I Swear; But I Might Be A Vampire;I'm Not Sick

[bandit]

"Okay class, please take out your Science homework from last night. We're going to check it over." droned the teacher in a robotic manner, standing up from his desk and fixing his tie as though it might actually make a difference of what the students thought of him already. Most of them groaned their protests, while others mumbled to themselves about it, but in a few minutes the sheet and pens were on their desks and ready to be checked. Mr. Robynson, the name of the teacher, casted a quick glance around the room, making sure everyone had their papers with them, before nodding to himself and grabbing a decent-sized piece of chalk and writing numbers on the board for each question there was. When that was finished, he turned to look at his class and walked over to his desk, grabbing the paper and holding it in his hand, then reading the first question aloud.

Then he waited for someone to raise their hand to answer it. After someone did, the class went in this pattern while they checked the homework. Sitting in the back, quiet, still, and staring down at his paper was Caynce, his face expressionless yet his eyes telling the whole story. He had gotten almost every question wrong, though this was something he had expected beforehand. After all, when you space out every three minutes and read anything but a textbook, you can't expect yourself to be the class brain. Poor Caynce just couldn't focus on one thing long enough to do it right unless it sparked his interest, but Science definitely didn't. Art was his special thing, not studying every last cell that existed in the brain. That was the most boring thing on Earth, and he was beginning to believe that maybe he was just a little short on brain cells himself, and he hoped he wouldn't be called on.

But the teacher always knows that one thing you never want them to know, and in Caynce's case, it was that he didn't put alot of effort into his Science homework from last night. As these thoughts whirled in his head, Mr. Robynson decided the boy had been too quiet, and despite the fact that there were about seven hands waving in the air to answer the question, Caynce seemed just the person to choose. "Caynce, what's the answer for number three?" he asked, fixing the boy with a rigid gaze, enough to have the boy staring back fearfully. Swallowing, he looked down at his paper to the third question, which read: What happens if you break your spine? The boy blinked and read over his obviously incorrect answer. Well, it was incorrect and correct in a way, but not the right answer in Mr. Robyson's opinion, because the question wanted to know what would happen to your body, not what you would think.

"It would...hurt?"Caynce said in a low, shy voice, not looking up from his paper. The teacher raised an eyebrow, the words unclear the man, though he guessed the answer was probably incorrect because it was so short. The correct answer, which he had one his paper, was about two lines long, not half an inch. "Repeat that for me, Caynce?" he said, tapping his foot lightly against the floor's surface. A few students turned around to look at the boy in the back of the room, who swallowed dryly and repeated himself. "It...would hurt..." he said, only slightly louder that the people close to him could only make out one or two words, and then shook their heads. He was asked to repeat himself three more times, and every time the teacher still couldn't hear him. Mr. Robynson sighed, walking around the desks of the students and making his way over to Caynce who had now put his paper inside his desk, not wanting his teacher to see it.

Leaning down slightly to the point where he was just a little above the young boy's head, Mr. Robynson examined him in a concerned manner, noticing for the first time how Caynce looked. The boy was incredibly pale, not one part of him holding any vibrant colors. Everything was black, white, pale brown or gray, including his skin and hair color, and there were bandages wrapped around his neck and wrists with little crosses on them. Mr. Robynson didn't know if the boy was particularly religious or not, but if so, he had never heard of a religion that made you wrap your neck in bandages if it wasn't broken. Unless...it was broken and he had just never noticed. That would be living proof he was a very inattentive teacher, or that this boy just didn't stand out. The man desperately hoped for the latter, seeing as he didn't need to lose his job anytime soon, even though he loathed it at times.

"Caynce, are you alright?" he asked, once again going over the boy as if his eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. But Caynce just nodded, turning in his seat to face his teacher. His thin fingers intertwined and sat in his lap, pale gray orbs looking up slightly at the man. "Are you sure?" he nodded again, "Please don't lie to me. If there's something wrong, keep in mind I can help you." the teacher urged, reaching out to touch Caynce's forehead to make sure the boy didn't have a fever. Seeing this, the child quickly pushed his seat back and away from the teacher's grasp, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the man's proximity. Mr. Robynson stood up, reaching his full height that towered over all the students like a skyscraper and approached Caynce again, only for the same thing to happen. Every time he took a step forward, the boy pushed his chair back a little more. "Caynce, were you sexually abused as a child?" he asked suddenly, not realizing what a private question that was.

