Partial

by Halira

Chapter 3: First Contact

After spending some good quality time with her hubby, Rebecca went to sleep. It was time to work.

It seemed the meeting area for their avatars had not been set to anything. That was a little surprising. It meant she must have been the first to fall asleep, and the three dead-ums were waiting on her to set something. She would not let this opportunity go to waste; she quickly set the stage.

Arbiter appeared in her typical angel-partial form and looked around at Rebecca's setting.

"Is this the Mushroom Kingdom from Super Mario Brothers? That you chose a silly setting isn't surprising, but I expected you to do something food-related," Arbiter said dryly.

"Who says it isn't?" Rebecca replied as she picked up a mushroom and ate it.

Ghadab appeared in his pony form and scowled at their surroundings. "Yet another place the tub of lard can eat, and she has the nerve to call herself the Warden of Creativity. She should be called the Warden of Gluttony. Though I suppose it is better than whatever our other sister and brother might have come up with."

Yinyu appeared next, in her standard seapony-dragon form, rainbow scales glistening. "Do you remember the last one Phobia set? A table and room for a formal business meeting has to be the most boring thing I've encountered. We can create any setting we wish, and she goes with that. Give me bright and colorful mushrooms any day."

The Warden of Order appeared in his typical plague doctor outfit. He looked around.

"It seems that The Marshmallow has beaten me here. Do you think you can give me the privilege of letting me set the setting since I'm preparing for my retirement?" the newcomer asked.

"You know the rules, Avy. You don't snooze; you lose," Rebecca chirped gleefully.

"But this place is covered in mushrooms. Mushrooms are fungus, which indicates something dirty and disease filled– and please stop calling me Avy," The Warden of Order protested.

"Don't let him change the setting. He'll change it to something sterile looking," Ghadab warned.

Phobia appeared then, looking as she did in the waking world. She, too, looked around, examining what she had slept into.

"Rebecca made it here first; I'm guessing," Phobia said as she sat down on a particularly large toadstool.

"I was trying to convince her to change it," the Warden of Order explained.

Phobia shook her head. "We agreed that whoever among us that still lived that arrived first for a meeting gets to pick the setting. If this is what makes her happy, this is what we're going with. We've saddled her with many more duties as of late, partly because of your impending retirement. We can endure her flights of fancy."

"Yeah, I had to sit in on a meeting with those Pentagon jerks. They were rude and didn't even accept cookies from me!" Rebecca said with a huff.

The Warden of Order tilted his head. "How did you manage to get them to let you bring cookies through security there?"

"I snuck them in," she replied with a grin.

"How did you sneak anything through that much-" he began, then shook his head. "Forget it; I don't want to know."

"There are some secrets it is best that Dreamwardens don't know," Arbiter said.

"Agreed," Phobia chimed in.

"Agreed," Ghadab said with a look of disgust.

"Let's count this as a vote for Rebecca not telling us," Yinyu said. Everyone but Rebecca nodded in agreement.

Arbiter looked up at a red Koopa flying overhead, raised her staff, and fired a perfect replica of a Super Mario fireball at the thing. The flying turtle vanished in a pop when the pixelated fireball connected.

Ghadab raised an eyebrow at her. "Really?"

Arbiter shrugged as she lowered her staff. "I was a bit of a gamer when I was a teen. Why waste the setting?"

"If there aren't many new developments, I request we keep this meeting brief. My newest grandfoal is due anytime now. I don't want to miss his birth," Phobia said as she examined her toadstool. "I also expect my daughter to announce her pregnancy soon, and I don't want to miss that either."

Rebecca blinked. "Arachne is pregnant already? I didn't realize that. She's been married, what, two months?"

Phobia nodded. "A little filly, although she doesn't want any of us to tell her the sex. I'm soon to be awash in grandfoals."

"Still holding with just the one here. I hope I get to see more," Yinyu said, a tinge of sadness in her voice. They all looked down in shared worry. Thinking about the coming Devourers killed the mood.

