Three Eleven Thirteen

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"And that is Elvis Presley, he's known as the king of rock and roll." Both Ellie and I were going through my father's old record collection. Every time Ellie would pull a record off the shelf, I would name the singer.

He pulled out another record, "That's the Beatles, they are also legends of the 1900's. I actually had a crush on John Lennon when I was in middle school."

"Crush?"

I shrugged, "A crush usually means someone likes someone a lot."

He didn't reply to that as he put the record back on the shelf, and pulled another one out, shockingly before I could name the artist, he spoke up, "This man is Frank Sinatra."

I nodded, amazed at how he knew that. "Yeah, he's Sinatra, how'd you know?"

He gave me a blank look and didn't answer, so I assumed he didn't have one.

I took a deep breath, "Okay then, how about you choose a record we can listen too?" I took a step aside to allow him to look for a record.

He stared at me for a moment, acting as if he didn't really know what to do. I beckoned him with my hands, "Pick any one you want." I repeated, and finally he returned his gaze to the bookshelf, then his eyes fell to the record that was still in his hand.

"Frank Sinatra." He said, holding the record up.

I can't complain. It's strange that my father's science experiment is as much of a Sinatra fan as he was. It was as amusing as it was sweet.

"Okay." I took the record and placed it in the record player. The first song that played was; 'That's Life' which instantly put a smile on my face.

Ellie walked over to the record player, and stood so close to me our shoulders touched before I purposely took a step away from him.

"This," He said, "I heard this a lot."

I never thought about that. All those times I would turn on the music to drown him out, obviously he was able to hear it. Not to mention the countless number of times my father must have played Sinatra down in the lab.

"Do you like this song?" I asked him.

"Do I?" He asked back.

I crossed my arms over my chest for warmth, though I wasn't touching him, just looking at his pale white skin made me feel cold, "Do you feel happy when you hear it?" I noticed the black of his veins and fingernails were even more grey now than they were an hour ago. Surely that means he's happy, or to the extent, relaxed.

He stared at me, the familiar brown color was back in his eyes, which I haven't seen since the day the black came into his body. The day he attacked me.

He seemed confused, "I don't know that feeling.

"You will, eventually. You just have to experience more things in life."

"Like a crush on John Lennon?"

I couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah, like a crush on John Lennon."

He stared at me, and I think seeing me smile made him want to copy my expression. He grinned, which was the first time I've ever seen him not look pissed or miserable, even though he did it to copy me.

That night, I realized yet another inconvenience. How am I supposed to watch Ellie, and actually sleep at the same time? For all I know he could attack me when I black out, or worse, he could leave the house.

I stomped my foot on the floor, right beside my bed.

"You are going to sleep here, on the floor."

He glanced at the floor, then at me giving me a blank look as he usually does.

I groaned, "Oh come on, it's not like you haven't slept on a floor before. The carpet is even soft, way softer than the concrete floor that is in the basement." I stopped myself, forgetting about the fact that I probably shouldn't bring up the basement.

I don't know if talking about it will upset him, but I don't want to risk it.

We stared at each other for a moment before I beckoned to the blankets I had placed out on the floor, "Lay down."

He hesitated, but eventually, after a long moment of just standing there, he sat on the floor.

"That's sitting, I said lay down."

He looked at me, and for a slight moment, I thought I noticed an expression of annoyance flash on his face.

I'm not sure why, but seeing that made me a bit angry and nervous. I began to imagine him rebelling like a hormonal teenager. 

If he wants to learn how to act like a human, then he'll have to be treated like one.

Finally, he laid his head back on the floor. Him doing so relieved me slightly, showing me that for now, I'm still his master.

"Good." I huffed, "Now let's go to sleep." I turned off the light and crawled into my bed. I was instantly greeted by the eerie silence that overtook the room. If I listened closely, I could manage to hear his slight breathing but other than that; nothing.

There is no way I can sleep like this.

I sat up in my bed, and when Ellie saw me, he instantly sat up as well. "You did not sleep." He said.

"Neither did you." I replied, as I put my face in my hands.

"I can not sleep with the noises."

That made me turn my head to look at him, "What noises?"

There was a long pause before he replied, "That noise."

I shook my head, "I didn't hear anything."

"Yes, that. The nothingness."

I then understood what he was talking about. I frowned, "You don't like the silence either, huh?"

He shrugged, which was the first time he put so much emotion into his body as he spoke, and that made me question just how much human characteristics he knew but wouldn't show, "Silence is nothingness. Your father would not allow it."

"My father?" That was also the first time he actually referred to my father as, well, my father. It's like he finally understands, or maybe he always did.

"Always listening to Frank Sinatra."

"Is that so? I wasn't aware that my father made you listen to Frank Sinatra so much." So Ellie was afraid of the silence. My father raised him on constant noise, and so now he can't function without it.

How entirely human.

His gaze moved to the window, but he didn't say anything else, so I turned my laptop on and made sure to play Frank Sinatra on repeat.

I still didn't get much sleep for the entire night, and I don't think he did either.

Despite that, neither of us said another word, as we both were comfortable just listening to the voice of a 1900's legend.