His eyes grew wide and he quickly shook his head, wondering why he wasn't. He did, after all, grow up in a place crawling with prostitutes, it was a miracle he still had his virginity. The teacher, however, was now completely intent on helping the boy, something he didn't want right now. "Listen, you're excused from class to go to the nurse's office. Talk to her for a bit and get some medicine, because being that pale isn't normal. You can also go the Guidance Consoler's office after that, and meet me at recess, okay?" the man said, backing up so Caynce wouldn't feel so uncomfortable. As much as the boy wanted to protest and say most of those things weren't necessary, if not at all, he just kept quiet and nodded slowly, carefully walking past the teacher so he wouldn't accidentally brush off him instead. Grabbing a hall pass on his way out, he could hear a student's comment on him about how only vampires could be so pale, and the boy sighed.

Caynce quietly walked through the halls, enjoying the fact he was the only one there. No one was present to make fun of him, of his power, to say he was so short and that he was probably a mute, maybe even a night creature in disguise. No one was there to say he looked like he just came out of a black and white or sephia movie, or that he had no reactions to anything that happened. They couldn't say he was uncaring and was probably raped when he was five, and then have him wonder why he wasn't. No one was there to judge him just by his appearance, just because he looked so incredibly different it was scary. Now in front of the nurse's office, he blinked once for no reason and then opened the door and sat down in one of the chairs, staring at the floor without saying a word. He didn't even know if anyone else was there, only that his name was Caynce T. Marce and his teacher thought he had problems.

[Krispey]

As Maya entered the room, her cheeks had been burning, rosey red, seeing how she was at least ten minutes late. That new girl aura was still about her, and being late just added to the problem. She had gotten lost, and spent eight of the ten minutes getting to the correct hall. This was the first day Maya had actually attended any classes since she had been here, and she definetley wan't too psyched about it at all. A nervous sigh pursued forth pass her lips as she opened the door to the room. All heads turned as she walked in.

Maya thought beads of sweat would have popped up on her forehead as all the student's eyes were beaming on her like spotlights. The teacher was occupied in writing something on the boared, and saw the title "Last night's Homework" above it all. She stood there, glancing around the room, sure enough not to look at anyone until she was secured in a little desk of her own. She spotted a tray to the far left of the room saying "Yesterday's assignment."

Why couldn't everything be so easy? When you're confused, everything labeled. She made her way across the front of the classrom, occasionally glancing at the class, recognizing some of the guys from the library yesterday. When she arrived, she grabbed a sheet, and made her way to the back of the room to an empty desk. Dropping her backpack to the floor, she slid into the desk, the seat of the desk cool to her exposed thighs, for she was once again wearing a mini skirt. Her brown tresses were pulled into a rather large bun that was perched atop her head.

Her eyes scanned the paper, reading over the questions. "How many bones does your spine have?" Hell, how many bones DOES your spine have? Maya thought to herself. Her pinky fingernail in her mouth, though she didn't bite down on it at all. Ugh science...It wasn't her strong point, but Maya knew that is was basically based off of logic alot of the time, and if you read the textbook, or at least scanned the captions and pictures, you'd be okay. But who really wanted to make time for that? "Caynce, what's the answer to number three?"

Maya then diverted her eyes to the right, spotting her aquaintence, the little shy guy, being asked a question, although many other anxious hands were in the air. How dare the teacher put someone on the spot like that? It was obvious he didn't want to answer it if his hand wsn't up wasn't it? Maya guessed that that teacher just didn't care not one bit. Though Maya could make out lip movement, she could not hear Caynce, and she heard the teach ask twice more before she decided to step in.

"I think he said that if you broke your spine, you could become paralized." Some guy glanced at Caynce, then to maya, then to the teacher, "No, that's not what he said." Maya was quick to jump back at him, "How would you know, you didn't hear him?!". The guy took no time to defend himself, "How would you know, you couldn't hear him either?" Maya sighed as to say 'Duuuh, it's simple you silly goose'. "Because, that's what would happen, and I'm pretty sure that's what Caynce was saying, just your hearing aid wasn't turned loud enough to hear."