"On to business so we can accommodate our sister's family obligations," Arbiter announced. "Rebecca, I'm assuming the meeting with the generals went without a hiccup? I've detected a few dreams of others who have seen the plans."

"Yeah, other than them being rude. They planted a listening device on me, but I caught it before they could hear anything," Rebecca answered.

"That was bold of them," Ghadab said with a whistle. "Surely there is some retribution we can take."

Phobia shook her head. "No, let the lawyers sort it out. There is already a court case pending. They are beneath our concern."

"I don't think it is appropriate for them to disrespect us so," Ghadab continued to protest. "Back in Sha'am's day-"

"Everyone was afraid of us and wouldn't dare, I know," Phobia nodded. "And we have worked hard to dispel that fear, nineteen years of trying to undo the damage she did. We need the people to trust us. They won't trust us if they fear us. Don't forget how you ended up dead, brother. The nations were ready to let you die to eliminate her and the terror she represented."

Ghadab turned away. "Believe me; I have not forgotten the injustice."

"No retribution other than the courts it is," Arbiter agreed. "I think Yinyu and Rebecca will agree, so we have a soft vote saying as much."

Rebecca and Yinyu nodded in agreement.

Ghadab muttered incoherently before responding. "I still don't like it. I will consider retributions and present them for consideration when I'm ready. I'm sure I can devise something to satisfy your need to keep the public from being afraid of us."

"You are welcome to do so, brother, and we shall give you the time to present your ideas when you are ready so we can formally vote on the matter," Arbiter replied. She then looked at the Warden of Order. "Moving on, do we have any developments with your potential replacements? I know they all just settled into the university in Berlin, but we all recall how our last such selection went."

The human Dreamwarden shook his head. "Nothing of note so far. It is, as you say, they just moved in. I have taken precautions so they don't all find out about each other before their trip to Equestria. I will not allow a repeat of the fiasco that happened with Rebecca and her fellow candidates when Psychic Calm was retiring."

"I'm still bummed that my candidate for the job isn't one of the five in the running," Rebecca said as she took a bite from another mushroom.

"Your candidate was in no way in the spirit of what role I play," the Warden of Order replied. "And you picked a pony when we need to maintain at least one human in our ranks."

"Well, you also wanted them from Asia, Europe, or Africa, and I don't know much about the humans over there," Rebecca protested. "I went with what I know."

"Understandable, but not what we were looking for," the Warden of Order replied.

Yinyu giggled. "Ghadab and I have already placed our bets. I'm looking forward to another song from him."

Arbiter grinned. "As am I."

Ghadab spread his wings and hissed. "None of you will be laughing when you lose this one and are forced to sing Ya Lili. I'm going to enjoy it."

Rebecca was a little unhappy she wasn't in that betting pool, but she honestly had no idea what candidate might win, and she was scared of what she might be forced to sing if she placed her bets incorrectly. Some of her fellow Dreamwardens had unique tastes.

"Oh, I do have something else to report. Jessica Middleton told Jonathan to tell us that she needs to take a break and she'd resume her work when she was ready," Rebecca announced.

Arbiter crossed her arms. "it's about time. My niece works herself much too hard. I'd have hoped she would have done this years ago or, better yet, set clear boundaries. Yet she still allows us to push her around."

"If she's not willing to stand up for herself, I'm more than willing to exploit her. We must take advantage of every tool we have," Ghadab said.

"Not if we end up breaking that tool in the process," Arbiter hissed.

Rebecca grinned sheepishly. "I may have kept badgering her for updates lately to push her into taking a break. I did drop her a hint about what she was looking for too."

Phobia glared at her. "We don't want that getting out until we're ready for it to get out. Too many would try to exploit it, and we cannot afford such a crisis. I'm unhappy that my mother is even involved in designing a spell to try to move it. Hopefully, Triss can keep her ambitions in check."

"Triss keeping ambitions in check? Good luck with that. The dragon stokes them in her quest to see the first Earthling alicorn," Yinyu scoffed. "It falls to us to watch your mother. Luckily your mother's self-loathing should keep Triss from making any headway in getting an alicorn, at least, not your mother, but your mother isn't the only pony Triss has access to. We've already had one close call."

