Micro and Macro [G/T]

Chapter 3 - Revalations

Will's POV

I sat on my bed, trying to gather my thoughts after what just happened. Sure, I did carry this friend of mine to my home earlier but when he was conscious... it was different. He was so light and small - no bigger than the height of my hand. Yet when he lay in my palm, it felt like I was carrying the weight of the world. And I even found him... sort of cute. 

I shake it off and reach for my book, staring at the hardcover. What a coincidence this was, reading a "fantasy" story about the history of micros, shortly before bumping into one. That was when I remembered what my brother told me when I got this book. I only now realised why he did what he did...

It was an average Welsh winter day: the air smelled of damp and the rain hammered persistently at every surface imaginable. There was an old bookstore in the town, one which I'd never actually noticed, and I decided to look around. There was something odd about the place from the moment I first came in. It had an old vibe to it: moss grew on the thin windows, bookshelves seemed cracked and splintered, but despite this, it still seemed like a well-looked-after place. It didn't seem like the shop had a proper fantasy section, although many of the books in the various sections did seem like some sort of fantasy. One in particular caught my eye. 'The species that survived' by H.J Fernsby. I flipped through the pages, expecting a book about some kind of ancient extinct species of bird or something, but no. It was a book about human history. It began normally, describing how homo sapiens were the only non-extinct human, but it then began describing how homo sapiens split off into two different species. This strange, twisted version of human past was surely some sort of conspiracy or fantasy, but it gripped me. I couldn't stop reading. And something in me believed all the words on that page. That's when I felt somebody tap on my back.

It was my brother. The expression on his face was off, like some mix of worry and anger, but when he spoke he was calm. 

"Put the book away, Will," 

I couldn't do anything but stare at him in surprise. He always loved reading with me, and it didn't matter what the book was, he'd always let me have a look at his if I wanted to. There must've been something really wrong with the book, I thought, but I found myself not wanting to put it down. And he repeated himself. 

"Will. Please. Put the book down,"

"Why should I?" I snapped. Why the hell shouldn't I read this book? Did he want it? Finders keepers, loosers weepers, that's what I say. He looked slightly hurt by my rude retort, but his face quickly changed to one of worry. I didn't care. I needed to read this book. To know its secrets. So right then and there, I paid the full £60 for it, and stormed out, leaving my brother staring at me, bewildered. 

He thinks... he thinks that I would hurt them. I sighed and lay back down on my bed. I thought he trusted me.. 

Forrest's POV

As the water began cooling down, I scrambled out to find my clothes and wash them as well. I dried myself off in a towel that was still way too big for me, and then scrubbed clumps of dirt and nettle from my outfit. Macro clothes look so much nicer than these... why do we have to live with cold rags? I rung them out and hung them on the side of the bowl to dry, before realising my error. I had no spare outfit. I sighed and internally screamed at myself for not thinking about this, before walking over to the flannel and tying it around my neck like a cloak. 

Will's POV

I was broken abruptly out of my daydream by a small voice by my desk

"Uh.. Will..?"

"You done?" I asked, turning around to find Forrest wrapped up in the hand towel I gave him, a large portion of it dragging out behind him.

"Y-yeah... uh... I don't have any spare clothes though..." He uttered, wrapping the towel tighter around himself.

"Oh! I could quickly make you some sort of cover if you want. I don't really know how to sew so it wouldn't be any good but-"

"Really?" Forrest asked, his eyes lit up. I hadn't seen him happy at all for the time we'd been together.

"Yeah! Don't expect much though."

And with that, I found myself cutting rugged, uneven holes through a small piece of square black fabric from an old bedsheet in the hopes I could make somebody something they would actually wear.  Forrest sat cross-legged on my desk watching me with with such intensity he might have been staring through me. Once I made.. something (it looked like an old rag with a few holes for the head and arms), I gave it to Forrest in hopes he wouldn't be too disappointed in his new style. I handed him the cloth; he took it and immediately ran behind my pencil pot to pull it on. As he skipped out, I immediately felt disappointed in myself. He was so excited, I really thought I'd made something kinda neat, but he looked like he was wearing a bin bag.

"Thank you so much!" He exclaimed, and his face had a look of genuine excitement. 

"Wait... you like it?"

"I love it! I haven't gotten something new in ages, this would be brilliant for something to wear around my home!"

I peer at the strange night-dress-looking thing I made for him. Maybe it's better than I think... A question suddenly flashed through my mind. 

"How is your life anyway? Like, what do you do at home?"

"My life?" He paused, furrowing his brow. "Well, actually, it's pretty alright. We get nice berries and food around where we live, and the hunters of our town usually manage to bring quite a decent bird or something every now and then. Our homes are safely tucked in a tree, so most animals don't find us. Living in a forest is quite cool - you have so much space to run and jump and play, or even just have alone time when things aren't so great with the others. I don't really like the others very much. Berry was the only person who I could rely on but even she was often preoccupied with her other friends. Nobody really got me. The other kids my age all hang around in big stressful groups that I just.. can't handle. Nobody else would ever take me into their friendship group. Even if i could deal with big groups, I'd still feel lonely. Nobody cares for actual friendship. They all just... hang out and that's it. It's all for entertainment and- oh sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"I don't mind, don't worry! I get the same thing to be honest.. nobody wants to be friends or anything who's my age and everybody else just doesn't take me seriously! The worst bit is everybody with their unnecessary dramas-"

"The drama! I hate it too! People seem to just have friends just so they can fall out with them. And when they see they can't use me as an emotional punching bag, they just don't find me interesting anymore!"

And so we rambled on, for hours and hours. I ended up telling him some really personal stuff that I never actually told anyone. Ever. And he did the same with me. For the first time in my life, I felt like somebody got it. I felt like there was someone... kinda like me. There were some huge things I found that were different between our cultures as well, like I found that Forrest didn't have to deal with people constantly waffling on about relationship drama and that in their society relationships are always very private and even sort of a taboo subject. He was just a fun guy! 

"...Dude me too! Wait..." I heard a creaking in the hallway. Shit, shit shit... my brother.

"You okay? What happe-" I quickly grabbed Forrest and stuck him into the closest drawer, pushing it shut. This was going to be tough to explain....

A/N: I feel like as this chapter progresses, my writing slowly gets worse ;-;

Anyways, I just needed to say that I might not be updating as frequently cuz I have a clouple exams coming up. Or 5. This should be child abuse ahhaggh