Read Sciamachy :: Chapter 2

Neko woke up later than usual, her alarm clock silent as the rain fell softly outside, creating a peaceful white noise which was broken occasionally by a car driving past or the conversation of people walking by. She sat up and stretched, looking over to the floor beside her bed - the creature still lay there, now wrapped up in the blanket so that only its head was visible. Perhaps the blanket was smaller than necessary to keep the creature warm, but it seemed okay - it would probably wake up soon, anyways. Neko hesitantly got up out of bed on the opposite side, and realized the house was very cold, and she hadn't changed out of her work clothes the night before.

Neko walked over to her closet and changed into her favorite light blue sweater, which, in her opinion, was the softest shirt she owned, and instead of her work jeans, put on a pair of pajama pants and walked into the bathroom across from her room to brush her teeth. After she was done, she took a peek at the still sleeping creature beside her bed and headed downstairs into the living room. She contemplated opening the curtains, but decided against it, as the rain clouds would most likely be hiding any sunlight that might show. She turned around, walking into the kitchen to make coffee, and by the time she was finished starting the coffee machine, the creature had made its way quietly downstairs and stood in the doorway that connected the living room and kitchen, watching her silently - the blanket it had slept in now draped around its shoulders like a cape. Neko turned and looked at the creature, noticing that its body wasn't hardly blurry at all anymore; Now the soft beige fur that covered its body was clearly visible, making the creature look like some kind of giant stuffed animal, though long jointed claws stuck out from its fluffy hands like chopstick-shaped fingers. Neko smiled, "You look different today." The thing looked down at its body and paw-like feet, slightly tilting its head in curiosity. Neko walked into the living room and sat on the couch, looking at the thing through the paneless window to the kitchen. On one of the counters in the kitchen, the coffee maker sat, emitting steam and water noises as it brewed coffee. The thing walked near to it, and, not noticing that Neko had been watching, held its hand above the steam and looked at the small machine with interest. Neko laughed softly and stood, walking leisurely back into the kitchen.

"Is the coffee done?" She asked the thing, standing beside it as it watched the steam rise and disappear. "Takes a while, doesn't it?" Neko peered into the coffee pot, the drip-drip-drip of the machine filling it began to stop. Neko took a pink coffee mug out of one of the upper cupboards and filled it with coffee, then took it into the living room and placed it on the table in front of the sofa, sitting down to scroll on her phone as the coffee cooled. The thing followed her into the living room and sat beside her, watching the steam rise above the coffee. After a few minutes, Neko reached over and picked up the coffee cup - carefully taking a drink and looking over towards the front door, rain still pouring relentlessly outside - then put the cup back down.

"Hopefully the rain lets up soon, I need to return my book I got from the library.." Neko sighed, sitting back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. "How are you?" She asked, looking over at the thing, who now was looking confusedly at the coffee cup, as it had cooled enough to no longer produce steam. The thing lifted its hand above the cup, tilting its head slightly and making a sort of dissatisfied groan.

"I see. Not really happy about the coffee cooling off?" Neko smiled, "Well.. I wanna drink it, and I can't do that if it's so hot it's gonna burn me."

The thing pulled its hand back and sat looking thoughtfully over at Neko, its hollow unblinking eyeholes still didn't bother her at all. Neko reached up towards the thing's tall head, "I wonder if.." She hesitantly placed her hand on the thing's head, and although she could feel something there, there wasn't much resistance until her hand went right through it. The thing wasn't hurt by this, nor did any change occur to its head or face at all, but Neko felt as if her hand was moving through water, and her hand tingled as if it had fallen asleep. She pulled her hand back, and the tingly feeling went away after a few seconds. "That's uh.." Neko looked at her hand for a moment, then back at the thing. "Weird." About a minute passed of awkward silence, when Neko heard music coming from somewhere in the distance outside, a cheerful song slowly growing louder. Neko bolted up and ran to the front door, putting on her pink rain coat and boots, and rushing outside - grabbing an umbrella on the way out.

She stood outside her front door under the blue plastic umbrella, bobbing up and down with a massive cheerful grin. A minute or two passed by, and Neko watched as a white and yellow ice cream truck drove down her street, stopping in front of her. "Emily!" Neko shouted, sprinting over to the truck. A tall brown haired girl a few years older than Neko rolled down the front window; "Where've you been? And why are you driving around out here selling ice cream in the rain?" Neko asked excitedly.

"Oh, I'm not really trying to sell ice cream today, unless someone does wanna come out here, I won't stop anyone. I mostly came by to say hi, also I have something for you." Emily unbuckled her seatbelt and disappeared into the back of the truck for a minute, returning with a white popsicle shaped like a cat's head. It had two blue gumballs for eyes, and a little double-u shaped mouth, and a triangle nose drawn crookedly on it with pink food dye.

"Aawwww, thanks!" Neko said, taking the popsicle.

"So, uh, what've you been doin'? Still workin' at that bakery?" The girl asked.

"Yeah, why? It's fun, and I get to listen to music and smell cake all day." Neko said, taking a bite off the poposicle.

