Empath

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After dinner, Yui cleaned himself up again and got ready for his appointment. He reapplied his nail polish and even put on a tiny bit of makeup. "You coming with?" He asked Al, while sitting on the floor of their bedroom. He used his phone's reverse camera as a mirror, as he tilted his head from side to side, making sure that his eyeliner was even.

"No," Al said, decisively. He was sitting a short distance away. "I'll stay here." He didn't want a repeat of how he felt from Anabelle's session. He knew that if he experienced that again, he would end up hurting himself.

"Alright," Yui said with a smile and a shrug. "I should be back by one."

It suddenly hit Al that this frail-looking boy from a small town was going out in the big city late at night. He didn't know if it was because he was so much older than Yui, or if Anabelle's motherly instincts still lingered inside him, but whatever it was... he felt like he should be a little wary. "Before you go," he said to Yui, who was about to head out the door of the bedroom and then turned around. "Let's exchange phone numbers."

"Oh!" Yui exclaimed. "Good idea!" He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Al. "Put your number in."

"Uh," Al looked at the rectangular device with trepidation. His hand lingered over it as though it was a bomb that might explode if he touched it. "How do I?" He was worried that he might mess something up if he pressed the wrong thing.

"Oh, here," Yui said, as he maneuvered beside him, so they were both facing his phone screen. "You press the green button on the bottom here." He pointed to said button.

Al's finger tapped it.

"Then, you see that little plus sign in the corner?"

"This one?" Al asked, with his finger hovering over the top right corner.

"Yep," Yui nodded, "press that."

Al did so.

"Now you can add yourself as a contact," Yui explained. "You put your number right there."

Al nervously pressed the buttons for his phone number, but his big fingers kept pressing the wrong buttons. "Shit," he grumbled.

"Take your time," Yui said. "The keyboard takes some getting used to. Press the little X to erase a number."

Al took a breath and tried again slowly, until he successfully entered his number. He sighed, as though the effort was terribly exhausting, and returned the phone to Yui.

"You forgot to put your name in," Yui said, as he tried to suppress a giggle. "Don't worry, I got it." He simply typed "Al", and then he put the phone back in his pocket. "Now gimme your phone," he beckoned, with his hand out.

"Oh, right," Al said. He handed his little flip phone to Yui.

Yui flipped open the device and then searched for the contacts section. "This it?" He asked, pointing to a tiny icon.

"Yeah," Al said with a nod.

Yui instinctively tapped the screen, but nothing happened.

"No, it's not a touch screen," Al explained, "you have to use the arrow keys to move over to the right app."

"Oh, gotcha," Yui giggled at his own naïveté. He moved the cursor and selected the contacts app. "Whew, got it. Now what?"

"You press this button right here," Al pointed to the button on the keyboard.

Yui did so.

"Now you should be able to type in your number."

"Crap, the number buttons are small!" Yui exclaimed. "How do you do this?"