Turned To Stone

Chapter 8 - Evan

Connor's room was cleaner than he expected.

It wasn't that he was expecting anything weird, he knew Connor was just a teenager like him, but he guessed he didn't expect what he saw.

The walls were a plain navy blue. The blankets on Connor's bed were rumpled, white sheets and a plain black quilt on top. There was a desk, a bit scratched up, and a dresser with random things piled on top.

The only strange thing in the room was the curtain made of camo netting.

Evan wasn't going to ask.

"Evan?" Zoe's voice floated down the hall.

Connor grimaced, and Evan tried to figure out why before the gorgon boy muttered something about the 'freaking door' being open.

"I-I'm in- in here- Connor's room!" He called.

She peeked in, head down a little. "Are you sure you don't want to sit with the rest of us and eat?"

"I-I'm sure." He smiled shyly. "Th-thanks, thanks th-though."

Zoe frowned, but nodded and walked away. Connor got up and went to shut the door.

Evan watched his snakes as he walked. They moved over each other and around Connor's head, and at first he thought they were just drifting back and forth.

He quickly realized that they were moving of their own volition. Just after that he became aware of a soft hissing noise that must have been them communicating.

Connor wandered back over to the bed and plopped down, picking up his food again. One of his hands twitched, and after a moment Evan realized he was spelling something out in American Sign Language.

"You k-know- you understand- understand ASL?" He asked.

Connor looked up sharply and Evan flinched. Maybe he didn't want him to see that, would he be mad that Evan had noticed? If he was mad then Evan probably wouldn't be able to come back because Connor would scare the rest of the family into not talking to him and then he'd only have Jared and Jared was okay but it had been so long since Evan had been able to say he had more friends than just Jared and his mom would be upset that he didn't have friends and Evan would be upset because she was upset-

"There was an older kid who didn't speak any English two years ago." Connor interrupted Evan's mental tirade of panic. "Someone warned him about me but I guess he decided he didn't care, he taught me some so we could talk. He knew ASL but not really how to say any of it."

He sighed and set his plate aside. "Do you know it?"

Evan nodded quickly.

Connor offered the tiniest bit of a smile. "Do you like it better?"

He nodded again. "It's m-more- I don't- y-you know-"

"Stutter?" Connor finished for him. 

"Y-yeah."

'That's fair.' The gorgon boy signed. 'Do you want to talk in sign language then?'

Evan smiled shyly. 'If you're okay with it. It helps me focus my thoughts more too.'

'Alright.'

One of Connor's snakes draped itself over his cheekbone, tongue flickering. Evan tried to figure out if it was speaking to him somehow, and noticed it hissing quietly.

"Shush, Eden." Connor brushed her aside gently.

'You named them?'

Connor glanced at Evan's hands and nodded. 'Yeah. I've named every one of them.' The same snake drifted to the front again and he tsked softly, nudging her. "Stop that."

'What are their names?' Evan asked.

Connor looked surprised. 'You really want to know?'

He nodded quickly.

Connor brushed his snakes forward. He held his hand out, palm up. "This is Eden. She was my first snake."

The snake slithered forward to the tip of Connor's finger and Evan reached over to offer his fingertip. She flicked her tongue over it and then bumped her nose against it, hissing something.

Connor made an amused noise. "She says you smell like granite."

Evan smiled. 'Well, I am mostly granite.'

Eden wiggled away, then another took her place.

"This is Wallace. He's a bit grumpy."

And so it went. Evan met Sylvia, Frank, Lydia, Wyvern, Anne, Nicholas, Samuel, and many others. He tried to keep their names straight, but most of them looked exactly the same.

"Don't worry if you can't remember them." Connor waved his hand once they'd gotten through the whole list. "They know it's hard to tell them apart. If you ever can't think of one, just let me know."

Evan nodded. 'I'll do my best.'

One snake wriggled to Connor's ear and hissed something. He rolled his eyes.

"Lucas says you're the first person to ever ask their names."

'I'm also the first person to be able to look you in the face.' Evan pointed out.

"That's fair."

[A/N As always, tips on writing Evan's stutter would be appreciated. Also, I'm basing how I write Evan's internal monologues off of another writer's style. Unfortunately, I cannot remember their username, nor the story I read]