Two

Leaves crunched under his feet as Castor walked silently through the woods. It was cool and dark beneath the trees and soon the young boy realized that he no longer had any idea where he was. Castor turned around and gazed at the path he’d created behind him and for a moment he considered returning to the schoolyard. Recess would be over by now and there was a possibility that he could get through the rest of the day without getting the thrashing that Zack Thomas, the boy who’d thrown the rock at him, would be waiting to give. Then he remembered the furious look in the other boy’s eyes and decided that wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. Castor turned back in the way he was headed and trudged on in the same direction. At least he hoped he was going in the same direction, the trees looked about the same to him every way he looked.

“I am so lost…” the boy said to himself after what seemed like hours of walking through the woods. The scenery around him had changed little and as far as the young Demi knew, he could have been walking around in circles. Castor stopped in a huffed and peer around. Tall, thick tree trunks and green shrubs crowded around him far into the distance until their silent silhouettes merged into darkness at the edge of his vision. Castor looked down at checked the watch on his wrist. It was three twenty and he still had about forty minutes before the bus would be dropping off students at the home and it would be obvious that he wasn’t among them.

Castor picked a direction and took off at a dead run. He needed to find his way out of these woods soon. As he ran more and more light filtered down through the emerald canopy above him and the trees seemed to be thinning out. Finally, he was getting out of here.

A sudden barrage of light hit the young boy’s eyes as he broke through the tree line and bursts out into open area. Castor stopped, temporarily blinded after spending hours in the dark woods, and blinked willing his eyes to adjust. When his vision cleared he realized that he was standing behind a row of homes in what looked like some kind of housing development. Directly in front of him stood a large two-story home, painted a crisp white with a slate grey roof and dark green shutters on all of the windows. A large screened porch wrapped around the entire back of the house and three brick stairs led down to a short brick walkway. At the end of the walkway was an area covered in mulch with a swing set, much like the swings on the playground back at his school. A girl sat on one of the swings with her feet dangling listlessly. Long glossy black hair hung like curtains around her face and Castor could make out little more about her than that she wore a bright green t-shirt and dingy denim overalls.

Castor had no desire to disturb the girl on her swing. He’d had enough dealings with other children for the day and the last thing he needed was a little girl running screaming to mommy and daddy that a Demi-human boy was lurking around their backyard. So Castor made to move quietly along the backs of the houses in the direction he assumed the street was, without disturbing the girl. But then she looked up, her hair parting around her face and she caught his gaze. Castor tensed, ready to take off in a run when the little girl did the most unexpected thing; she broke into a wide smile and waved at him.

Shocked, Castor stood rooted to the spot with a confounded look etched across his olive features. He looked around him, certain the girl had to be waving at someone, anyone, but him. But as he scanned the area around them he quickly realized that he and she were the only two people around; the girl had to be waving at him. He looked back in her direction and the girl gazed at him with a slightly amused smile plastered on her face as she watched him expectantly. Castor lifted his hand in an awkward wave and the girl’s own smile seemed to grow even wider.

“Well? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come over and say ‘hi’?” the girl asked with a giggle in her voice. Castor stood there for a moment more, his brain frantically working to find some kind of appropriate response to the girl’s questioning.

“Uhhh…” was all that he managed to say and he smiled sheepishly as soon as his mind registered how stupid he’d just sounded. The girl giggled again and waved him over mercifully. The young boy trotted over to where the girl sat on her swing grateful that she was obviously still interested in talking to him despite his obvious differences and his sudden inability to speak coherently.

“I’m Lym!” the girl chirped happily when Castor finally made it to her. The young boy was about to introduce himself when he looked the girl in the face and stopped dead in his tracks. This girl, Lym, seemed to about his size and about his age, with flowing long black hair that stopped at her waist, and smooth earthy brown skin; but that’s not what had stopped Castor dead. Lym had slender pointed ears on either side of her head, graceful, black eyebrows that arched up slightly near the end, and where Castor had expected to see normal white eyes with irises colored blue, brown, grey, or green with a black pupil in the middle, he instead saw completely black eyes that shone in the sunlight; almost exactly like his! This girl was not so normal after all.

“You-You’re a Demi-human!” Castor spurted almost accusingly and without thinking. The girl pouted at his words and rolled her eyes.

“I’m a girl!” she spat back indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest. “And you’re one to talk! You look like pea soup. At least I was nice enough to tell you my name!” Castor flushed, embarrassment creeping up into his cheeks turning them a ruddy color. Lym was the first child his age who he could ever remember being nice to him simply because and he’d managed to offend her.

“Castor!” he said quickly trying to undo his rudeness. “I’m sorry, I’ve just never met another Dem…another person like me before.” He apologized. He was worried he’d ruined any chance of making this girl his friend.

“Castor, hmm?” Lym drawled looking up at him critically. She cocked her head to the side much like a small bird and brought her index finger to her lips for a moment. “I like it!” she decided her face brightening, “It’s a little strange, but that kind of fits a boy who’s green.” She giggled at her comment. In fact, Lym giggled at just about everything; especially him. But her giggling was a far cry from the laughter that was usually directed at Castor and he decided he liked it.

“You know, you’re kind of a mess.” Lym said a little more seriously, looking him up and down again. Castor looked down and gave himself a once over. His clothes were covered in brown dirt and green stains. There was a large hole in his faded jeans, small holes and tears in his shirt where tree branches and thorns had caught him during his run through the woods, and traces of dried blood on his shirt that he was sure had come from the cut above his eyes. He was certainly a mess and those were just his clothes; he didn’t want to think what his cut up and bloodied green face might look like to here.

