Whisper in the Dark

Chapter 2

An old octoling knocked on the door. He was tall, and looked like he was about 30. He waited and knocked again. He wore a beige, checker patterned armless sweater with a white shirt and brown pants. His tentacles were black with purple ends. Again no answer, he knocked one more time. At that moment the door swung open. In the doorway was Never, now 17 years old. Her tentacles were in a mess, bags under her eyes, a weary look on her face and wearing an oversized grey T-shirt, from this view it was hard to tell if she was even wearing anything more than underwear on her lower half. She looked slightly drunk as she held the door open in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other.

"What do you want?" She asked in a surly tone with a raspy voice.

The man looked past Never into the room beyond. The curtains were drawn, there were piles of dirty clothes here and there and it smelt like beer and old undies. Never pulled the door closed a bit more to prevent his sight seeing.

"Do you remember me?"the man asked, looking down at Never. Never glared.

"Yeah, I remember you, of course I do, how could I forget the almighty D.J Rumtums of the eighth Octarian army regiment. Right hand man of the great D.J Octavio and the man who let me get beaten within an inch of my life and only ever intervened when I could take no more. Yeah... I remember you. Now what do you want?" She replied with malice and distaste.

"I heard what happened. I came to check on you, make sure you're okay." Rum answered softly.

"That was 7 months ago, I've moved on, I'm fine." She was not fine. Rum looked at Never for a moment before Never decided that she'd had enough.

"Go away." She said as she tried to close the door, but Rum placed his foot in the door, preventing its closure.

"No, you're not fine. You clearly don't do much washing, you're somehow both hung over and drunk in the same afternoon," never was about to take a sip from her beer but changed her mind after hearing that, placing it on the ground out of sight.

"You're grieving, but you don't have to be alone."Never just stood and stared at him for a moment before slamming the door. She picked up the bottle and slumped down on the couch. It was hard to see in the room but she had gotten used to it and could make things out well enough. Meanwhile, Rum stood at the door, unsure of what to do. There was a heavy silence for a few moments.

"You're still there aren't you?" Came Never's voice from behind the door.

"Yup" replied Rum.

"And you're not going to leave until I listen to you, are you?"

"Nope"

Never sighed before opening the door.

"May I come in?" Rum inquired. Never stood to the side and let him in before closing the door behind him. She took note that despite the amount she had grown since she last saw him, he was still a lot taller than her. Never finished the bottle of beer she was drinking and laid it out with a group of other empty bottles that she was planning to use as pins for makeshift bowling. When Never returned to the couch she went to grab another beer but Rum grabbed her arm before she could get to the next bottle. Never glared at him, he didn't let go. Eventually she yanked her hand away and sat down without grabbing the bottle. She was pouting.

"You need help." Rum said.

"What I NEED... is my friend." Never retorted.

"Well from what I heard, you had a friend and you pushed him away."

"HE WAS GETTING IN MY WAY!" Rum fell silent for a moment.

"Why don't you call him, tell him you're sorry and-"