Dance of the Damned

Coming Back

"Welcome back my darling boy!" Lady Huckbury instantly grabbed Micah almost squeezing him to death as he felt something break at his side.

"My Lady!" Elise tried to pull the boy out of her grasp. "You will suffocate the boy."

"Nonsense, the only thing I will suffocate him with is love." She said giving him one more squeeze.

"H-how are you, aunt?" Micah asked as she finally pulled him away.

He almost lost his balance as soon as she released him but Briar managed to catch him before he could hit the ground.

"Dear boy, asking how I am while you were the one at the awful hospital." She sighed, pulling her fan open and fanning herself with it. "Well, I was absolutely distraught. Could hardly sleep a wink."

She walked away from him to the chair in the living room and dramatically laid on the chair, propping her leg up on the leg rest she placed a piece of imported chocolate into her mouth.

"I don't know what I would have done without you," She said, sighing while not even facing Micah. Sticking out her hand, she searched for the boy, "Where are you, Micah?"

"I- I don-" Micah reached forward but could not feel anyone.

Briar and Elise exchanged an exasperated look, cursing at the woman with their eyes as Briar took Micah's hand and placed it on top of the woman's, very reluctantly.

"Ah. There you are. What took you so long to come here?" She complained, holding his hand a little too tightly. "It is not like you do not have legs to walk."

"Aunt, you are squeezing my hand."

Briar rushed to them and pulled Micah's hand from the woman, looking at the slight bruise at the sides.

It took everything in him to not glare at the woman.

"What are you doing, boy?" She asked, glaring at Briar. "Why are you even here? Inside the house?"

"He is welcomed in the house, Aunt," Micah said, gently. "He is the only friend I have."

"Of course he is." She said, waving her hand away. "Well, it is good that you are here now and well enough to walk too."

"He is making impressive progress, the doctors say." Elise began to speak as Briar pulled Micah a little further away from the woman. "They say-"

"That is wonderful dear." Lady Huckbury said, opening a book. "If that is all, you may leave me. I am tired, worrying about my dear nephew took so much out of me."

"Of course, my Lady," Elise said turning to the two. "Let us allow the Lady to rest. Ok?"

"Before we go." Micah turned to the woman, "Aunt, can Brad- Briar stay with me in my room? I will be stuck there a while and I want some company."

"Do as you wish." She said dismissively as the boy brightened instantly.

"Thank you, aunt," He said, giving her a bow before they walked to the door.

_________________

As soon as they closed the door behind them, Micah lost his footing and began to fall to the ground. Briar managed to catch him midway but he was in danger of falling over as well so he studied himself as quickly as he could.

"Young master, are you alright?" Elise took Micah in her arms and checked his temperature with the back of her hand. "He is burning up."

"He will obviously burn up." Briar hissed. "He is not supposed to do anything strenuous and talking to that woman is the most strenuous thing in the world."

"Hush." Elise shushed the boy. "Here, take him to his room. I will bring up the medicines as quickly as possible.

"Why do you insist on pretending to be better than you are?" Briar complained, picking Micah up on his back and took him to his room up a hundred flight of stairs. "How the blizzards do you limb all these stairs every day?"

Micah chuckled on his back. "I suppose I am stronger than you, that is why."

"Whatever you say, Micah." The boy rolled his eyes at his friend. "You need to eat more. All your bones are poking at me."

"But I am light, aren’t I? So that makes me easy to carry."

"That has nothing to do with anything.” He chuckled, opening the door with one hand while the other held Micah on his back. “I prefer it if you are a little heavier and not so ... pokey."

“I will keep that in mind,” Micah said as Briar began to lay the boy down on the bed as gently as he could. “Ouch. My sides.”

“Honestly.” Briar shook his head in disapproval at the boy laying on the bed with a sigh. “If you are still this weak, you should have remained in the hospital. You have only been two days in the hospital.”

“But I didn’t like the smell of the hospital.” Micah pouted as the boy began fixing the pillows for him to lean on and tucked him under the covers carefully.

“Right. I forgot about that.” He ran his hand through his hair, flopping down on the bed beside Micah with a thump. “You make it sound like a magic of sorts.”

“Maybe it is.” Micah chuckled, reaching on top of the covers until his fingers found the ends of Briar’s hair and began fiddling with it.

“How does it work again?” Briar asked, looking at his finger playing with his hair and then turned to the ceiling, a soft smile coming on his face.

“My smell?” Micah asked, thinking. “Well, everyone has colours attached to them, so when they speak, they leave a trail of the colours like a thread that I can follow.”

“That sounds incredible.” Briar turned to his stomach, looking at Micah. “So you know exactly what I am doing right now? What position I am in?”

“No.” He shook his head, slightly disappointed. “It would be great if I could. Then I can tell what someone is doing just by hearing them speak.”

“What is it that you can hear?”

“Anything that makes a sound.” He stared out the window as sunlight broke into the room, landing on him. “But I don’t always rely on sound because it gets overwhelming sometimes.”

“I can imagine.” Briar sighed, resting his head on the bed. “Must be tough.”

“Well, I can see your colour so, I don’t really mind.” Micah chuckled, still playing with a strand of Briar’s hair. “You have very soft hair, Bradie.”

“I know.” He looked at him from the corner of his eyes. “You have told me that before.”

“Will you grow it longer?”

“If you want me to.” He said watching as the boy’s entire face lit up almost immediately. “But you should know it is hard to take care of longer hair.”

“Then I will grow mine too,” Micah said, holding the ends of his hair up with his free hand. “We can match.”

“Elise will kill you if you do that.” Briar scoffed, burying his face in the cloth.

“I think if I asked, she will allow me to.” Micah insisted, gripping Briar’s hair in his hands. “I really do love your colour, Bradie.”

“What is my colour?” The boy asked as Micah smiled softly.

______________________

Through Micah’s vision, a light blue line formed where his lips were, leaving a lingering blue hue behind that Micah could touch, if he wanted to.

The darkness of the room is filled with the same blue, lingering in spots where Bradie had paused for a little longer, almost like they were making a trial for Micah to follow.

Though, with the blue, there was a hint of teal in spots of the room like the door, the closet and then a line of teal out the window.

Not good at cleaning their tracks are they? Micah thought, amused.

“Micah?” Bradie’s voice appeared once again as he turned to him. “What are you thinking about?”

“Just how pretty your colour is.” He said for the third time already. “Azure is so calming.”

“What is Azure?” Bradie asked, the line that came out of his lips a little shaky.

“Blue.”

“I see.” He said, the line still shaky as he heard the rustling of the sheets as the boy repositioned himself again.

He does not understand a word I am saying, does he? Well, that just makes him all the more endearing I suppose.

__________________

"Pardon the intrusion." Elise walked into the room to see both boys laying on the bed, eyes closed. Micah's hand is still wrapped around Briar’s hair.

Walking to them with a box in her hands, Elise smiled softly before almost jumping out of her skin when Briar's eyes shot up.

"Goodness!" She screamed, dropping the box as her hand flew to her heart. "Are you not asleep?"

"Help me." Briar whisper yelled. "I have been stuck like this for over five minutes now."

"Here. Let me-" Elise carefully took Micah's hand and pulled Briar's hair out of it, freeing the boy who just about jumped with happiness.

"Thank you." He said, stretching his neck and then body. "Ouch. I am sore."

"If you cut your hair, maybe you would be in this problem." She mused as the boy kept stretching, the sounds of his bones cracking filled the room.

"You know nothing Elise." The boy said, walking out of the room, "I will go ... watch the grass grow. Bye."