tap tap tap tap tic! Tap tap tap tic! Tap tap tap tap tap tic!
Ball suddenly had a first person view of someone typing on a computer. It was what was causing the tapping noise. She couldn't look away from the keyboard. The someone's hands were in fact human. They typed quickly and easily. That was when the dream ended, but Ball didn't wake up until a few hours later.