[bandit]

"Enough is enough!" Mr. Robynson quickly broke in, stepping between the two students and watching as Caynce left the room, just to make sure he took a hall pass with him. Turning back to Maya and Kaycee, the name of the boy she had been fighting with, he gave them a disgusted look. "Stop acting like children, this is High School, not Kindergarden." he spat, thoroughly upset. Where had he been this whole time? He just noticed one of his students looked like he was on his last leg and now he wasn't able to stop this fight earlier. So as long as these kids kept their mouth shut on this matter, he'd be able to keep his crappy job as a teacher, since the school was close to his house.

"Listen, all of you, sit down and be quiet." he demanded, turning on his heel and walking back to the chalk board, writing down the correct answer to the third question on the Science sheet. It read: #3. If you were to break your spine, you would become paralyzed. It was plain obvious to the teacher, and he didn't even have to study the textbook. Then again, perhaps the years of teaching the same things over and over again helped out a little bit, but he had always known most of the answers to the questions even when he had just begun teaching them. Even in the present years he was given new things to teach, and they really weren't that hard at all, not even the slightest bit of a challange. But why was Caynce having such a hard time doing the work?

"Okay, question number four, how many different cells are there in your body?" he asked as he wrote down the number four on the board. The question was quickly answered, only because someone called out without raising their hand, but as long as the work got done and it didn't get out of control, everything would be fine. And so, every question was quickly and easily answered without so much as a thought, seeing as all he had to do was write down what the students said after checking his paper to make sure they got the correct answer, and then moved on.

And all the while, there were a group of girls keeping their eye on Maya, already deciding to get her into a little trouble as, oh say, a welcome gift. A 'Welcome to Gifted Cassis, You're Going To Hate It Here And We Hope You Enjoy' kind of gift. It was just what they needed. They all hated Caynce, or just didn't know him, and they figured anyone who was his friend or stood up for him or any of the such had trouble as best friend, and they didn't want that. The place of 'super-annoying teenage very *friendly* person.s' had already been taken, and so was the position of troublemakers, so they felt they had every right to make sure Maya knew not to mess with them. One of the girls, Cassandra, ripped off a piece of paper and wrote something on it.

She flicked it over to another girl in their group, Judea, and she opened it, nodded and smiled, then closed it and looked over to Maya. Carefully, when Mr. Robynson wasn't looking, she threw it onto Maya's desk, and layed innocently in the middle. Hearing something, the teacher turned around and scanned the room, noticing Judea and Cassandra giggling, and he raised an eyebrow. "What're you girls laughing a-" he cut himself off as Judea pointed at Maya, and then he realized (or thought he did) Maya had been passing notes. He quickly made his way over and snatched up the paper, unfolding the supple material and reading over what the note said, and an expression of anger took over his face.

"Maya, in this class, we don't pass notes, especially ones commenting on how cute someone's ass may look." he growled, crumpling the paper and shoving it in his pocket. "Take a Hall Pass and report to the Principal's Office immediatly." the man said, "And go and make sure Caynce didn't get lost." he added, figuring that it was a punishment to have to deal with that boy at all. He figured no one liked Caynce, and now he was using this information to make her get it even worse than she would have liked. The fact he was assuming all these things didn't really prove anything, in his opinion. "Bye, Maya." the two girls said at the same time, being 'so kind' as to throw a Hall Pass onto her desk.

[Krispey]

As this teacher stepped in to intervene with the arguement, Maya sat back, eyeing the boy. She decided that sce she was new here, she wouldn't be too much of a butt. That all would have to come later on this year. But the way Mr. Robynson had called out on Caynce out of no where, Maya figured that he'd have nothing better to do and sit back and watch the twoof them humiliate themselves as he probably thought they were doing such a good job at. Then, here comes a piece of stationary that was seemingly torn from some note book, fluttering down on Maya's desk. Maya quickly grabbed the note, and just as Mr. Robynson turned around, apparently not being fast enough to crumble it up. As Mr. Robynson red the note, Maya sent the girls a glare that she thought would surely sear through their oily, foundation-covered skins. Those little wenches! How dare they set her up! "Now matter how cute you think someone's ass is..." Is all Maya heard, and oh yeah, "Report to the principals office" Oh boy, these little tramps want to play dirty, two could play at that game. But instead of setting them up, a bit of verbal humiliation would do them some good, Maya thought. She grabbed the hall pass, sauntering over to the classroom door. Maya opened the door, but before walking out, she turned and looked directly at Judea. "Hun, whatever your name may be, I'm sure it's not worth remembering, I think you forgot to shave your mustache. And you," She glared at Cassandra, "All of the padding in that bra does you no good if they're not real."