“Hold on,” Lym said cheerily jumping up from the swing. “I’ll be right back, don’t go anyway.” And with that Lym sprint to the back door of the house and disappeared inside. While Castor waited for the girl to return he took her place on the swing. His day had surprisingly gone from terrible to rather good for once. This was the first time in a long time that Castor had exchanged words with a child around his age that was more pleasant than insults and taunts. Not to mention that Lym was like him, the child of a Marliquin and a human; she even seemed to like him. He didn’t want to get too hopeful, but Castor was beginning to think that he may have found a friend.

“Got it!” Lym sang out and bounced merrily over to where Castor sat on the swing. “Here you go, green boy.” She said placing a warm, damp wash cloth in his hand. “It’s for your face.” She explained.

“Thanks.” Castor said smiling. He wiped at his face with the cloth in an attempt to clean off some of the dirt and dried blood. It took more than a few minutes and when Castor stopped to look there was quite a bit of gunk on the wash cloth and he made a face. “Ew.”

“Ew is right.” Lym stated matter-of-factly with her own disgusted look plastered on her features. She looked him over again. “But it looks like you pretty much got it all. You look much better now!” she beamed. She took the wash cloth from him and dropped it haphazardly on the ground. She mounted the swing next to the one he sat on. “So…” Castor looked over at the girl quizzically.

“So what?” he asked confused. Lym just shook her head and smiled.

“You ever been in a swing jump contest?” she asked suddenly, bouncing a bit on her swing.

“A swing-what contest?” Castor asked, still confused. Lym stared back at him incredulously.

“You’ve got to be kidding. A swing jump contest! It’s where you swing really hard and really high and  then you jump off and see who lands the farthest away! It’s so much fun!” she rambled on so quickly that Castor almost had a hard time keeping up with what she had been explaining. “We have to have one. Please? PLEASE?!” she begged him.

“Um, alright sure.” Castor agreed and little warily. He’d never been in a swing jump contest before. In fact Castor had probably managed not to do any of the normal activities kids his age participated in; it wasn’t as if he had any friends to share these moments with. Still, the concept of the game sounded rather easy and Lym seemed so eager to play. The last thing Castor wanted to do was upset her.

“Yay!” Lym exclaimed happily, clapping her hands. “Okay, when I say go we start swinging as hard and as fast as we can. At then I’ll count to three and we jump off. Got it?”

“Got it.” Castor said nodding. The game sounded easy enough.

“Okay then. GO!” Lym shouted and began swinging. Castor pushed himself and his swing from the ground with his feet. Once he’d established a good swinging motion he started pumping his legs back and forth trying to build up a rhythm. Next, to him Lym did the same, almost mirroring his moments exactly. A smile was spread across her face and every time her swing went down her long black hair billowed out behind her like a curtain caught in the wind. For once in a long while, Castor was having fun.

“One. Two. THREE!” Lym shouted the count suddenly. Having the benefit of being the one counting, Lym let go as soon as she said three and sailed far out into the yard. A little late, Castor waited until he swung upward again and at the top of his swing he let go feeling his body soar out into the air. Castor hit the ground hard landing in a spot about a foot shorter than where Lym had landed. His legs buckled beneath him and his rolled into where she lay still trying to catch her breath.

“I won!” she exclaimed between breaths and giggles. Castor laughed as well. He’d never known that the swings could be so much fun!

“Only because I’ve never done it before!” Castor said still chuckling.

“I still won! You got beat by a girl, green boy!” Lym boasted cheerfully. She looked over to where Castor laid with a wide impish grin on her chocolate brown face. At her look Castor broke into a fit of laughter and Lym giggled right along. For the first time in a long time he laughed so hard that he could barely keep his eyes open and tears streamed down his face. Above him someone cleared their throat.

Castor’s laughed died suddenly and he opened his eyes to see a tall brown skinned man hovering above where he and Lym were laying side by side in the grass. Lym continued to giggle, unaware that this towering man had joined them. The man didn’t appear to be as amused as the two children had been. His dark brown eyes were narrowed and seemed to be focused directly on Castor. His lips were pressed tight and he has his large arms crossed over his chest.

“Uh oh…” Castor whispered under his breath. He recognized the look the older man was giving them; or rather the look the man was giving Castor. Castor had seen it many times and it always meant that he was in trouble. The young boy nudged Lym in the side with his elbow and noticed immediately that her giggling had subsided; she finally noticed the man standing above them.

“H-hi daddy,” Lym choked out sheepishly from where she lay. Instantly the outgoing, vibrant girl he’d known from just a few moments earlier was gone. Lym scrambled to her feet and Castor quickly followed suit. “I-I was just playing with my new friend, Castor.” She added quickly. Lym’s father didn’t say anything for a moment, as he appraised Castor. The young boy gathered from the faces the man was making that his analysis was much less positive than Lym’s had been.

“It’s nice to meet you Castor.” Lym’s father stated coldly and Castor got the impression that he in fact did not think it was nice to meet the young boy. “However, I think it’s about time I called your parents and took you home.”

“But daddy…” Lym began to protest until a glare from her father cut her off. Castor knew well enough to keep silent and he just nodded in agreement keeping his eyes on the ground.

“Let’s go young man.” Lym’s father ordered and turned back toward the house and disappeared inside without another word. Castor obediently began to follow.

“I guess this is goodbye then.” Lym said, her voice low and full of melancholy. Castor stopped and turned around to face her.

“I’ll come back as soon as I can, Lym. Cross my heart!” Castor promised earnestly. He would have promised to come back tomorrow, but he was certain he would be in trouble for skipping school and probably wouldn’t be allowed out of the home for a couple of days. However, Lym still didn’t seem to cheer at his words. She just nodded ruefully and went back to her swing. She sat and dropped her head so that her chin almost rested against her chest. Her long flowing black hair once again draped like curtains around her face and she returned to the sullen looking state that Castor had found her in earlier this afternoon.