ALL NOVEL Chapter 15 (l’etranger )
[Iris] “Hello, and who are you?
I crooked out each syllable like I was speaking to an alien. My voice was no more than an unsteady rasp sore from disuse. It was hard to tell if my words had any effect on the girl, dressed in some sort of barista outfit, who was pressed against the corner of the room as if she wished to escape into it. She glanced at me with beady eyes that were on the verge of tears, I can’t say I was ever any good at social interaction, but somehow I felt wronged at such an aggrieved reaction to me just saying hello. Scenes from before I died flashed in my mind as I tried to think of anything that resembled this situation; however, the more I thought, the more depressed I got. Anytime I got into intense situations they had a tendency to go poorly, I'm really not good at this kind of thing, huh?
I was a little disappointed that so many life and death experiences had done nothing to strengthen me in this area, but why was I the one having to break the ice here in the first place? It’s not like I even knew where I was. If anything, I should just let this person introduce themselves. Yeah, they might be cowering for the moment, but if I remember right, it’s not like my new face was anything special, but it shouldn’t be ugly much less scary. They’ll probably come around any moment now, right?
Steeling myself to do absolutely nothing, I laughed at myself for earlier thinking I was socially incompetent, wasn’t it clear this was the best way to handle things, I’ll just leave everything to the girl shaking in front of me, aren't I responsible.
At this thought, my eyes glazed down at my body, catching the clothes I was wearing in my line of sight. Upon seeing them, my mood immediately soured, and I stood up without thinking.
Ahh, when I was fighting the ants, the state of my clothing had been in disarray, but now having returned to what appeared to be civilization, it was no wonder that this girl took so much offense.
My thoughts were interrupted as the girl, apparently freighted from my sudden moments, let out an ear-piercing screech as a shimmering glass came spinning rapidly towards me.
Before I had time to register what was happening, my hand had already reached up to intercept the object. Meeting my hand with a crash; the glass shattered, sending shards of glass flying about the room.
Did I just get hit by something? It didn’t really hurt so it was hard for me to tell what happened. Glancing over I saw the remains of the object on the ground, it was obviously a typical cheap, drinking glass. Huh, yeah, definitely just got hit by a glass. I turned my head to look back at the girl, her mouth hanging open in a comically stunned expression. Her arm was bent towards the ground, an open palm at its end. This girl really just threw a glass at me?!. Wait a moment, that’s not the way I should be thinking. What kind of crazy guy, just assaults someone as soon as they wake up? I mean, for starters, I don’t even know where I am. Shouldn’t I be the one freaking out here? I get it my clothes are a little disheveled, but for goodness' sake, all I did was stand up. What’d she want me to do, lay there like a corpse forever!
My internal rant aside, I didn’t utter any protest at her action, only letting out a small noise of dissatisfaction, while I wanted to start yelling I needed to be diplomatic considering the circumstances. Distracting myself from my current frustrations, I examined my injuries. Where the glass struck my hand, there was a small cut, slowly dripping blood, but even as I looked at the wound, new skin was slowly closing up the gap. I didn’t get very far into puzzling about my now non-existent wound before a voice drew my attention.
[Mairam] “Hey umm, sorry about it; you just surprised me, you know; it just slipped out of my hands, and well, you're not hurt anyway, so no harm, right, oh and that was really cool how you deflected that glass, um you’re really ok right, you’re not bleeding are you, well um I’ll just um go get some help so don’t move ok!?”
The girl, looked at me as if she had been the one who just got hit, quickly stuttered out her words as she inched towards the door, her eyes having an odd mix of fear and concern. following her movements with my eyes, I let out an internal sigh. This really was going to be more difficult than I thought; clearly, I was not going to get anywhere here without being direct. Might as well start with what I need to know most right now.
[Iris Sinclaire] “Where am I?” My voice came out as little more than a whisper. Despite this, the girl stopped and looked at me, her expression a little strange. Apparently coming to a resolution, she hesitantly spoke.
[Mairam]: “You're, well, you're... at my shop. I, umm, dragged you here, and... Sorry, that probably doesn’t mean anything to you. We're still on 33rd Street. Right beside the alleyway you passed out in; you at least remember that much, right?”
.Listening intently to what she said, my mind flashed back to what happened before I came to, the images of that strange dream and the light rapidly passed through my brain, I guess after I was swallowed by the light I somehow ended up in the alleyway but that didn't make any sense to me, plus she didn’t mention any flash of light so I wasn’t really sure. My mind was a mess with things to consider, not able to think of a suitable response. I shook my head meekly replying.
[Iris Sinclaire] “I... I don’t remember much other then that my name is Iris.”
The girl's green eyes were now locked with mine, her eyes communicating that we had apparently reached a mutual understanding of the difficulty of this situation. She stared at me blankly for a second, deep in thought before her brow twitched, and a sudden spark of epiphany lit up her face. I didn’t know what kind of conclusion she had reached, but I had a feeling it was far from the truth. I was a little worried what thought could make someone change their tone so drastically.