Phobia frowned. "That close call was more our fault than Triss's. We should admit our mistakes and learn from them."

"I still hate associating with the junk peddler," Ghadab muttered.

Arbiter nodded. "As do we all, but Triss's aid is too invaluable. No mage can compare to that dragon. We need her to help mages craft the spells we need for the undertaking ahead. The risk she presents pales in comparison to the Devourers. We have a mutual enemy. You know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"For now," Ghadab muttered.

"Discussing our alliance with Triss and our misgivings about her is unproductive to our time unless anyone has something new to add to the conversation that hasn't been said a thousand times. Does anyone have anything new?" Arbiter asked as she looked at each of them.

Rebecca shook her head. All the others did as well, though some were visibly reluctant.

"We move on then," Arbiter said firmly, banging her staff on the ground.

"How long will Doctor Middleton be on sabbatical?" the Warden of Order asked. "I agree she needs rest, but this job is important, and I know no one more capable than her to do it. Otherwise, I would be enlisting them."

Rebecca shrugged. "Don't know. I know some buttons of hers to push if she takes too long. If that doesn't work, there's always bribery. Let the girl have a break. We can worry about it if this extends for months."

"Bribery?!" Ghadab laughed. "What are you going to bribe the girl with, cookies? She has shown little interest in material wealth."

Rebecca smiled back at him sweetly. "I can get creative."

---

Jessica rubbed her arms as she followed her dad through the hospital corridors. She'd managed to avoid hospitals in favor of some smaller clinics for the past thirteen years. The last time she had been in a hospital, she had hooves, and she had been on life support. The time before that, she had been a premature human baby and had been on life support. Actually, no, there had been the time between when her mother was giving birth to her little brother, but hospitals still triggered uncomfortable memories. People came to hospitals to get well, but being in one made her feel sick.

What she heard didn't make things any easier. As they walked through the halls, she was bombarded by labored breathing, heartbeats that didn't beat correctly, stomachs that made far too much noise, whimpers of pain, crying, retch-

"Are you okay? You seem a bit on edge."

"Yeah, I don't think anyone enjoys being in a hospital. I'll be alright," she replied to her dad, forcing her hands down to her sides so she wasn't rubbing her arms anymore. "Let's meet this kid. I'm sure he doesn't enjoy hospitals any more than I do."

He nodded and fell into a walk beside her, absently rubbing at his beard. "I have to come by the hospitals now and again for cases, but this is the first time we've gone into a hospital just the two of us. Your mother and I never discuss it, but the last time I was hurt and had to go to a hospital was because of you."

She jerked her head to look at him. "That can't be true. I would remember it."

He chuckled. "You've got a remarkable memory, but even you can't remember being less than a month old."

A nurse walked by, and Jessica heard the nurse's heart quicken as they looked at her. She resisted the urge to go back to rubbing her arms.

"What happened?" she asked. "I'm guessing I was surging if I was that young."

"Yeah, you surged and kicked me in the ribs, cracking them," he answered, rubbing his chest. "I'm ashamed to admit; I got scared. Your mother and I separated briefly, and she took you and your brother and left for Riverview, planning to start a new life there without me."

"I never knew," she whispered, unsure how to feel about this revelation. They'd obviously gotten back together, and the separation probably wasn't entirely her fault– though she may have been the final straw. Her image of her dad was someone who had always been there supporting her, and this didn't fit well with that image at all.

"I'm not telling you this to open up old wounds," her dad continued. "I want you to understand that parents sometimes get scared and don't know what to do. Sometimes they get scared enough to run. It doesn't mean they don't love their kids. I want you to remember that when you meet Mark and think of how he got into the situation he is in now, even if it excuses nothing. We want a reunion where they form a happy family like we did, but we must find out what we can about his parents and their condition to determine if that is possible."

"So, you want me to get him to talk about his parents?" she asked.

