Nothing had been as usual, feeling countless curious eyes following our every move throughout the day. By the end of the last class, I wished nothing more than to quietly go back to my room and sleep the rest of the day away. The mysterious boy seemed completely unaware, or perhaps just completely disinterested in anyone around him, including myself, as he made no effort to look or interact with anyone. His lips were sealed shut and as the day went on and I would show him around the school, his quiet demeanor was starting to get on my nerves. I tried to be as polite and understanding as possible, knowing he could very likely be nervous or intimidated by all these strangers. His eyes were void of any real emotion, and thus it almost felt as if there was nothing hiding behind them, the cold lilac orbs lazily combing over the different structures and people as if raking the backside of a newspaper written in a language unbeknownst to him.
As we had sat down in the cafeteria, all eyes had been trained on us, whispers amongst the students a low murmur filling the unusually quiet hall. Though the odd boy obviously paid no attention to it, whilst I was playing with my food, having lost any sense of appetite.
At last I felt the tour was soon over and began leading him back towards the dorms by the edge of the pine forest on the east side of the school grounds, at the very edge of the inner walls. The smallest dorm belonged to all alpha werewolves on campus, having decided to separate them from the other dorms where all other wolves and witches reside. The vampires occupied the building along the road towards the alpha dorms, their windows blacked-out in order to not let in any sunlight during the day. As I told the smaller boy this, he simply watched across the school grounds, eyes following the general direction I was pointing out, one after the other, wordlessly. I didn’t bother talking about anything besides the school, opting to stay quiet about personal subjects, and as the other boy was so quiet, it was not exactly difficult to do so. As such I quickly decided not to ask him any personal questions, at least for now, knowing the other would very likely ignore my question and possibly become even more disinterested in what I had to say. There was no need for any mistrust to make its way between the two of us. By the time my impromptu tour of the school grounds was over, I was feeling an oncoming headache from having heard my own voice bounce off of the inside of my own skull for the past hour or two. The mysterious boy, Avery, had yet to address me, or speak up at all.
- Here’s our room. I believe they have already made space for another bed.
I was of course met with complete silence once more, not bothering to look up as I took out my key to the dorm, figuring the other boy would likely be given his own soon enough. Opening the door and taking a few steps inside already made me feel lighter, no eyes were any longer following us across campus, or the winding old corridors of the school buildings. I took a deep breath, relieved to finally have some form of semblance to privacy. The words coming from the shorter boy behind me startled me enough that my entire body jumped at the noise.
- Is that my bed?
I quickly whipped my head towards the other half of the open space, which was quite big for a dorm room, though now it had twice the amount of furniture, with the added bed and desk. The room itself was still spacious enough to have quite a bit of floor in the middle to move around and not feel too intimate. In the small hallway there was an ensuite bathroom, though without a shower as there was a communal one in each corridor that we shared.
- Uh, yes... Yes it is.
- Ok.
As the smaller boy walked past me, his shoulder brushed my arm slightly. He quickly made his way to the unmade bed, a duvet, some blankets and cushions were neatly placed on top of the mattress. His hands took a hold of a thinner summer blanket, made of gray and yellow highland wool, woven in a typical scottish tweed pattern. The fabric now being slowly rubbed between his thumb and pointer finger, eyes closely inspecting it, perhaps scrutinizing the quality, or general feel of the blanket against his skin.
- Do you-
Before I had the chance to continue, the mysterious boy by the edge of the bed, suddenly grabbed as much of the items on the mattress in his arms, before throwing it all on the floor. I stood in complete silence, mouth hanging open as I watched the smaller boy begin to kick everything underneath the bed, the metal frame rattling with the onslaught of things being stuffed underneath its rickety old frame. Once the last pillow was pushed underneath the bed, the boy, Avery, began to get down on his knees by the edge of the bed, scooting back until he could lean down close enough to the ground to slowly begin crawling underneath the bed. But before his head completely disappeared from view, I finally regained my composure somewhat, or at least enough to open my mouth.
- What do you think you are doing?
Avery turned towards me, finally looking directly into my eyes for the first time since we met in headmaster Ambrose’s office this morning. The intensity of his gaze made me shiver, having forgotten just how unsettling it truly was to have his judging eyes scour over me, as if he could see me in a way that no other creature had before him.
- Sleep.
- Sleep?
- I am making myself comfortable.
