Only the Heart Knows Why

Seven: Sleepover

(Characters belong to me and Azathoia. Also, please read his story "Only the Heart Knows Why, Quax's Days"… Have a nice day.)

My words hang in the air for awhile as he considers my request, and I feel my hope start to fade. Could I have been too hard on him? I’m not religious, but damn I’ll pray if I have to, just so that I don’t have to face that bastard of a man tonight! “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he says, and my hope goes out like a candle.

“Please? Just for one night… please…” I must really be looking pathetic now, because it seems like he might change his mind after all. Oh god, I hope he does…

“Well…” he starts, but he doesn’t finish his sentence.

I can feel my chance slipping away again. “Do I have to beg you?” I whisper, and that seems to settle it.

“Okay,” he sighs, “you can stay over… just tonight, right?”

I nod and tell him, “And I’ll be gone as soon as I wake up in the morning.”

“Okay…” He still doesn’t seem ‘okay’ with this, but he already agreed to it. No backing out now.

“Thank you.” I look around at the store, seeing how it’s emptying out. “When do you get off?”

“Pretty soon actually.”

“Cool… I’ll just… go wait outside then,” and I leave without waiting for a response. The nighttime breeze lightly blows my hair around my face, and I look up at the sky. Even though there are so many lights on around here, I can still see the brightest stars. They’re so amazing. They kind of remind me of Kaddar, in a way. Speaking of him… I dial his number on my phone as I wait for Quax to come out. He finally answers after a few rings. “Hello, Kanau, darling,” he says, and I roll my eyes. “How are you fairing tonight?”

“Alright, I guess,” I answer him. “Aledren came home…”

“Oh god… I’m so sorry. I might be able to make it home in a few hours if I leave now.”

“No, no, that’s alright. You’re still visiting with your brother, right?”

“Yeah.” I can tell he’s smiling just from how he sounds. “We haven’t seen each other in years; it’s nice to actually hang out for once. I even met his girlfriend. She’s… a very nice, very polite, very good girl.”

I actually laugh at that. “Sounds like your brother’s preferences are the complete opposite of yours.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure our father had some influence on that. Old man hates me simply ‘cause he’s homophobic.”

I want to hear more about this, but that’s when Quax comes out of the store, looking over at me patiently. “Listen, Kaddar, I gotta go… Get home tomorrow?”

“I suppose I could, since you need me.” He makes a kissing sound into the phone and I roll my eyes at him again. “Talk to you later, cutey,” and he hangs up.

I sigh as I return my phone to my pocket, then turn to Quax. “So… are we ready to go then?”

He only nods and starts walking, and I follow him. The silence between us feels really thick. Even the crickets don’t put me at ease. “How are you liking the school?” I finally ask, desperate for a break in the far too quietness of this walk.

“It’s… well, it’s interesting.” He gives me a small smile, then concentrates on walking again.

I watch him a bit, suddenly curious as to why he switched schools in the first place. I figure they must’ve moved here late in the year, so I don’t ask about that. “You won’t have to worry about Rufus anymore soon,” I say to him, still trying to fill the void.

“Why’s that?”

“Kaddar’s pissed off at him… I think he might actually hurt the guy this time,” I explain, not really feeling so happy about him taking revenge on an idiot for attacking me anymore. It’s such an empty feeling now.

“Because of what happened to you, right? Heh, I wish I had a boyfriend willing to go to the trouble for me…”

Grinning, I speed up a little to get a look at his face. “What, are you jealous? You don’t really look like the jealous type.” Teasing this guy is starting to make me feel better at least.

“Yeah, well… how can I not be jealous about what he has, hm?”

“Once again, you’re weird… and that is not an invitation to call me ‘hot’ again.” Though some part of me… kind of wants him to.

“Whatever…” He seems rather distracted for once. He’s silent the rest of the walk to his house. As we walk up, he hesitates, as if trying to decide if he actually wants to go in or not. I look around at the outside of the house a little, but it’s too dark to actually see anything. Don’t they have any outside lights they could turn on? Finally I hear Quax sigh as he slowly, and quietly, opens the front door and peeks inside, looking for something. I don’t know why he has to be so overly-cautious. With the way he dresses, you would think his parents would be open-minded people. After a long while he walks inside, and I follow in after him and he shuts the door behind me. It’s dark in here too. “My room’s upstairs,” he says quietly, leading the way. I note that the stairs don’t even creak as he goes up, and so I try to follow his example. Maybe everyone’s asleep… Well, it is pretty late now…

We get to his room almost silently, and I kind of feel like the new boyfriend that’s sneaking in for some dirty fun… bloody fucking hell. I shake the thought away, shivering at it. How could my mind even begin to think of something like that?! I glance around once he turns the light on. I can‘t believe my eyes. Not only does he have hot-pink hair and dress femininely, but everything in here is pink too! Now I feel even more like a dirty boyfriend coming to see his ‘sweet‘ girlfriend… Ugh, what a weirdo. “Let’s see here.” I look up in time to catch a pillow in the face. As it falls to the floor in front of me, he tries not to laugh. “Sorry about that, I thought you were paying attention.”