"Let's start with getting him to talk at all. We do want to find out about any other family. Even if his grandmother wakes up, we don't know if she can care for him," her dad answered. "And even though I'm confident she had good intentions, she might lose custody even if she wakes. It's a complicated case, and you don't need to worry about the details. We need him talking."

They walked by the nurses' desk, and one of the nurses, a unicorn mare, looked up and shouted at them.

"Mister Middleton, I have to unlock the door to let you in the room."

They stopped, and her dad walked over to the desk.

"Why is the door locked? He isn't dangerous. He's a small child. He's too young to be using magic," her dad asked as he reached the desk.

The nurse gave Jessica a wary look before turning back towards her dad. "Mark made four escape attempts from the hospital last night. We tried strapping him to the bed, but he managed to get out of the straps– injuring himself in the process. We don't have the staff to guard him. Locking the door was the only humane option to keep him in his room and safe."

Her dad frowned. "I didn't get any notification about escape attempts. I'm shocked; with his gait, I would assume that it would be difficult."

"We knew someone would be coming by this morning and managed to contain him, so we didn't feel it was necessary to call your office," the nurse explained. "He can move surprisingly fast, but it seems painful for him to do it. He has some deep abrasions on his arms after squeezing through the straps, and he dislocated his shoulder. Despite these injuries, he still made it to the end of the hall before we caught him. The dislocation we were able to fix, and we bandaged his arms."

"A four-year-old did that?" Jessica asked in shock.

The nurse looked at her again and flicked her ears. "Are you one of Mark's relatives? His mother, perhaps?"

"No, this is my daughter, Jessica. She's here to act as a consultant," her dad said before she could answer. Her ears laid back as he did. She was capable of speaking for herself.

The nurse gestured to a clipboard with a pen. "You'll need to sign in as a guest."

Jessica picked up the clipboard and pen and signed her name before setting it back down. The nurse glanced at the clipboard, then did a double take, looked at her, looked at the clipboard, and then grinned back at her.

"Jessica Middleton? I know who you are!" the nurse said excitedly.

Jessica smiled, and her ears picked back up.

"You're the person from that movie!"

Her ears instantly flattened again.

The nurse picked up on her mood and shrank back. "Did I say something wrong? Are you not that person? I'm sorry. It's just a weird coincidence you're a partial, and your name is Jessica Middleton."

She rubbed her forehead, taking a moment to relax, then smiled and lowered her hand.

"I am the person that character is based on. I haven't seen the movie, but I assume they took some liberties. I prefer to be remembered for Middleton's Law."

"What's that? Is it like Murphy's Law?" the nurse asked.

Why do I bother? I'm going to be remembered for that movie till the day I die. She lamented in her head.

"It's a law of physics," she answered, trying to keep smiling and keeping her tail and ears under control hurt.

The nurse's mood brightened up. "Oh, that's cool. You should really see the movie; it's really good. It won like four Oscars."

"Five," her dad corrected. "Best Picture, Best Special Effects, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Score, and Best Makeup."

She frowned at her father. "You've seen it?"

He looked away and scratched at his beard. "Well, Daniel Radcliffe played me, and I was a huge Harry Potter fan back in the day. How could I turn up seeing myself portrayed by him? The scene where my character decked Sunset Blessing in the face was great."

"Did you ever punch Auntie in the face?" she asked. She was sure she would have heard about that.

He shook his head. "No…they took some creative license. It was still great to watch. Anyway, we're off track. Let's focus on Mark."

The nurse levitated the keys and looked at some camera feeds. "He's awake and looking out the window." She hopped down from her stool. "Let me go get the door for you. Just help block it when it opens. He might try to make a break for it. Please don't underestimate how fast he can move when he wants to. He gallops."

That made sense. He might not be able to move around like a proper human or pony, but if he was hunched over, he might move more like a monkey, and monkeys could gallop. This wasn't someone trapped in an unfamiliar body. This was all he had ever known, and he was adapted to it.

