The World Below Me: Chapter2

Chapter 1

The first rays of sunshine woke her. Elise blinked twice. Her blankets felt cozy in the morning stillness. The memories came flooding back as the dam of sleep broke. They rushed through her mind all at once and she leapt from her bed and ran barefoot out into her yard.

There was no hole.

No guide to lead her there either.

She sighed. It had been a dream after all. Her nightgown was dirtied with mud. Did that just happen just now or last night?

Wearily, she trudged back inside.

There was someone sleeping on her floor.

The vague memory of a man with tall pointy ears tucking her into bed floated into her mind. He was here now. His ear twitched. She had only just processed his presence when he woke and immediately bowed before her.

Never had anyone bowed to her in her life. She didn’t know how to respond. She watched him for a moment but he didn’t move. She waited and he waited. She needed to sort this mess out and get this man out of her house.

Where would he go? The hole was gone. Had he really come out of that hole in her yard? Had that all really happened?

She steadied herself before him.

“So, I’m Elise.”

He lowered his head deeper until it touched the ground. She frowned. It was not the reaction she expected. His arms were covering his face completely. The last time there was a man in my house…Who was she kidding? She had never brought a man into her house. She sighed.

“Please stand up.” She pleaded.

He flinched, but didn’t make a move.

Does he understand me?

Elise taught English. She recognized right away that this was a communication issue. She tried to remember the words used by her guide when speaking to the cage master the night before. The words felt familiar at times, but not enough that she could understand them. She knelt down next to the man on her floor.

“Hey.” She whispered. She tapped his shoulder and he flinched again. After she refused to get back up, he slowly lifted his arms away from his head. His eyes were shut and wet. He looked as if he had been crying, but he had been completely silent. No sniffles. No sound at all. His eyes were so large and deep when she looked into them yesterday. It hit her. She stood and went to the window, then pulled the curtains closed.

The young man wiped his eyes repeatedly, rubbing them red.

“Shh….hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.”Elise looked around.

The closet.

She ran over, opened the closet door, and pulled everything on the floor out into the room. She went back to the man and led him to the closet. Elise knew she couldn’t leave him alone. She cancelled her lessons for the day, then went to the kitchen for a slice of bread.

She returned to her room carrying the bread and a glass of water. She felt a little funny having someone in her closet, but it would have to do until she could get something to cover the windows.

Her top priority was to find that guide again and take the man back down to the cavern. He just couldn’t stay here. It was her house, but her parents and siblings occasionally dropped by. What if they came through the door right now and found a man in her closet?

She got down on her knees, ducking beneath the clothes hanging on their rack. The man was curled up along the back wall.

She handed him the water first.

“Water.” She enunciated the word the way she would with any of her students. He timidly reached for the glass. She held on to it and looked him in the eyes.

“Water.” She repeated, then waited. He caught on quickly.

“Wather.” His voice was hoarse and he gratefully downed the whole glass.

I’ll need to show him the bathroom next. She mused.

She handed him the bread.

“Bread.”

“Breat.”

She refilled the glass while he was eating.

Elise busied herself putting black plastic bags in the windows and showing the mysterious stranger around the house.

She determined that this curious man could sleep in the guest room for the time being. She usually kept that room free for visiting family members.

Maybe he’s a long lost cousin? From the Amazon? Would anyone buy that?

By the end of the day he could say several words including: water, bread, bathroom, book, lunch, closet, and bed.

Dinner was going to be salmon, but Elise was unable to go to the grocery store. She still wasn’t sure about leaving him alone in her house. So, she heated up some frozen chicken and pulled out a jar of Alfredo. The man watched intently. He was a sponge.

“Hungry?” Elise asked. One ear twitched and he cocked his head to the side just a hair. Elise rubbed her belly and repeated the word.

He followed suit.

She put dry linguini in the boiling pot and turned to the man. She pointed at herself. It was time for introductions.

“Elise.”

He copied her, pointing to himself.

“Elis.”

She smiled and shook her head. She put her hand on her chest and said her name again, then she put her hand on his chest. He flinched, his tail flipping back and forth quickly. He put his own hand to his chest.

“Zerdi.”

She pointed at him and repeated.

“Zerdi.”

He nodded.

That night Elise crept back out to the garden. She looked around for the man who had been her guide the night before. She looked in the yard for the hole again.

Nothing.

She checked again a few hours later. The moon shone brightly, insects hummed in the warm night breeze. Everything was normal. It didn’t feel like it felt before.

She went back inside, dejected. She crept over to the guest room. Zerdi wasn’t in his bed. She looked around. Then, she checked the closet. He was curled up in the back with a blanket. She let her breath out.

The next morning she woke. Her clothes from yesterday were set on the chair in her room. The lights were all off, but she could hear something in the kitchen. She got up and put her robe on. She could smell bacon.