"Alright, it just seems kinda boring to me, y'know? Don't you wanna work somewhere more exciting? You could come work with me, climbing up really high sometimes - fixing lights and stuff." Emily paused, thinking for a moment. "Oh! You shoulda seen what I found yesterday! There was this huge spider, like, the size of my hand! Built a little web nest in a street light I was replacing."

"Uhhh..." Neko looked very disturbed, "What did you do with it? I hope it's dead.."

"Oh, I left it there."

"You what!? euugghhh.."

"Your face!" Emily giggled. "What? I wasn't gonna hurt it or anything, it was probably protecting us from stupid mosquitos and bugs that actually bother people."

Neko was still making a horrid face at the thought of such a creature even existing.

"Wellll.. How've you been, anyhow? Anything fun happen while you were out cake-smelling?"

"Cake-smelling? Oh, actually, yesterday something weird did happen. There was this thing outside my window in the morning - well, not exactly outside my window? more like down the street, but it was looking at me all weird."

"What, like some creep guy or something?"

"Not exactly, later in the day I saw it again by the park across from the bakery, but when I got close it disappeared - then after I got home it appeared in my room and-"

"What!? So some weird guy followed you home or something? What happened?"

"I was getting to that.." Neko grumbled.

"Eheh, sorry."

"Anyways, it wasn't dangerous or anything, didn't even try to come near me until I approached it, and it just wanted a hug, then I let it stay and sleep on the floor next to my bed." Neko said, chewing on a gumball.

"Huh?? So what is it, a sasquatch or something? Wait-" Emily paused, looking thoughtful, "Can everyone see it? It disappeared, too, right?"

"Yeah, it did, I'm not sure if anyone else can see it? We haven't really gone outside since yesterday."

"Can you get it to come out here? What's its name? I wanna see." Emily peered behind Neko for a moment.

"It, doesn't really have a name I don't think? It doesn't really talk so I can't ask it. I'll see if I can get it outside though." Neko ran back to the front door, "One moment!" She shouted before opening the door and going inside.

"Hey! You in here?" She called out, looking around the room and wandering into the kitchen, where the thing stood, looking at the coffee maker. "Hey, there you are. I have a friend outside who wants to see you!" Neko said excitedly. The thing looked over at the front door, and disappeared for a second, appearing next to it. Neko carefully sidestepped out of the kitchen, careful not to bump the open umbrella she was holding against the partition, and opened the door, sprinting outside. The thing hesitantly followed behind her, looking up at the rain clouds and watching water fall from the sky. Emily looked around, "Did you get it to come outside?" She said.

"Yeah, can you not see it?" Neko said, slightly confused, as the thing stood behind her.

"I can't, hmmmm.." Emily paused. "It's definitely a Follower then, and a young one, too."

"Huh? Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I can't see any other reason why you might be able to see it if no one else can. If you don't know a lot about them you could probably look some stuff up. Lemme know if I can see it, if you become close enough with it I'm sure it'll be soon."

"Okie-dokie, how do I tell if other people can see it though?" Neko asked, finishing the rest of the popsicle and now blowing bubbles with gum equivalent to two gumballs.

"You should be able to see its reflection in mirrors and stuff once it's matured enough to be visible."

"Okay." Neko looked behind her at the thing, who was still watching the rain, fascinated. "I'm gonna go back inside I think, it's cold out here."

"Alrighty, I'll see you later? If the rain stops maybe we can go hang out or something, if you're down with that." Emily smiled, slowly rolling up her window.

"Yep!" Neko walked back in front of the door, waving as Emily drove away, the ice cream song disappearing into the rain and Neko and the thing went back inside.

Neko took off her boots and hung up her coat, putting the umbrella back in its rack. The thing stood awkwardly beside her, unsure what to do with itself. Neko wandered over to the couch and plopped down, then immediately got up, sprinting upstairs to her room. The thing followed, wondering what Neko was up to. She got her phone from her bedside table and went back downstairs onto the couch, the thing still following.

"Let's see what I can find about you." Neko said, and she sat researching on websites about Followers for quite a while. The thing became bored after a few minutes, soon wandering into the kitchen again, trying carefully to open a drawer and close it again. Neko was soon annoyed by the repeated noises and got up, walking into the kitchen. "What are you doing..?" She asked, standing beside the thing, watching it open and close the drawer. "It's kinda distracting, and noisy, also why?" The thing closed the drawer and withrew its hand back to its side, looking away from Neko apologetically. Neko stood in thought for a moment, then spoke. "Maybe there's something we can do together? I didn't find too much online about you but I did find that if we're better acquainted you'll be able to do more stuff, like lift things." The thing seemed uninterested and Neko could tell that it felt sad. "...And give better hugs? I think you like hugs, right?" Neko smiled and stepped closer to the front of the thing, looking up at its face as it thought for a moment, then smiled suddenly and wrapped its fluffy arms around Neko. Neko hugged back, burying her face in the chest of the warm creature. A few seconds passed and after Neko's attempt at being freed from the hug, the thing reluctantly put its arms back down, and Neko could tell that it was happy again.