They followed her two more doors down the hallway and stood close behind her to make a wall as she opened the door. The unicorn braced herself as she cracked the door. Jessica heard whoever was within move. Mark was fast, based on where she heard the sounds. He had been on the far side of the room and was now somewhere near the center of the room, and it had only taken him a little over a second to move from one to the other. He must be hiding behind or under the bed.

"Mark? You've got guests. It's nice Mister Middleton, and he brought a visitor you might like," the nurse called out as she cracked the door open. Mark's heart was beating fast, and he was holding his breath.

"I hear him. He's hiding behind the bed. We can get this from here," Jessica informed the nurse.

The nurse looked up at her in surprise. "Wow, you have excellent hearing, not like a human. These rooms are sound-insulated. I just barely heard him moving around."

Calm down. She doesn't know she's saying all the wrong things to you. Don't get mad at the friendly nurse. Jessica scolded herself. Still, she had had enough of this nurse. She focused her magic.

AAAAAAAARRRRRROOOOOOOO

Her dad and the nurse both jumped at the sound.

"What?! What is that?!" the nurse shouted.

Jessica smiled. "Sounds like some sort of alarm back at your desk. You better go check it out."

"I don't have any alarm that sounds like that!" the nurse yelled as she hurried back to her desk.

Her dad gave her a dirty look. "Jessie…"

She spread her hands. "What? She's a nice pony, but she was driving me nuts. I was worried that I was going to end up telling her off. This was easier. Don't worry; I ensured that only the three of us heard that, so I didn't disturb any patients."

"It was still an immature thing to do. We'll discuss it later," her dad said as he walked by her and entered the room. She had no choice but to follow, shutting the door firmly behind her once she was through.

The room was a reasonably standard hospital room. There were two beds, neither of which was occupied at the moment. Some medical equipment that she wasn't sure of the use. A small table with a trio of stools was placed near the window, and another small table with a trio of Ottoman tools was set just to their right against the wall. There were two other doors which she assumed were a closet and a bathroom. Two televisions adorned the wall in front of each bed, with a drawn-back privacy curtain. Mark was nowhere to be seen, but she heard his heartbeat and knew he was hiding under the farther away bed, despite the fact it seemed very low to the floor. She and her dad wouldn't be able to squeeze under either bed. She doubted that either of her brothers could pull it off either. There was also a food tray, which was empty aside from a few crumbs.

"Mark, remember me?" her dad said as he walked to the middle of the room. "I'm Mister Middleton. You met me yesterday. I'm a friend."

He sat down on the floor, away from the beds, and folded his legs under himself. "I heard you tried to get out of the hospital. I understand. I don't like hospitals either. You can stay under the bed if you want. I'm just going to sit here. Is that okay?"

There was no response. His heart was still beating fast, but at least he seemed to have given up on holding his breath. She was unsure if that was because he knew that they knew where he was or because he couldn't manage it anymore after holding his breath earlier. She stayed by the door, unsure what to do. Her dad hadn't given her any instructions, and he seemed to be trying to get Mark to feel safe. Mark probably knew she was there. He no doubt could see her feet and the end of her tail. He might hear or smell her, too, since he did have pony ears, and who knew how pony-like his other senses were.

"Do you like cartoons?" her dad asked. "You must be bored. Let's watch cartoons. Jessie, put on some cartoons."

She looked around. "I don't see a remote. Is the television voice activated?"

He shook his head and pointed at the bed closest to her. "There's a remote attached to the bed. I'd climb on the bed so he can see you if he peeks out. Right now, he can't get a good look at you."

It was direction on what to do, so she wasn't going to object, although she was unsure if she should be getting on the bed. Then again, she had an extremely poor grasp of what constituted proper hospital etiquette, so maybe it wasn't breaking any rules. She climbed onto the hospital bed, trying to avoid disturbing the covers. Now that she was here, she quickly found the control for the television on the side. It was odd because it had no button to access web browsing, which had become standard on televisions in the past few years. Then again, there was no keyboard, so typing anything out had to be done by selecting letter by letter with the controller, which was time-consuming. She turned on the television, quickly found the animation section, and randomly picked something.