Maya walked stepped out of the classroom, and the laughs of students in the class allowed a vindictive smile cross her face as she slammed the door shut. She sighed as she made her way down the empty corridor. Being a butt....Later came sooner than Maya imagined, but it felt wonderful. Now, where was Caynce? Maya rounded the corner to the main hall, and without a doubt, she spotted Caynce. She ran to catch up, shouting his name, "Caynce! Caynce, wait up! I told off a few brats in mine and your defense!! Wait up!"

[bandit]

Caynce nearly jumped, looking up from his place in front of the chair, outside of the office. He had been sent for some reason, and the nurse wouldn't tell him why. It got him a little upset, but he decided he'd live through so much bullcrap already, this was nothing he couldn'y possibly handle. It was like when someone saw something so scary, nothing would ever scare them again. He began to wonder if the same went for something funny. If a person saw something so humorous, they'd never laugh again. But he caught himself in time, his mind was drifting away with these thoughts, and he kept on mind someone was calling his name.

Turning around and expecting to see someone he didn't want, imagine his surprise, though it didn't show on his face, when he saw someone he couldn't call an enemy or a rival. He didn't know if he could call Maya a friend, but he knew she didn't hate him, since she had talked to him in the Library without making one incredibly heartbreaking comment about him, like, let's say, his height or eye color, or, oh look, the fact he could be a vampire. For some reason he couldn't get the thought out of his mind, and - dammit! Caynce shook his head, gripping it tightly and trying to focus on Maya. Okay, she had said something about telling off a few people in his and her defense.

Blinking, he stared at her intensly, as though she were a ghost and he had to concentrate to make sure she remained visible. But, in truth, he was just trying to keep his mind in one place and his thoughts on the same subject. Maya was here, she was talking to him, and he needed to say somehing back unless he wanted her to think he was now deaf. Caynce couldn't believe after all these years, he still needed to pay attention to remember that when someone's talking to you, you need to say something back or make some kind of motion, so they knew you had heard them. He blinked at her again, mouth opening slightly, and with all that thinking, he could only come up with the most predictable response known to man.

"Hello, Maya." he said in a soft voice, hoping she could hear him. Caynce's voice only sounded dry because he never drank enough water or had never eaten a sufficent amount of food, which was the reason why he was so skinny. Also the lack of sunlight did things to him, which were entirely obvious. It was the reason he got sent here in the first place. He mentally cursed himself for saying something so simple and easy, but easily shrugged it off, content with the fact he had at least been able to say something instead of nothing at all.

[Krispey]

Maya slowed, and eventually stopped, breathing a little heavier than normal, for the simple fact that she had been running. She managed to break a smile through at Caynce as he spoke. He spoke! Yay! She was happy to see that he had even made effort to talk to her at all, since he, besides Cobalt, was the only one who actually talked to her in this whole school. Oh, Cobalt...She hoped and prayed that Caynce never came in contact with him. But besides that thought, Maya was just happy that Caynce spoke to her all together. "I got sent here because some girls set me up..." She took her place in another empty chair beside Caynce, hoping that he had heard her and what she had said. "But I got them back, and I did it in my defense as well as yours." The smile stayed with her, as she eyed Caynce, her cheeks burning a bit as she couldn't believe she was actually telling someone she just met within, what, twenty-four hours ago that she had stood up for them. Not even that, just the fact that she had stood up for him.