“I like to look around when I’m at new places,” I admit to him, looking around once more. “You see some pretty interesting things sometimes.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He sits down on his bed, and I just sit on the pillow he threw at me. After a few more minutes of no talking, he’s the one to break the silence this time. “You know, you don’t really seem like a bad guy to me.”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Bad? There are people much worse than me around here, dude.”

“Yeah, like that guy…”

“Rufus will be taught his lesson in time… I just have to keep Kaddar away from school until then.”

He pouts at me a little at this particular sentence. “So you won’t be at school either?”

Sighing, I nod at him. “I’d rather just hang out with Kaddar for awhile. He owes me big time for leaving me alone for so long.”

“I wouldn’t leave you alone like that.” It is a whisper, almost inaudible, but I still catch it. I merely shrug at him and decide to use the pillow for what it is meant for, lying down on the floor. Damn, this carpeting is not all that comfortable. I feel his eyes watching me, and I hope that he isn’t getting any weird ideas. Looking up at him, I see him smiling down at me. “Get some sleep. I’ll help you get out in the morning.”

Damn him, making me feel like a dirty boyfriend again. Argh, he’s so… so… I can’t even think of a word. “Goodnight, Quax.”

“Nighty night, Kanau,” he sings.

I notice something. Glancing at him one more time, I ask, “How do you know my name?” I’m pretty sure I never officially introduced myself yet, and the teacher never calls out my name for anything.

“Hika told me,” he says, like it was the most obvious thing in the world… well, yeah, it kind of is obvious…

“Fine, whatever,” I grumble, lying on my side, my back facing him. This carpet is so uncomfortable… but I’d rather be here than home right now.

It takes me awhile to fall asleep though. I listen to Quax’s breathing as he sleeps on his bed, mumbling something random every now and then. Something about a school bus? Eventually, my body actually relaxes enough for me to think I’m asleep. I see a very vivid dream…

I’m in a room with no windows… the only door is blocked off by Aledren. He looks so much scarier now. There’s a table sitting behind him, various knives resting on it. They’re covered in blood, though. There’s so much, I think actually smell it. I don’t even want to know whose blood it might be.

He laughs at me, sounding so deranged and maniacal that I think he must have escaped an asylum. I need to get out, but I can’t. There’s no way I could ever get passed him alive. I back away, coming into contact with the wall. This isn’t good. Nothing is ever good when he’s around. “Kanau,” he whispers to me, slowly creeping over, his hand on one of the knives. I feel myself freeze. I’ll never be able to get away from him… “Kanau,” he says again, a bit louder this time. He lifts his arm up above me, a drip of blood splashing into the red lake that seems to have formed around us. The knife comes down at me, just as my eyes snap open, returning me to the real world. Quax is sitting next to me, watching my face. From his expression, I must have freaked him out big time… “Kanau?” he asks, still watching me, his eyes full of concern.

“… Yeah?” I wince. My voice sounds so pathetic right now.

He gives a relieved sigh and smiles at me, patting my shoulder before he stands up, heading back over to his bed. “You were tossing and turning a lot,” he tells me. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay…”

Nodding slowly, I try to relax again. “What time is it?”

I hear his sheets shift as he checks a clock. “Four forty-five A.M…”

Damn… After that, he falls asleep again, but I stay awake a bit longer. I still feel spooked. I want Kaddar back… Screw that, I need him back. Things are always better with him around. I sigh again and take my phone out of my pocket, checking to see if Kaddar sent me any messages yet. He didn’t. Damn him… Putting the phone down next to me, I watch it until I finally find sleep again, this time welcomed by a dreamless rest.

***

Later in the morning, when I finally awake, Quax seems a bit hectic. Apparently it’s a bad thing to have strange boys stay in your room with you during the night around here. It’s not like we did anything. I’m glad we didn’t. He keeps looking back at the clock. I guess he’s worried about someone waking up and seeing me. “You have to go, now.” He’s pushing me out of his room, and I almost fall over from the force of it all.

“You’re acting weirder than usual,” I tell him.

“Well, I don’t want you to be here when my dad gets up.”

I guess I can understand that. Without even saying a word, I give him a wave as thanks, and walk down the steps. As I’m opening the door, I can hear a voice coming from another room. Sounds like a disgruntled old man… “It’s none of my business,” I tell myself, going outside, carefully closing the front door behind me. Looking out at the other houses on the street, their neighbors seem to be eyeing me strangely. I don’t like that look… I try to get out of here as quickly as I can, running down the street until I turn the corner onto another.

People can be so weird, and tend to give me the creeps anyway. I start walking off somewhere, not really sure where until I end up at a café. I order myself a coffee, grab a couple packets of cream, and sit down. Usual early birds are in here too, working from their laptops. I casually sip at my coffee, trying to ignore them.

After I have been thoroughly caffeinated, I get up and leave, wondering when Kaddar will be coming home. I reach into my pocket to grab my… missing phone……

“Damn it!!!”