"No, Jessie! Pick something age-appropriate, not anime!"

She glared at her dad. "It's what you and Robby watch, and I know Robby started watching cartoons like this when I was a baby."

He shook his head. "That was a parenting mistake. Pick something for a younger audience."

She pointed at herself. "Look at who you're talking to. I'm among the least adept at knowing what's age appropriate. Growing up, I never did anything meant for my age."

Her dad rubbed his head. "Sesame Street, put on Sesame Street."

After searching around for a few seconds, she instead found the search option and slowly entered the show's name. When she saw it, she rolled her eyes. She couldn't find it because it wasn't animated. It looked like some sort of puppet show. It would be interesting to see what was age-appropriate for a four-year-old. The earliest cartoons she had watched had been meant for kids eight and up. There may have been some earlier ones, but she'd watched those at a much younger age than Mark.

The show started playing.

"Today's episode is brought to you by the letter H!"

They'd watched silently for about eight minutes, and she was beginning to believe her dad had to be mistaken. This couldn't be meant for kids his age. She knew she had been a little advanced, but this would have bored her at three. Maybe this version was meant for kids around one or two, and another version was meant for kids around four. She'd have changed it, but her dad hadn't told her to, and Mark's heartbeat slowed to a more normal rate. Perhaps the show was boring him to sleep.

Her dad stood up, taking his time doing so. She heard Mark's heartbeat and breathing quicken. "I'm going to go make some calls. Will you sit here with Mark? He seems relaxed."

You're leaving him alone with me to see if he'll respond to me without you here. she said in her head. That was why she'd come along, so she silently nodded, afraid that making any noise might spook the kid further. Maybe if she was quiet enough, he would forget she was there. Thinking of that, she decided to mute the sound of her breathing and heartbeat. It was unlikely he could hear those things as well as she could, but it wasn't impossible.

Her dad left the room, shutting the door behind him. She caught a brief glimpse of color from the corner of her eye, but it quickly pulled back under the bed, and his heartbeat and breathing elevated further. He had forgotten she was there but must have caught sight of her in that moment. She didn't turn to look and tried to keep watching the infantile show currently playing.

Minutes passed, and his heartbeat and breathing settled down, but he made no further attempts to come out from under the bed. She still wished she was watching almost anything else. It seemed like it was teaching kids how to read and recognize letters, but this wasn't how she had learned to read. She had learned to read by recognizing full words, then discovering parts of words that were similar between similar sounding words. Individual letter sounds came last. Was this one-letter approach really how children learned to read? It seemed so inefficient. Individual letters, vowels, in particular, could produce many different sounds, and you needed the context to know what sound they made.

She had had enough of this inane program and turned it off. Mark's breathing and heartbeat immediately picked up as the television turned off. He hadn't fallen asleep. She needed to do something to interact with him; otherwise, why was she even present? What to do?

"Do you like stories? I can tell you a story," she said. She did turn and look where he was hiding. He was out of sight, but she lived in a world of sound.

He didn't respond, and his heartbeat and breathing were still elevated. She didn't know many fairy tales and was pretty confident that the majority of the books she had ever read were not age-appropriate for him. The best option was to use a story with only children. She wasn't going to give him a summary of Lord of the Flies so that limited her options. That left only things she had experienced herself. She would not tell him about the events that ended with her impaled on a large piece of wood.

She made a decision. "Once, six people raced. There was a smart kid, an athletic kid, a shy kid, and three demons."

His heartbeat and breathing slowed a little, doing a small jump at the term demons. He could understand what she was saying then. She smiled and began.

"When the race started, the smart kid took an early lead. The smart kid was the fastest when running in a straight line, but the smart kid was only a little bit faster than the athlete, and the athlete ended up taking the lead every time they had to turn a corner or run around anything. So in the early race, the smart kid and the athlete were going back and forth between who was in the lead, followed by the three demons, and the sy kid was behind everyone.

