The Other Side - A Jamilton Fanfiction

Chapter Seven

Happy belated birthday to cmw2848 !!!

~•~

Darkness obscured my vision as I sat at the table, waiting for Thomas to come home. I couldn't sleep and I doubted I would be able to until I knew where he was. I glanced over my shoulder to look out the window, greeted only by a streetlight emitting a hazy golden glow.

My fingers tapped against the table in an unrhythmic way, the only sound in the otherwise silent room. I stared at the clock on the microwave. Four green digits stared back at me, cutting into the darkness.

12:07.

I took a sip of the coffee cup sitting at my fingertips as I returned to watching the door. 

The coffee was bitter and tasteless, but it was warm. And warmth chased away any remains of the oppressing cold that haunted my dreams.

"Come on, Thomas," I muttered, breaking the silence. "Where are you?" After I said that, my jaws parted in a yawn I couldn't fight down, despite the caffeine I had been drinking.

Funny how when you're trying to sleep, it's always just evading your grasp and slipping away, but when you're trying to stay awake, it won't seem to leave you alone.

Through heavy eyes, I continued to watch the door and sip from the slowly cooling down mug. My fingers were tapping against the table not because I was restless, but rather because I was disturbed by the silence and needed a break in the quiet.

I desperately wanted to see Thomas, just to make sure he was alright. He had disappeared before, sometimes for days at a time. But the communication with the bird had made me more worried than usual. And it seemed like I had been starting to care for him more and more recently.

Suddenly, I heard a tap against the window and jumped in my seat in surprise. I glanced over my shoulder but saw no one, so I decided to inspect it a little closer.

I got up slowly and made my way over to the window. I could see the street below and the occasional car whizzing past, but besides that, the night seemed still and quiet.

Then came another tap, and I realized that there was a bird sitting on the windowsill, tapping at the glass pane with its beak. It was small and gray and slender. When it saw me, its wings outstretched and it peered at me, almost impatiently.

"Uh, hello?"

It seemed to glare at me as it pecked against the window furiously.

"Do... do you want to come in?"

The bird nodded.

Either I'm losing my sanity or something abnormal is going on, and both options are terrifying to me.

I slowly unlatched the window and opened it, at a loss for another idea of what to do. The bird tried to fly in, but it hit the netting dividing the outside from the inside. After a moment of it looking dazed, it stared up at me expectantly. Grumbling, I went to retrieve a pair of scissors and cut a whole in the netting for it to fly through.

The bird perched itself on one of Thomas's plants before beginning to preen its wings.

I stared at it for a while, studying the curve of its chest and its small pointed beak.

"So, are you one of Thomas's birds?" I asked, at a loss for what else to sat.

The bird perked up at the mention of Thomas, as if remembering to do a job it had previously neglected. It unfurled its wings and cut through the air towards me before landing on my shoulder and settling itself down. I felt extremely uncomfortably at the sharp talons digging into my skin.

I, with the bird still on my shoulder, closed the window and sat down on the couch.

It was just the two of us in the darkness for a while until the door to the apartment finally opened almost an hour and a half later.

I blinked in surprise as the sharp yellow light from the hallway drifted into the apartment and looked up at the door. Thomas was standing there in the doorway, his head down.

"There you are!" I exclaimed suddenly, making him jump. "I was starting to get worried about you!"

The bird used me as a launching pad and hovered in the air in front of Thomas's face, twittering angrily at him.

"Go away, Belletra," Thomas snapped irritably, shooing the bird away from his face. He turned to look up at me. "What are you still doing awake? You should be asleep!"

"How could I sleep until I knew you were okay?" I demanded. "Where were you? What took so long? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he forced out. "Don't worry about me. You should get some sleep."

I crossed to the light switch and flipped it on. At first, I was blinded by the sudden glare of the yellow lights cutting into the darkness, but my eyes adjusted soon enough.

"What happened?!" I demanded upon seeing his face.

"Nothing," he returned shortly. "I fell. Out of a tree."

The bird let out a low noise that seemed to be a growl.

"I'm not telling him that!"

Cuts ran down Thomas' face. They didn't seem to be bleeding, but they still looked horrible.

"Thomas, what happened?!"

Thomas glanced elsewhere, desperately avoiding my gaze. Finally, in a tiny voice, he said, "I ran into a thorn bush."

"A— a what?"

"A thorn bush, okay? Yeah, go ahead, laugh!" He pushed past me to one of his plants and picked a light blue flower with spiky petals. Thomas twirled it around in his fingers, inspecting the plant. He went to the kitchen and proceeded to make some sort of tea out of it.

"How did you run into a thorn bush?"

"I just ran into a thorn bush."

"How?"

"I was running. I crashed. Into a thorn bush."

I was trying my best not to laugh, but it was proving to be a futile attempt. "Why were you running?"

"I was chasing someone, okay?"

"Did you catch them?"

Thomas didn't respond as the kettle on the stove began to whistle. The bird nuzzled itself against Thomas' neck, seemingly enjoying the warmth.

"Well, for what it's worth," I said as I crossed over to him and rested my hand on his back. "I'm glad you're okay."

Thomas smiled at me. "That makes me feel slightly better."

"Where'd you go?"

"A place with thorn bushes."

"Hah," I said dryly.

Thomas' smile grew as he took the kettle off of the stove and poured himself a cup. "Want some?"

"What is it?"

"Tea. It's supposed to make you feel better or something."

"I'll have a cup if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course! Wait, no. You need to go get sone sleep. No tea for you."

I let out an overly dramatic sigh. "Fiiiine. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"See you tomorrow," he said, taking another sip from his cup.

I watched him for a few more moments before turning and going back to my bedroom.

But I did hear him murmur to the bird and take something away from it.