Evanescence // Harry Styles

chapter-10

I must have laid there -unconscious- for hours. Because when I woke up, I felt my whole body gone numb. Numb and useless. Like parts of it had been unused for a hell of time.

I couldn't lift my legs, my hands, or even my eyelids for what felt like some tiresome, beaten down and anxious millenniums. The feeling was peculiar, and downright idiotic. And before I could go halfway through coping up with my newly found disjointed situation, I felt someone else's presence over my face. I felt as if someone was looking at me, examining me.

I tensed up, instantly. Holding my breath, I tried to will my mind to listen to me. I desperately wanted to open my eyes and you won't believe how hard it felt that time. Just opening my goddamn eyelids was like the weight of the whole world upon me. And meanwhile, I kept feeling the presence of another soul around me.

The sensation of someone else's presence was so strong that I felt it in my whole mind, tingling and teasing. So I tried hard as ever to open my eyes as to see what or who was bothering me.

Well, I succeeded, eventually. And for better or worse, I don't know, but I nearly lost my shit when I fluttered my eyes open dramatically and saw a pair of green one looking straight into mine. And I was stunned, more, if possible.

And in the spur of my stun, I did a movement (surprisingly enough) which was somewhat between a shriek or a scream or a shrug, my mind was clearly unable to process anything after seeing a kid's face, inches away from mine.

The kid noticed -thankfully- that I was not only alive and breathing but that I was also stunned. So he stood up. His eyes not leaving me as he took a few steps backwards. He was a short, chubby kid of maybe seven. He had light green eyes (sure enough) and blond hair brushed neatly back from his forehead. His face was unfamiliar and I knew that he didn't live around.

"Who are you?" he asked.

I opened my mouth as if to respond, but didn't say anything. Something was fishy. Something was fishy about me having an unusual breakdown and laying unconscious for hours and then finding a kid looking at me like I was some sort of an alien. 

Something was fishy.

I felt some of the numbness dissolving from my body as I forcibly propped my elbow to sit up. I looked around, the mixed and dark colors of the nature hinting that it was near evening. 

"Good thing that mum and dad are out," I mumbled. They wouldn't exactly love finding me that way. What the hell had happened?

"Who are you?" my thoughts were again halted, by the sound of the kid's voice.

I looked up at him and tried to smile through my pursed lips, as a gesture of 'yeah, you know what? I'm no alien, kid. Be cool.'  but was -of course- unsuccessful. Because the kid smiled at me in a mocking way, a silly way. 

He took a step closer. "Who are you? And what happened to you?"

"Amanda." I decided to answer the answer I knew. "I'm, uh, Amanda."

His lips curled to a small smile, hearing my answer. "You talk."

"I do," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Kind of."

He took another step closer before sticking out his small arm and I raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked, the smile not leaving his little face. "Do you want to lay here all day?" 

"Oh." I took his expanded arm which didn't turn out to be of much help as I struggled to get on my feet and he just stood there, amusing himself with the plastered smirk on his face.