"There were lots of obstacles and turns to make along the race. There were three laps, and anyone who cried or got hurt was disqualified. There was uneven ground, fences and walls, and a bunch of bushes you had to weave through. Each of the kids had adults who cheered them on. The smart kid's parents cheered her on. The athlete's parents cheered her on. The demons had different adults who cheered different demons on, but one of the demons' mothers– they had two– decided to cheer on the shy kid. The other adults laughed at her because the shy kid was not as smart as the smart kid, not as athletic as the athlete, and not as tricky as the demons. Still, the demons' mother, the Queen of Nightmares, said it would be the shy kid who won."

His heartbeat slowed more, and his breathing was regular. She took that as he was listening, and continued.

"The runners had to weave around a bunch of walls. The smart kid had been in the lead coming up to the walls, but the athlete got past her with all the turns they had to make, but when they got through the walls, they found out that the three tricky demons had somehow gotten ahead of them even though they never saw them pass!"

His heartbeat quickened. Was she too loud?

"The next part of the race had a big hill. It was a straight run, so the smart kid used this to run past the athlete, but the demons were so far ahead that they couldn't even be seen. The shy kid kept on running behind everyone. That kid had been in last place the entire time, but they kept running their heart out. The next part of the race had the bushes, and the three demons crashed into the bushes. They sat and wiggled to get free from the bushes, arguing and yelling at each other the entire time, as the smart kid and the athlete came running to catch up. The mother of demons got angry and yelled at them in their demonic language, and the demons got free, but they weren't so far in the lead now."

A hand became visible under the bed. It was tiny, too tiny for a child his age, not much larger than an infant's. The hand was fur-free with tan skin like someone of Latin American descent, but orange fur was visible on the wrist that might have stretched down the arm. She made sure not to react to seeing this little bit of him and continued her story.

"They began the second lap, and when they got to the section with the walls again, they saw how the demons tricked them. The demons could climb the walls and go across their tops instead of going around, which made them gain a big lead. One of the demons turned to make fun of the smart kid, the athlete, and the shy kid, but when they did, they lost their balance and fell off the wall. They got hurt and were removed from the race. One demon down."

Mark pulled himself a little closer. She still couldn't see his face but saw that his arms were indeed covered in orange fur. His hair…mane…was the same shade of blue as hers, but it was a shaggy mess that both stuck up and hung everywhere, making him look like a treasure troll having a bad hair day. The blue hair obscured his face, but she could see an orange horn poking through the bush of hair. There was also white gauze wrapped around parts of each arm.

"The second lap continued. The two remaining demons did not fight with each other and get caught in the bushes this time around, and the other three kids followed, with the smart kid and the athlete trading places back and forth, and the shy kid still in last place, slowly gaining on the other four," she continued.

Mark got no closer. His heartbeat was still slightly elevated, but he wasn't making as much effort to stay hidden anymore. That could change in an instant. If she made any sudden moves, he might retreat out of sight again.

"Then began the third and final lap. The two demons remained in the lead, but they'd been slowing down. Their tricks kept them ahead, but they were not as fast as the others, and they could not run as long as the others without getting tired. When they reached the walls and started trying to climb, the athlete jumped forward and knocked them down! One came crashing down on the other, and they cried. Because they cried, they were removed from the race. All the demons were down. It was now down to the smart kid, the athlete, and the shy kid. Who do you think will win?"

He skittered back out of sight, heartbeat racing. So much for getting him to talk. That might have undone all the progress. She felt like kicking herself in the tail.

Still, she was going to give it one more shot. "I know you're there, and if you're afraid of talking to a stranger, I'm like you. I have two legs, a tail, fur, big ears, and our hair on our heads is even the same color. That's not strange at all when we're both that way. You can stay under there if it makes you feel better, but you can still tell me who will win. That's safe, right?"

She listened. His breathing slowed slightly, as did his heartrate. What she said must have made some impact. He was considering answering her. She continued to wait. She wasn't going to prompt him anymore. He either was going to respond or he wasn't.

When he didn't respond after thirty seconds, she decided to continue the story.