[bandit]

Caynce watched as the girl sat down beside him in an empty chair and listened carefully to what she had to say, doing his best to keep his mind in one place. After she spoke, it took the boy a few minutes to comprehend what she had said, because, for some reason, he never understand what people said as soon as they said it. He had to pick out the words and made sure he knew their exact meanings like a robot, and then decide what to say. He gussed other people did it as well, just alot faster than he was capable of doing it, but he did, in the end, understand what she was saying. And then he got confused. Why would she even bother standing up for him?

"Oh, t-thank you, Maya." he said, feeling extremely grateful, but it didn't show in his face; it reflected in his eyes. For a second you could just feel how happy he was about it, but it soon dwindled away and then ceased to exist as he intently allowed his mind to wander here and there, thinking about what he had just heard. He, once again, asked himself why she would do that for him. He had figured she'd know that people didn't like him, and that they would ridicule him to no end, and would probably make fun of him even after he died. Just seeing him allowed you to list many of his flaws, getting to know him just added to that incredibly long list. Caynce hardly spoke, hardly reacted, hardly lived like a normal person.

But she had done it anyway. It didn't matter that he never drank anything, barely ate and couldn't remember the last time he slept without fifteen minute intervals. She stood up for him and that was all that mattered. Caynce blinked at the floor, and then spoke, "I'm sorry you got into trouble, I should have just spoken up..." he said unsteadliy in a sorrowful, almost forlorn voice. "It's unfair what Judea and Cassandra did to you. When they speak to you at recess and tell you to stop talking to me, please say yes, or they'll just keep bugging you...I don't want that to happen, M-Maya..." the boy added, gazing down at his shoes.

[Krispey]

The feeling of caynce being happy had already made Maya's day and more. She was grateful that she had made the slightest difference to someone. She listened to him telling her about how sorry he was, but she wouldn't except it, because Caynce hadn't anything to be sorry for. That's the last thing he needed, guilt. "No," Maya started after he had completed his sentence, "Don't be sorry, it's my choices, and that snoody Mr. R. who got me in trouble, not you." Maya almost wanted to reach out and touch him to show her sincerity, but as her hand was half way to his, she curled her fingers, and pulled back, her hand dropping in her lap. "And I want get bugged by them, I'll get satisfaction from doing something that those snobby little brats would never do. Just seeing that agitated look on their face and talking to you make me happy."

[bandit]

Caynce slowly turned to look at Maya's face, not believing what she was saying. How could he? He didn't see her face, he didn't know if she was smiling evilly when he wasn't looking, and with all the people in the school, all the people that hated him, ridiculed him, made sure he had a horrible day, all he wanted was honesty. All he needed down inside was a true friend, but with someone talking like this to him, the boy could've sworn he was dreaming. That for once he was dreaming, not tossing and turning in bed and then waking up from a nightmare. But he knew what he had to do in a dream, it was easy. You just thought back, thought back to what had happened.

If you remembered nothing of that morning, you were dreaming, but he was able to gather up some information. And while he did this, he looked away to stare in front of him, watching the wall, or so it seemed. Yes, he had woken up ten minutes early, gotten out of bed, did took a shower, and got dressed. He put his books away, walked to class, got a few rocks thrown at him from a group of guys, and had sat down in the back desk forty five minutes before class actually started, delibertly skipping breakfast because he wasn't hungry. And then he had just sat there, completely still, watching the teacher. He could sense the man had felt a little uncomfortable with the fact there was a boy sitting in the back of the room doing nothing, but he didn't bother to move, and then time flew by because his mind wandered away easily.

So he wasn't dreaming. This was more real than Michael Jackson molesting a little boy. His eyes moved just in time to see her reaching for his hand, and he looked at her again, eyes staring into hers in an attempt to find out the truth. "Why are you saying these things? If you're my friend, you won't have anyone else, Maya. Everyone will just reject you like they reject me, I don't want this to happen. I don't want you to live my horrible, worthless life. You have so many oppurtunities, so many things going for you, and I have nothing." he said suddenly, in a desperate, helpless voice, wanting her to know the consequences, so that she could make the choise she really wanted.

[Krispey]

Ugh! Why was he doing this? Why was he trying to force her away. If she wanted to "ruin her social life" why wouldn't he just let it be. Had he ever thought that if he opened up to people thta he might, just might make a few friends? Had he thought that if she became friends with him, and talked to other people about him, that they might realize that he was not some freak just staring off into space? no, he hadn't, and that was the problem. He had been thinking negativley, but with the horrid past he may have had, was it even possible to think positive? Yes, it was, he'd just have to try absolutely hard. Maybe harden than normal.