Zerdi was in the kitchen. There was tea on the table along with bread, butter, and bacon.

“Breakfast.” It was one word, executed with precision. Elise sat down.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.” He repeated. Elise didn’t correct him or try to explain the meaning. She was hungry and it was too early for an English lesson.

Afterwards, she went to her study. She noticed something that had not been there before. A clay tablet about seven inches tall and four wide lay in the exact center of her desk. There was some kind of script written across it. She lifted it carefully, testing its weight in her hands. It looked like it had come from an archaeological dig. She took it to Zerdi.

He looked at her, puzzled.

Then, he began to read.

She listened to the language, the same one she heard that night. The sounds blended and flowed. It sent a shiver down her spine. There was only one word she understood. Zerdi.

“It’s yours?” She pointed to him. He shook his head and handed it back to her, pressing it in her hands. She felt it was something important. She returned it to her desk and made a mental note to begin learning his language sometime in the near future. It wouldn’t be the first language she studied. She spoke several. Well, she had studied several at least. Her brain was already racing at the thought of reading those words herself.

Once again, the next morning her clothes were set out. She crept to her door. She could hear him speaking.

“Cup, bow, glass, fork, spoun, knife…”

She took one step and his head went up, one ear twitched. She wondered just how well he could hear with ears like that. She smiled and picked up a cup.

“Cup.” She said.

“Cup.” He repeated.

They ate breakfast. Zerdi tried to retreat to the kitchen to eat by himself, but Elise insisted he sit at the table. He walked slowly back to the table and sat. Elise nodded in silent victory.

She needed to go back to work today. It was a slower day. She would be gone for three hours. She did her best to explain while acting out her schedule. She showed him the clock and pointed to the ten. Then she grabbed her bag and walked to the door. She went back to the clock and pointed to the one. She walked back over to the door and pretended to enter and put her bag down.

Zerdi watched carefully, taking everything in. She wasn’t sure if he was being polite or if he really understood.

When the clock struck ten, she picked up her bag and pointed to the ten on the clock. She said goodbye and then, right before she stepped out the door, she pointed to the number one on the clock.

This did not ease the anxiety she felt about leaving him home alone. It wasn’t the same feeling as before. It didn’t feel like leaving a stranger in her house. She felt more worried for his safety than anything else.

At twelve fifty-six she walked back through the door. Zerdi was standing next to the door. He recoiled and let out a short cry when light poured through the doorway, but he didn’t move. Elise shut the door quickly and felt a tug on her bag. Zerdi took it from her and put it on the same chair she had set it on during her demonstration earlier. He still had one arm covering his eyes. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark home, but once she did, her mouth fell open. The room was clean, cleaner than it had been in ages. Her notes and book stacks were all orderly. The floors were swept and all surfaces were free of clutter. There was a spicy smell coming from the kitchen and a cup of tea.

Elise flushed with embarrassment at her guest cleaning her house.

“Oh, Zerdi. You don’t have to clean my house. I should be better about these things.”

His gaze fell down to his feet.

“No. No. I mean. Thank you.” Elise panicked. “I’m grateful.”

“I am bakdan.”

Elise didn’t get the last word, but his tone was quiet and his head still cast down.

“Zerdi. Thank you.”

“Amaresh. Thank you.”

She looked him over a bit. He stood there, unmoving, like a perfect statue.

“How are your eyes?” She pointed to his eyes.

“Good, thank you.”

She looked closer. There was a bump on his head.

“What happened?” She pointed to his head. He flinched like he always did, and covered it up immediately with one hand. He hunched over, spun around, and nearly ran to the back of the kitchen.

“Zerdi! Stop.” He froze, his tail curled tightly around his leg.

“Come here, let me see it.”

He seemed to understand, or at least guess well. He returned to her, his movements stiff. He sat on the sofa where she pointed. Elise brushed her fingers against the large bump.

“You hit your head. Stay right here.” She hurried into the kitchen and grabbed a washcloth and ice pack. She wrapped the ice as she returned.

He held still, letting her tend to him. His muscles were rigid and he held his breath.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

“Amaresh must not help me.”

Elise ignored his protest. She held the ice there for a moment.

“Too cold?” She took it off for a moment before replacing it. “Hold it here.”

He took hold of the ice pack and looked imploringly at her.

“What?”

He hurried up and off to his room, crawling back inside the closet with his ice pack. Elise watched him go. She didn’t expect him to thank her, but she didn’t think he should run off when she was trying to help him.

“Blast it anyway.” She murmured.

Then a small smile crept across her lips. He had made a full sentence, a nearly complete English sentence. He was frighteningly smart. Even she couldn’t learn that fast. She looked at the picture dictionary she dug out last night for him. She used it occasionally for young students or absolute beginners. She wouldn’t be surprised if he memorized every word. At least he would memorize the words by sight if not sound yet.