I didn’t know how to respond and as such I said nothing at all. Letting the odd boy crawl underneath the bed, hearing him rummage around as he was probably re-arranging the pillows and blankets to his liking. After a minute or so it went completely quiet, no more movements or soft sounds of fabrics rubbing against each other filling the otherwise silent space. I had no clue what to make of him, or his unorthodox behavior, and so I decided to not make a fuss, unpacking my school bag onto my desk, books, notes and other necessities placed on the otherwise empty surface. Even though I had not had a roommate for quite some time, the room had never felt as silent as it had in this moment. Every single creak of my chair, or adjustment of my socked feet beneath the desk made me cringe. I did not know what to make of this scenario or this boy. So I decided to attempt a sense of normality, acting as I normally would, doing what I would normally do, not letting this new addition to my daily routine hinder any aspect of my life. He was just some boy, an odd one for sure, but harmless and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I could not let him get under my skin, or wiggle himself into my life in any way shape or form. I had no time nor wished to be anything but temporary roommates. Until they would find a more permanent solution to his sudden housing situation.
I sat down and made some progress on my school work, finishing up a paper that was not going to be handed in until a week from now, but that is how I liked it. I didn’t look once towards the other side of the room, and by the time I was stretching my arms above my head, pen in hand and mouth wide in a big yawn, I had almost forgotten that I was not alone in my room.
- Are you done?
The sudden question made me jump out of my own skin, knees quickly banging out of reflex against the underside of my desk, the searing pain quickly making me wheeze. My hands rubbing my knees as I turned slightly towards the boy who had somehow made his way from under the bed in complete silence.
- What the- I yes. I’m done. Why do you ask?
- I’m tired.
I couldn’t stop my eyebrows from creasing at his words. Thinking to myself, why this had anything to do with me. Was he perhaps wanting me to turn off the lights? But then again, he was sleeping tucked in underneath the bed in the complete dark, so perhaps he didn’t like the sound of my pen against the paper. At the lack of response from me, perhaps Avery felt the need to elaborate.
- Toothbrush.
- Oh! They didn’t give you one?
He simply shook his head. I couldn’t help but let out a tsk-sound in annoyance, not towards him, but at the fact that the idiots who’d been tasked to arrange clothes for the boy hadn’t thought of something as mundane as a toothbrush. The small sound had made the smaller boy visibly shy away from me, making me fumble with my words in order to reassure him that I was in fact not angry at him, but at the school who had not thought of giving him one. At this his tensed shoulders relaxed slightly, his eyes no longer watching the carpet in deep interest.
- I can’t believe they haven’t thought of such things. Do you have any spare clothes? I have an extra toothbrush you can have.
I didn’t bother looking for confirmation from the smaller boy, knowing he would very likely not answer, or just nod in response. I had quickly made my way towards the small cupboard that held most of my personal possessions including clothes and essentials such as extra toothbrushes, hair and skin products to name a few. I picked out a toothbrush, bar of soap, and a clean t-shirt for him to sleep in. I closed the door to the cupboard, walking over to Avery and handing over the items. He looked down at them, inspecting each one carefully before he once again looked up to meet my eyes.
- Thank you.
- You’re welcome. I will speak with the dorm mother first thing tomorrow morning and get everything sorted, until then don’t hesitate if there is anything else you need.
A simple nod is all I got in response, not to my surprise, though I could almost make out what seemed to be genuine gratefulness, somewhere deep in his eyes; before the boy turned his eyes away once more to walk into the ensuite bathroom, closing the door behind him. We didn’t exchange any more words between each other as we made ourselves ready to go to bed for the night. After spitting and washing out any leftover toothpaste from my mouth, I had walked back into the room only to see Avery retreating back underneath the bed, only getting a glimpse of his pale feet as he once again retreated back into his little hideout. I didn’t bother saying goodnight as I went over to my desk and turned off the light, our room suddenly engulfed in complete darkness, though it made no real difference, as my sight was perfectly fine in the dark. I let myself sense the other boy’s presence, listening in on his steady heartbeat and slow breaths from underneath the bed. It was almost calming to hear another living creature in this room, after months of complete silence. The sounds of the steady beat of his heart pumping out blood into his veins, and the evening out of his quiet breathes slowly but surely lulling me into sleep.
It must have been a few hours later into the night that I awoke from my dreams of running along a rushing river, chasing the sun across sharp rocks along its shore. My body was jerked awake by the sound of my own teeth clattering together. It was cold, very cold.
I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, eyes naturally readjusted to the complete darkness still surrounding me. I looked over towards where I could smell the natural scent of dew on cut grass and the old pine forest on the other side of the wall where my window faced. The window itself was wide open, letting in the chilly september air to the room, cooling it severely. The sounds of the forest outside, branches moving to the occasional gust of wind rattling the leaves. A sudden rush of cold realization washed over me, making my gut wrench in worry.
I couldn’t hear his heartbeat.
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