Decay

Holy Shit He Knows

"I-I-I... Where w-would you get th-that idea?" I was floundering. I had no idea what to do or how to get the idea out of his head. He was right, of course, and he could see that without a doubt purely in how I reacted. It was so strange. Had anyone else asked, I would have been ready in an instant with a sarcastic reply, but for some reason... I couldn't lie to him. Even when I tried with the response I had become used to giving people that got a little too close to the truth, I began to choke. "I-I c-could nev-ver be something l-like that. Have you seen m-me? I'm t-too small and p-pathetic to-to..."

He studied me, his eyed softening. "Hey... Cay, you need to breathe..." He walked closer, pulling me into a hug. Normally, when people did something like that, it would set off a sensory overload, and I would be in physical pain. I would feel smothered and wherever the person touched would light up in pain. It was similar to the feeling when your finger gets caught between an outlet and a socket that you're trying to plug it into.

But when he pulled me into a hug, his touch wasn't painful... It was... comforting... I still wanted to get away, purely from the sheer mistrust of physical contact, but... This was something I could grow to enjoy... Even reeling from this revelation, I felt my entire body tense, wanting to push him away and wanting the hug to go on forever. "Let go." Somehow, I managed to get the words out without stuttering, but my voice was unsteady. The command almost sounded like a question, and I hated it. Nevertheless, he obeyed, releasing me without a word. That didn't stop him from giving me a look that had far too much pity for my taste.

"Cay... It's okay. I just wanted to make sure that I understood. I understand why you don't tell people at school..." He shifted nervously as I tried to control my breathing. It was irritating how easy it had been for him to send me spiraling into a panic. I was just relieved it hadn't turned into a full-blown panic attack.

"How...?"

He shrugged, sitting beside me. (It pissed me off just a little that he could casually lean back to sit on it and I had to physically climb up.) "I dunno. You don't like your gloves being taken off. That was really a big sign. Most people are really apathetic to it, so they wouldn't have freaked out like you did. You also hide it, so it's probably not something people would be proud of... Alya was probably the biggest tip-off though. Every time you said something that involved trouble, he looked at you like it had been your fault. Not in, like, an accusatory manner, but in the sort of 'Are you okay, and do you need me to hide a body?' kind of way. So... It just seems like you would be..."

I sighed, pulling my legs up to my chest. "I see..."

"So... Can I... can I ask..." He hesitated, seeming unsure on how to ask this question. "Um... How... how does your ability... work?"

"You... you actually want to... to know?" I had always expected people to freak out when they found out. In the scenarios that played out in my head, I had always pictured people looking at me like I was some sort of monster, not carefully dancing around my feelings. "Why...?"

He glanced at me, vaguely surprised. "Why wouldn't I? You have an amazing ability... Demons are so rare..."

Another sigh. "I... Hand me that rock. I might as well show you what Cenn taught me..." I indicated a large jar that held rocks, all tossed into the glass jar simply to keep them out of the way. He seemed a little startled at my sudden request, but reached over and fished one out. I took it, tugging off one of my gloves with my teeth and dropping it somewhere to be found later. It was odd not to have the glove on, but it was even weirder to channel my ability with someone's eyes on me.

The familiar tingling spread from the center of my chest down my arm. Slowly, it spread from my palm to the tips of my fingers, and I was ready. Gently trailing my fingertips over the rock, I could feel the rock beginning to break down, crumbling to dust that rained down on my lap. Novak watched, his eyes widening as I slowly carved out ridges in the hard grey surface. Suddenly, I dropped the stone into my ungloved hand, gripping it tightly... Or, tried to. It disintegrated so quickly, by the time I closed my fingers around where the rock had been, the dust it had become had already floated away from me, out the window.