"It's okay, we're coming to the end of the story, and we can find out together." That was a nonsensical statement, considering she was telling a story from her head instead of reading a book, but it felt like the right thing to say.

"The final lap was in progress. The smart kid and the athlete were neck and neck in the lead– that means they were right next to each other. The shy kid was far behind them and didn't seem to have a chance to catch up, but the shy kid still kept running because the Queen of Nightmares had kept shouting, asking how the shy kid was doing, and the shy kid didn't want to disappoint the Queen of Nightmares. The smart kid got to the top of the hill and realized that she would not be able to stay in the lead running around the bushes. So the smart kid decided to do something not very smart; she would do a trick and run straight into the bushes. If running around them was too slow, she wouldn't run around them.

"The athlete watched this, and the athlete was afraid because the smart kid's trick could win the race. So the athlete decided that if the smart kid was going to do a trick and run through the bushes, she would do her own trick and fly over the bushes. With a mighty jump, she jumped in the air…."

She decided to be quiet for a few seconds to build up tension. This story might not exactly be tense. It barely qualified as a story, but Mark was into it, so she needed to perform for him.

"...and the athlete fell instead of flew and landed on the smart kid. Both of them tumbled into the branches of the bushes, and they got stuck. The two of them struggled against each other, but they only got themselves more caught in the branches. The shy kid passed them, taking the lead, and by the time they got free, the shy kid had crossed the finish line and won. After that, the other kids cheered for the shy kid. All the other racers had tried to use fancy tricks to win, but the shy kid ran as hard as they could, never trying any tricks. The other kids saw this and decided to be friends with the shy kid. The end."

The moral was a little weak and tacked on at the end, but stories for young kids were supposed to have a moral. Jordan would probably give her story a scathing critique, even if it was Jordan who was the 'hero' of the story. It was funny, thinking back to how shy Jordan used to be. She certainly wasn't shy now.

Mark didn't move, but what she heard told her that he was at least calm. She wouldn't ask him if he liked the story. That would be pressuring him to speak again.

"I'm going to leave now," she announced. "I hope you enjoyed the story. I wish you had talked to me or come out so I could see you, but I know you're scared. That's okay. Hospitals scare me too, and look how big I am."

She slowly turned herself around so she could get off the bed in the opposite direction as him, not wanting to scare him. His heartbeat picked up, and it picked up even more when her feet touched the floor.

"Have a good day, Mark. I hope things get better for you soon and your grandma wakes up soon to take care of you," she concluded as she walked to the door.

"Grandma?"

Her hand stopped on the door handle as he spoke the word. It had been said clearly, with no slurring or mumbling, and she heard the question. He spoke. That was what her dad wanted her to get him to do. So what was she supposed to do now? She wasn't even sure if he was allowed to know about his grandmother's condition yet. She might have broken some protocol.

Licking her lips, she turned back towards where he was still hiding. If protocol had been broken, there was no undoing it. "Your grandma is sick, and she's asleep. We've tried to wake her up, but she won't wake up. That's why she's been missing. The doctors are trying to help her get better. Do you miss and love your grandma?"

There were several seconds where all she heard from him was his heart beating hard against his chest, labored breathing, and…and he was crying.

"You don't have to answer," she gently said. "I can hear you, and I can tell without you saying words. I do hope she gets better. You shouldn't have to be alone. I do need to get going."

She turned to open the door.

"Story?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

She honestly didn't have time. She had already spent more time here than she had intended. Why had her dad not come back yet? She could hear him too, and he hadn't been on the phone for a while. He was out by the nurse's station. She recognized the sound of him as easily as she recognized his face.

"Tomorrow. I'll come tell you another story tomorrow," she answered.

"Promise?" Mark asked.

"I promise," she replied, then opened the door. It seemed like she was committed to a return visit.

Comments

[AvoidingFever17]

AAAAAAAARRRRRROOOOOOOO

hnnng
Dont do that
I am not wanting to reveal myself right now
Also my ears are quite sensitive

[Halira]

11581218
Quiet the dog, main character with extra sensitive ears.