"You know...Caynce, you're really nice, and maybe people would see that if you weren't so drawn up like a recluse, so afraid to let anyone in. Have you ever thought that the problem is not how you look and or dress, but how you just cannot except the fact that you're worth something to somebody, and that you sometimes bring this ridecule upon yourself?" Maya shook her head slowly. She meant to give him some words to ponder on, not to hurt him, but what would it take to get through to him that not everyone was against him?

[bandit]

Caycne stared at the floor, his eyes shifting ever so slightly, something that only happened when he was about to cry, though he immediatly looked away, not wanting Maya to see him, or even know he was actually crying. Sensitivity. He hated it, because just a few of those words brought back intensly vidid memories of his childhood when he was still with his mother. He couldn't help but feel that even though his life wasn't exactly perfect back then, it was definetly better than it was now. Well, in a sense anyway. The memories of being in pre-school, first learning the letters of the alphabet, and then making words out of them. He'd always love to draw pictures beginning with the letter they were on, finding it a way to amuse himself.

"I remember," he began, cutting himself off to swallow, and then turned his body away form hers, looking at the floor and making sure she could see only his back, feeling ashamed of himself for even letting the tears well up in his eyes. "when I was back in my old neighborhood, and everyday my mother would walk with me to school, and hold my hand...she'd drop me off at school, and then she'd pick me up. And then I wouldn't see her for the whole day until that night, right before she went to work." he rubbed his eyes with his jacket sleeve, blinking back the rest of the tears. "She'd tell me a story. And my favorite story was one she made up, that one day we'd move away and have our own house in the country..."

He stopped, grabbing a strand of hair and moving it out of his face, "That she would get remarried and I would have a father. I would call him 'Daddy' and we would live happily ever after, all three of us. We'd have no worries, and every summer we would go on vacation, and in winter we'd stay by the fire and drink hot chocolate. She said in fall we would go out and collect leaves that fell from the trees, and in spring, we would celebrate with a party." by now, his voice sounded like he was suffering from some kind of hysteria. Uncontrollably emotional, and he had no choice. Caynce felt like he couldn't stop it, no matter how hard he tried, but he kept going on, hoping she'd understand him even if he wasn't speaking clearly.

"But that never happened. Because when she found out I was a freak," he said the last word with contempt, spitting it out like a nasty piece of candy, "she decided I was a demon, a monster waiting to kill her. And now this so called 'better' life, with my 'perfect' new family who expects me to forget it all, is only a terrible nightmare. A nightmare I can only hope to awaken from soon." his words were unsteady as his entire body trembled visibly, and then he sucked in a few gulps of air in an attempt to keep himself from crying. Once he thought he had regained himself, he turned to Maya, a mixture of irrational fear, slight anger, and an aching heart reflecting in his eyes.

"I thought I meant something to that woman I called my 'mother', but I obviously don't mean shit to her. And I'm afraid if I let anyone else in, they're just going to build me up and break me down, just like that no good wh0re." Caynce wiped his eyes and watched Maya, his eyes holding a red tint to them.

[Krispey]

Oh my gosh! Maya was astonished about how much he was telling her.
But no, he was spilling his heart out to her. He was becoming emotional.
As his voice became quivery, Maya's heart sank. Someone else being
emotional just made her emotional as well. It was sad, BUT she hoped
that he would let his pain and such out, and express it, and to someone
who actually cared which, she indeed truly did. Maya noted his body trembling
as she listened intently to him. But then, the strangest urge came over her. She had to.
No matter how much he couldn't stand to be touched, she had to! It was the only
way that she felt and could feel closer to. Sure, she had been siting near him,
and he was nearly pouring the heart aches of his soul out to her. Maya was actually
overwhelmed by the sudden wave of emotion, which made her become slightly emotionaly
as well. More so if she began thinking of the life she lived before she came to this school.
Without anything, Maya instantly leaned over in attempt to wrap her arms around
Caynce in a comforting embrace. There was no thought in her head as to where he
may draw back, but that's what friends did when another was in a time of need.

