Split- The Company She Keeps

Chapter 6- The Storm

Since she had been confined to the hole  in which she found herself, Casey had heard nothing of the outside world. Nothing at all. If her captor was not banging around or talking to himself, then only silence kept the teen company. However as Casey shuffled the cards for her twenty sixth game of solitaire, an extraordinarily loud bout of thunder rolled into the building, making the whole place vibrate as it rumbled on and on for what seemed to be a lifetime. Its crackled mid way through and tailed off into silence once more. A noise that used to scare her now sounded like heaven. The outside world. It was close enough to be able to hear thunder. 

The storm continued, long deafening rumbles acting as a symphony. Casey found herself standing and dancing to it, spinning as they thunder changed and crackled unexpectedly. With her eyes closed she could almost feel the cold rain spattering on her face as her head tipped back in her imaginary street. People were rushing past to get out of the rain, not realising how beautiful it was when you hadn't felt or seen it in so long. The smell of wet tarmac and petrol filled Casey's nose, the smell of city life. The smell of any life was good enough for her. Though the teen was not a dancer that did not stop her moving and turning to every blow of the storm, clumsily stumbling around her small room with her eyes closed, not bothering to check if she was about to crash into anything. It was a moment all of her own. Until it wasn't.

The arms wrapping around her made her squeak, opening her eyes as the body slammed against hers, almost knocking her over. Those arms squeezed so tightly around her waist made it hard to breathe. About to push the man away, Casey checked to see which if her captors had grabbed her. Then she stopped and her heart jumped. Hedwig. Hedwig was right there. It wasn't a grapple. It was a hug. Hedwig was giving her a very tight, desperate hug. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back a lot gentler than he was clinging to her.

"Hey Hedwig, what's the matter?" She asked quietly, worried for a moment she had gotten the wrong personality, despite him being in the right clothes. Another roll of thunder shook through the room, making the man-child whimper and hide his face in Casey's dark hair. Ah. That answered her question. He was scared. 

It was odd to see a middle aged man quiver and hold onto a teenager like he was going to be eaten by a crocodile because he was scared of a bit of thunder, but then again, Casey wasn't in the most ordinary situation. "Come here." She murmured, pulling him along with her before sitting on the bed with her back to the headrest. Without ushering him in any way, Hedwig clambered onto her lap and curled into a ball. His weight was unexpected, making Casey shift so it was bearable. She hadn't meant for him to do that, she was hoping to distract him with the playing cards that were squashed under the both of them.  So instead she wound her arms around the safety ball he had curled into and rubbed his back gently. "There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a small storm." Casey was a little surprised that Dennis hadn't taken over during the storm, as he seemed to be the protector of the group, appearing to be the most dominating and strong of them all. But he wasn't the leader, according to Hedwig. That was Barry, who Casey had only ever seen through the crack in the door, going on about a new line by Gucci he had been invited to a viewing of. It sort of made sense he was the leader if he was able to go out and make contact with 'normal' people. Casey very much doubted whether Hedwig went outside on his own, that would surely bring too much attention and could be a danger to the group.

About ten minutes into the situation Casey found herself, Hedwig's voice mumbled into the ball, lisp making it hard to understand.  "Why isn't it stopping? It needs to stop." Hedwig's childish demand had Casey's lips turning upwards slightly in a small smile. He was so innocent and young, thinking the world revolved around him and what he wanted. What a luxury to be able to become this child, free of grown up worries and responsibilities. Hedwig must find so much peace. 
"It will stop when it's ready, you want to stay here until it does?" Casey asked him softly. It was hard to see Patricia when he was in this state. Or Orwell. Or Dennis. This was entirely Hedwig and it brought so much comfort to the teen that she could feel safe around someone for once in all her time down in that hole. Hedwig nodded and lifted his head to bury it in her hair again as Casey reached for the blanket she had kicked off the bed as she was playing cards to make more room and pulled it over him so he was covered from the storm. How old was the man really? What was his name? Dennis and Patricia had both mentioned the name Kevin, but she had never met him. Perhaps he was the real owner of the body she was caring for. Ever so slowly, she felt the man-child relax against her, body becoming even heavier as he unlocked his hands around his legs and instead rested them on her torso. About five minutes after that his breathing became audible as his mouth fell open and slack, curled against the warmth of Casey's body, sleeping through the rest of the storm with a blank calm expression on his face as she held onto him, watching the nine year old with curiosity and fondness. She idly wondered what he dreamed about, or if that body could even dream.

//Hello! Sorry for the break my lovelies, I had a very hectic week at work and at home so I haven't had a chance to update. I also didn't want to just write this spare of the moment, I wanted to be able to sit down and put my heart into it. I enjoyed this chapter a lot. It is always fun to delve deeper into both Casey and Kevin's minds. I will update again ASAP. Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading this far. Let me know what you think!//