The Saviors of Maria

Chapter 6

"Chapter 6"

"Go away, Gaston!" Pup ranted at the television, an old contraption that Arthur hasn't used since his discovery of the internet. "Belle doesn't love you!"

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Arthur cautioned him, soft-spoken.

"You'll see later, Arthur!" Pup replied, confident in his position. "Trust me."

Arthur was sitting on his couch, stiff and uncomfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings while trying to make himself look comfortable. Pup was lounging with his head on the armrest and his feet in Arthur's lap. It was astonishing to Arthur that this boy he had only officially met the day before could be so comfortable in his presence. As he watched the movie, thoughts circled around his head of whether he is normal or Pup is normal or both. Perhaps, Arthur was the normal one and everyone else wasn't right in the head. Perhaps.

As the movie went on, he could see why Pup didn't like the conceited Gaston. The cartoon man's bravado had risen his eyebrow, and the relatability of the Beast decreased his favorability in Arthur's perspective. He was completely immersed in the story of the trials and tribulations of the Beauty and the Beast.

Then came the final battle scene between Gaston and the Beast. The only thing that crossed Arthur's mind was the intense scene playing on the television accompanied by the booming score. He forgot that he was the currently the leg rest of a fiery catalyst with spiked orange locks. When he noticed this every once in a while, he felt this odd feeling in his stomach, what his mother would call "butterflies." He disregarded these feelings, blaming it on the over abundance of milk he drank at dinner due to the fact that he hadn't eaten living butterflies recently. As Gaston fell to his death, he felt this odd sense of morbid satisfaction that he thought could only be felt by psychopaths in this situation. He saved that curiosity for another day.

~

After a while, Arthur became more comfortable around his little chatterbox. They laughed together and played together at school and at each other's homes. Arthur also ventured into territory that he couldn't have fathomed to ever step into.

The Girl's Zone.

The brightness of that particular corner of the park didn't help his headaches from staying out in the sun for the amount of time that his teachers forced him, but, like Pup, it had an odd allure to it that he could never figure out. Despite Pup being a boy, he spent a lot of time in The Girl's Zone, and Arthur made a couple acquaintances amongst them but never complete friends. That role was reserved for Pup.

Sometimes, they would cross paths with a peculiar boy who called himself Buzz. He would often take insignificant matters into his own hands, such as trying to inform Pup and Arthur that they were friends and pointing out how Pup liked playing with the girls. These things were obvious to Arthur, for he had a brain, but he assumed that this Buzz had a brain as well. He didn't have x-ray vision, but it was an elementary concept that everyone had a brain. How could he assume that Buzz had a brain?

"Is it possible for someone not to have a brain?" Arthur asked Dr. Hall during one session.

"What do you mean, Arthur?" Dr. Hall tried to clarify.

"When Pup and I were on the playground and Buzz was being annoying, he said that he didn't have any brains." Arthur explained. "Alternatively, can you have more than one brain?"

"It's just a figure of speech, Arthur." Dr. Hall informed him. "What Pup meant to say was that Buzz wasn't very smart."

"Why didn't he just say that?" Arthur asked him.