[bandit]

Caynce, feeling a pair of arms wrapped around him, froze in mid-sentence, eyes growing wider and wider. He almost waited for them, those slender arms, to slide right off him after a few seconds, but nothing happened. He sat still, tears flowing freely and sliding down the sides of his pale cheeks, gray orbs staring out in front of him at the wall, which suddenly seemed so far away. Everything seemed so far away, except the girl he was sitting next to. The ceiling, the door, Caynce himself seemed somewhere else, and not in the sense that his spirit seemed to be in daydream land, but in a way in which he felt as though he were elsewhere, far away from his real location in time.

He went back to when he was still with his mother, in his room, which was also her room, playing with a few rocks, twigs, and leaves he had found outside before he had come home. It was one of those days his teacher had been craving too early and decided to satisfy herself, and therefore was, in other words, an unproductive day at school. Poor Caynce had been left to draw yet more pictures that began with the letter 'S', curious about the next letter. It was like two 'I's, except one was on top of the other, and it reminded him of something he knew he shouldn't have said in school, though his mother probably wouldn't have minded. Either way, he kept the thoughts to himself and remained quiet, drawing his little pictures of snakes and statues until it was time to leave.

And finally it was, and so he went home and picked up some 'materials' along the way. Twigs, sticks, rocks, and he would have taken mud, only his mother said their apartment was dirty enough, so he let go of the mud and decided next time he'd play with it outside instead, because he had never played with mud before and had become too curious about it. Once he had arrived home, he said good bye to his mother, who left him to go do 'odd jobs' until night time, when she got money for doing things he couldn't say he was neccessarily proud of. And so Caynce had been left all alone for that day, until a short time at night, and played with his new toys he had gotten from outside, building little structures and gently taking them apart. It was amazing how he was able to keep himself so occupied, which is why he never needed a nanny.

But all that time he had never been touched by anyone except his mother, but she rarely hugged him, and never kissed him. But now, here was Maya, wrapping her arms around him in a hug, all because he needed it. Caynce didn't know how to react. He wanted to scream because he couldn't take the closeness, he couldn't understand the affection she was showing him, but he couldn't move because he was, in a way, almost frightened. Swallowing, he spoke in a trembling voice.

"Maya...what is...this?"

[Krispey]

Her chin rested on his shoulder, her gaze ahead, staring down the vacant hallway.
Maya could have almost cryed, thinking about how she was never
shown this affection while living with her dad. She wondered if Caynce had.
Living with her dad was pratically hell. Fussing with him everyday,
the routine had grown to be so cliche. Wake up. Shower. Get dressed.
Eat breakfast. Fuss with dad on the way to school in carpool. Carpool
because he figured his daughter was "too good" to ride some dirty little bus.
And plus, it only added on to his publicity. "Oh, he's such a good father!" Hah, they didn't have to live with him! Then, go to school. Come home. Do homework. Study.
Fuss. Eat Diner. Shower. Fuss. Study. Go to bed. Wake up and repeat that ll over again. It was terrible. And there never seemed to be a time to where they could talk and be a normal family. It was always do this, and do this, and study! When was she allowed to have a life?But then, Caynce asked a question.
"It's......A hug...You're supposed to hug back...It's something friends do to comfort eachother. It shows that you care."

[bandit]

"I don't understand. Mother never touched me...in this way...very often." he said slowly, unsurely, still not comprehending this. How long had it been since she hugged him? How long had it been since he'd been touched in any affectionate way? Feeling her chin on his shoulder, Caynce was surprisingly able to keep himself civil and quiet, still thinking over what she had said. Other than 'hug', she had said more key words he would need to piece together an answer suitable for her explantion. 'Friends', 'comfort', and 'care' were also some, though he decided he needed more information. 'Supposed' and 'shows' were other ones, though less important, could still help.

"A hug is an action in which one uses to show affection to another person that is close to them, such as a friend or a family member." Caynce said suddenly in an almost robotic manner. Slowly he was able to adjust himself to the hug, it's tenderness and love, something he had never been used to. Shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath, Caynce slowly turned around and tentativly wrapped his arms around her, unsure if this was they way he was supposed to return the gesture. "Like this?"