[Mairam]: “I can’t believe someone would do something so cruel to another person.” The rest of her words came out in a mumble.
[Mairam]: “I know that high society can be dark... isn’t this a bit... she must have escaped... I can’t call the police; for all I know, they could be working for those... she must not want to tell me...”
As she loosely mumble something disturbing, she stepped forwards. Trying to back away from the girl, I ended up hitting the bed behind me, stopping my retreat. As she got closer I could tell clearly she was a bit smaller, but somehow that gaze peering up at me with such intensity caused me to step back further, tripping over the edge of the bed I ended up once again laying down, this time peering up at the girl in a reverse of the situation when I first awoke.
[Mairam]: “My name’s Mairam, by the way. Don’t worry; you don’t have to tell me yours if you don’t want to. I completely understand what you’re going through!.”
I nodded my head a bit blankly at the girl, I guess I should be happy that she understood so well, as I for one had no idea what she was talking about. At least I was grateful to be given the opportunity to not talk about myself, as frankly, this body was a stranger even to me. Still, I should probably say something so she doesn’t go too far off track.
[Iris Sinclaire]:, I think you’re misunderstanding something about me. I’m just a normal person.
Leaning closer to me the girl cupped my hands in hers, holding tightly as she looked at me with pleading eyes, which were filled with pity, as if she was looking at some kind of abandoned animal. It was hard to say I was a fan of those eyes, despite how I looked now. On the inside, I still held my pride as a well-to-do salaryman... a hardworking. . . a salaryman of a decent compan. . . somebody who had just fought hard to survive. Yeah, let’s go with that. Hopefully, my ancestors don’t look down on me for abandoning my old life so easily.
The girl seemed to be a bit overzealous, my blank silence only seeming to encourage more of whatever strange thought had developed in the girl's head. Suddenly, she stuck one of her fingers swiftly in the air, as if declaring some grand idea, stating proudly.
[Mariam]: “Don’t worry! You can work here, and you can help me around the shop, greet customers, and, ooh, once we’re done, we can talk about stuff, watch TV, and chat while drinking coffee…”
She continued to drone on like this for a surprising amount of time, but the rate at which she talked and the enthusiasm with which she said it caused me to lose track of what she was saying almost immediately. My eyes started to follow her finger, which she waved about excitedly in front of me, as if I was falling into a trance. My train of thought started to get a bit messy, constantly interrupted by a new stream of words.
Finally, having had enough of her performance, I cleared my throat, trying to indicate concisely that I wanted a turn to speak, while locking eyes with her. Her face quickly began to turn crimson, clearly aware that she had overdone it. Frowning a little, I raised a finger in front of her face as I began my best attempt at deflection to her sudden attempt at press-ganging.
[Iris Sinclaire]: “One moment you’re moving a bit too fas. . .”
Before I could even begin an explanation, she suddenly wrapped her arms around me in what I could only guess was a hug. Though my body still tensed at her sudden movement so close, almost instinctively trying to shelter my neck, I raised my shoulders, creating a rather awkward posture for us both. This reaction seemed to cause some movement within the overactive girl as she only tightened around me further. As it was clear she didn’t intend to let go anytime soon, I gave up on resisting her, relaxing my shoulders, allowing her to more properly hug me.
Seemingly satisfied with this, she relaxed her grip on me as well, which, while more comfortable to me, did not make my emotions any less strained at the strangeness of the girl. But out of compassion for the kindness she had shown me by taking me in even if she had erm, immediately assaulted me, and truthfully having no better idea of what else to do, I had tolerated it, but her continued closeness started to make me uncomfortable, so lightly I started to push her away, this feeling was only worsened as she suddenly started whispering gently in my ear, as if to comfort me.
[Mariam]: “I don’t know what you went through up until now, but don’t worry; you don’t have to be afraid anymore. Everything’s going to be okay. No, sorry, I shouldn’t say something like that. I don’t know if it’ll be okay, but I’ll do my best to make things better!”
Saying this in a sweet voice, as if coaxing a child, she withdrew her lips from my ears, pulling her face in front of me. She began to smile brightly, as if satisfied with something. Honestly, I guess she wasn’t completely mistaken about me having gone through a bit of trouble so far, but somehow I think there was a fundamental misunderstanding as to what type of problems were plaguing me.
With my continued silence, her smile slowly started to fade as she once again took to grasping my hand firmly, staring up at me with sparkling eyes. Seeing those eyes staring at me so full of expectation, somehow I couldn’t bring myself to spoil her thoughts. Pulling my hands gently from her arms, I nodded with a bemused expression, as I stretched out one of my own hands, gently shaking hers. The gentle warmth of this moment seemed to get to her as she hastily pulled her hands away from my own, her face brightening up further, as she turned away, running out of the room suddenly as if she had forgotten something.