Hidden Away

chapter 3- Emotions

"Wait... just...wait! You mean... there are people out there who want to hunt me down?" I began to panic more that usual "a-a-a-a-a-and kill me?!" My eyes wide open in fear "well, not kill.." I sigh and calm down "oh, phew" I smile a bit. "More like capture, brand, torture into slavery, and so on and so forth" my smile leaves my face and I stand there quietly having a loss of words... "I'm screaming. Inside. Right now" the boy's grin just sharpened, like a blade whetting itself on my terror. "There's a reason why Angela wasn't afraid of other witches. Not many wild ones roaming around. It's just not safe. Which is why..." He paused, lips parting and brows furrowing slightly in concentration. "do you enjoy school?" He asks "hah. No way dude, hate it. But I need it for a future." "Right. Yeah." He scratches his neck "well, you can forget about going. In fact, forget about going anywhere at all. I stongly recommend that you do what I do and just... stay right here for the rest of your life" I stared at him, stunned. He just shrugged and started twirling a stray curl of hair around his finger. "That's what I would do. I mean..Angela put up warps all around this forest, including your family home. You will be absolutely safe... as long as you never leave" I stare blankly at him "are you serious?" He looks back at me "...what?" As I continued to stand there, still as a statue, a hint of uncertainty seemed to enter his voice. "Look... it's not that bad here. You can have her room... there's a river nearby full of fish, and bushes dripping with berries, oh, and the Internet is lighting fast and-" I stop him "I'm... trapped here, forever?" The strand of hair he was playing with snapped. Something like ice flashed across the boy's face, but it was gone just as quickly as it came, almost like a shutter coming down over a window. He shrugged again- I was beginning to hate that gesture- and curled up even tighter. "No. Leave if you want... I'm done" his last line came out as little more that a whisper. Tentatively, I took one step towards the door. And then another, and another. Just as I placed my hand on the door handle, I glanced back. The boy had buried his face in his arms. "H-hey..." the boy didn't respond. Just sat there, letting the warmth lick at his toes. "U-um... I, uh... I'm sorry, it's just, I dont even know your name..." I say a little quietly "Lucien" he answered, without moving. "Just leave" he blurted out "erm, uh, I-" the boy- Lucien- finally raises his head. His eyes were gleaming. No... wet. I finally realized... that this was a person who loved my great grandma just as much as I did. "What part of 'leave' do you not understand?" His growl terrified me... but I had to... I had to...! I let go of the doorknob and ran back to the fireplace, dropping to my knees infront of him. "Umm! L-Lucien? You, uh, y-you should come with me!"
He looks at me "..what?" I smile softly "you've been tra- I mean, staying here this entire time, right?" I pause to look at him "so... come with me. I'm sure great grandma would've wanted you to see the world too" he looks at me with a very small smile showing "Angela wanted us to be safe" I smile back "but.. you said great grandma was a powerful witch, right? And if I have her magic... doesn't that mean I can learn to hide myself as well as she could? Doesn't that mean I could hide you?" Lucien stays silent "so teach me. Teach me so that I can protect you, in the same way that you can protect me" Lucien stared at me for a few moments, before pressing one hand to his face with a deep sigh. "I heard from Angela... you're. What's it called again... a hickey furry right...?" my eyes widen "w-what? I'm most definitely n-not a hikikomori!" I yell. "You spend most of your free time in your room, is what I heard. You do everything online. So even what's the point of going back out there?" He sounds so... tired "risking your life like this is utterly meaningless" No...you're wrong. There are some things that you can't get over the Internet...
"There's... someone" I start "or, uh, two someones, I guess" Lucien tilted his head to the side quizzically, his back hair curls brushing his shoulder. "There's, um, there's a girl who's the smartest, weirdest and prettiest person I know" I sigh "we only have each other... I don't know if she would really miss me, but I...I want to be there for her anyway!" I lower my head "a-and there's a boy.. he's like.. the sun" I stop. "..and?" Lucien stares at me to go on, "that's all I can think of? My mind just kind of goes blank when I think about him.. haha.." I nervously laugh "that's... rather impressive. You sure he's not using some kind of brain-melting geas on you?" Lucien asks with worry "oh, oh definitely not!" I sigh "it's just... he's really, really, reaaaaally handsome... everyone thinks so..." i pause smiling "and his hair.. his face.. it just glows. He's, like literally incandescent" Lucien nods slowly as understanding dawned. "He's a light bulb. Got it." I choke on air at his reply, "Zachary is not a lighting fixture! Gosh!" I correct him. "You sure? You sure he doesn't look something like.. this?" As his grin got brighter and brighter, Lucien tilted his head more and more until...
Poof!
" what.. the.. hell?" I fall back looking at him "LUCIEN, WHY?!" the adorably round light bulb flickered in time with his helpless giggles. "Where are you giggling from?! You don't even have a mouth!" Lucien- who now had a light bulb for a head- just rolled around, gasping with laughter. He sounded so much like a child now that my own mouth couldn't help but quirk up into a smile. "I already said he's NOT A light bulb. Oh my god" I laugh a bit "this is what he looks like, okay?" As I spoke, I whipped out my phone. After a few quick swipes, I shoved the screen at what seemed like the front of the light bulb.
The light blinked in and out a couple times, in a way that almost seemed thoughtful. "W-what aren't you saying anything? He's hot, right?" I look at Lucien confused "h-hey, what are you doing?" Lucien was stretching, arching his back like he just woken up from a very good nap. As his arms rose to the ceiling, they kept going, and going, and going... until..
Poof!
'Zachary' stood in front of me. Tall and golden and glittering. He was so beautiful that for a moment it took my breath away. "...ehhhhhhhh?! W-w-wait a second!" What are you doing?! Why did you turn into Zachary?" 'Zachary' smiled at me in an uncharacteristically flirty way as he tapped the side of his face. "You're blushing. So this is the effect he has on you, eh?" I gasp "N-no I'm not! You're obviously not Zachary, your voice is completely wrong!" 'Zachary' tilted his head at me, big blue eyes widening thoughtfully. The innocent expression on his face was enough to make me squirm. "Well, if you have a recording..." I decided to let Lucien listen to a recording. As I pressed play on one of the voice notes, Zachary's voice rang out through the room. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something but it seems like you're not answering. Call me back when you can, okay?" Lucien looks at me surprise, "What? Don't look at me like that, it's not what you think!" I scratch my neck "he just happend to leave me a voicemail, that's all.." Lucien looks away awkwardly "human mating rituals are weird" I choke on air, "ma - hey, hey, who said anything about mating?!" I yell "We're not like that, at all! He's just... really nice...and charming.. and sweet...and drop-dead gorgeous..." Lucien stares at me "you're drooling" he says bluntly "aaa! Don't suddenly use Zachary's voice like that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Lucien sighs "well, if you don't like it, I'll just turn back now..." my eyes widen "Wait, don't!" I stop Lucien "let me look at your pretty face just a little longer.." with a soft crunch, the gloriously shimmering 'Zachary' turned back into Lucien. He gave me a lazy grin. It was the satisfied expression of a fox who just released his prey after having fun with it.