Alec
Alec woke up alert and awake that morning (just like every morning) immediately remembering the events that transpired that night just hours prior. He remembered the dream he had and his need to leave, as well as what happened that night.
Alec was all frantic again, and moved to get out of bed and escape this house, with the only thought in his mind that he can’t allow himself to become close to someone again. Though perhaps his panic was a little less this time. However, when Alec leaped out of the bed, he immediately felt dizzy, and there was a noticeable pain in his head that pointed at him having a concussion.
Alec attempted to ignore his vertigo, though, and looked toward the door with the intention of escaping. However, Alec saw Puri’s gaze directed at him, watching him close. She sat against the door, so Alec wasn’t going to be able to get out of the room unless he moved Puri out of the way. That’s also assuming that the door was unlocked, which it most definitely was not.
Alec tried to escape anyway, and moved as quickly as he could toward the door. He attempted to push Puri out of the way, but Puri pushed him back hard enough to make Alec stumble, but not enough to cause him to lose his legs. Alec’s child body proved to be a hindrance yet again.
“Be careful,” Puri said. “You might reopen that wound on your arm again. It’s a miracle you didn’t reopen it last night. Now, please. Stay. I want to talk to you.” Puri attempted a soft smile again, but Alec could tell that it was very strained.
Alec was about to resist, to continue trying to push past Puri, but he instead stopped and thought about it rationally for a minute. There was no way he was getting past Puri, and even if he did, the door was almost guaranteed to be locked.
“Fine,” Alec said after a few seconds, taking a seat on the bed. “Go ahead to talk.”
Seemingly, Alec was back to how he was the day before, with beginning to want to be with Puri and having his rationality back and all, but in reality he was still going to look for any chance he could to pickpocket Puri and get out of the escape.
“Tell me, what happened last night?” Puri asked, still sitting from her chair. “Or I guess it would be this morning.” Alec could tell that Puri was trying to soften her tone but, just like her smile, it was strained.
Alec didn’t answer her. The dream he had invoked something in him that was causing him to completely shut down, even more than before. He absolutely refused to interact with her.
“Please, tell me. Talking about it might make you feel better.” Puri questioned Alec again, and Alec stayed silent again.
Puri asked him a few more times, trying to press Alec to speak with her, but he wouldn’t budge; it was clear that Alec’s shell had been reinforced, perhaps even more solid this time.
While Puri was trying to get Alec to talk, Alec not only ignored her but didn’t even seem to acknowledge her existence at all. Alec simply stared at the door behind her. It was almost like he was trying to burn a hole through the door with his eyes and escape that way.
After the 6th attempt of prying, Puri paused for a few seconds. She looked like she was deciding whether she was actually going to say what she had on her mind. As the seconds ticked, her face gradually shifted into a faint expression of regret.
“I think it’s better when people talk about these sorts of things,” she said after the pause. “Trust me, I would know. When people stop talking, that’s when bad things begin to happen, especially when something is not right.” Her voice gradually grew quieter and quieter until it was almost a whisper.
Another pause. Even though Alec was utterly ignoring her, his brain was still paying attention to what she said. Even so, Alec didn’t give any sign of acknowledgement toward Puri.
Puri then got up out of her chair and opened the door and left without a word. As she opened and slipped out the door, Alec leaned forward and put his weight on his feet, ready to dash out, but the lock clicked with Puri on the other side of the door long before he could really move.
Dammit. That was my chance. Why does time always seem to slow whenever she enters and exits the room?
Instead of sitting back down, Alec got up and stood beside the door. His plan was to push past Puri and run out as soon as she opened the door again. There was no telling when Puri would return, though, so he wasn’t sure how long he’d be standing there, but he figured that, if everything goes according to plan, he might be able to escape.
To Alec’s surprise, he didn’t have to wait that long, as the door opened only about 15 minutes later.
Alec was prepared, and as soon as the door swung open, he immediately tried to dash through the opening. However, Puri seemed to have been expecting this, as she stepped right in the small gap of the door, forcing Alec back into the room with only her body. It was sort of like a sumo match, except that Puri didn’t use her hands.
As soon as Puri was fully in the room, she shut the door behind her with her elbow. She had two bowls in each hand, and put both of them in one hand when she went to lock the door.
“I’m a cautious person,” Puri said simply. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured that out by now. Or maybe you really are that desperate.”
As Puri said that, Alec walked back over to his bed in defeat and sat down.
“Here. I’ve brought you breakfast,” Puri said, holding out one of the bowls of soup to Alec. “Let’s eat together. Maybe it’ll make you feel more comfortable to talk.”
Alec’s stomach growled. It seemed to do this every time his stomach was in the presence of Puri’s food. Alec didn’t take the bowl at first, only glared at it. He really didn’t want to eat someone else’s food, as that would be relying on another.
“Just know that dying is worse than whatever you’re feeling right now,” Puri said.
Alec moved his gaze to Puri’s face then back to the bowl before finally taking it from Puri’s hands.
As much as I don’t want to admit it, you’re right.
Alec looked down at the steaming soup in the bowl. Alec noticed this when Puri re-entered the room, but the smell was different from the soup from two days ago. It was also slightly a different color; the one from a couple days ago was a faint brown, while this one was a bit more opaque and had a tint of red in it.
Alec took the small spoon in his hand, and scooped up a spoonful of the soup. He blew on it and took a bite. He thought that it was pretty good, but not quite at the level of the soup from a couple of days ago.
“So,” Puri began. Alec had only taken his second bite when Puri spoke up. “You asked me where I was from yesterday.” Alec looked up at Puri’s face and saw that she wore the same expression that she had worn just minutes ago when Alec first woke up: the face of someone contemplating telling someone something.
“The truth is, I’m actually from a kingdom far north from here, past even the Throthichth Mountain Range; the Krechtcxerian Kingdom.”
Why is she telling me this?
Alec saw Puri look at him, probably to gauge his reaction, but Alec didn’t react in any particular way. Alec’s parents never educated him in anything, so he didn’t recognize the names of either of the places, thus they didn’t mean anything to him. Alec simply went back to eating his soup.
After Alec didn’t react, Puri continued a bit awkwardly. “The reason I didn’t, uh, tell you is because I didn’t want you to think I was a… bad person, per se, and I also didn’t want to be pushed for any questions regarding my life there, as those were not good days.”
Is that kingdom viewed poorly by people? And why are you telling me now?
Alec looked up again and saw Puri’s conflicted face. She was also avoiding eye contact with him. He could tell that she had a really hard time telling this to him.
Puri took a breath. “The reason I’m telling you this now is because I thought that I might have to tell you a few things that I would like to keep secret in order to gain your trust.” She seemed to have read Alec’s mind.
So basically what you’re saying is that if you tell me some of your secrets, I’ll start talking more? I don’t really understand.
Alec again didn’t respond and again continued to simply eat his soup. Puri didn’t say anything after that either, and they both finished their meals in silence.
After both of their bowls were emptied, Puri stood up to take Alec’s empty bowl from him, which Alec handed to her. After Alec handed it to her, though, she looked at the bowl and frowned.
“Where’s your spoon?”
Alec was hoping that Puri wouldn’t notice, but he had put the spoon in his pocket in the hope that it may somehow serve as a tool for his escape. How a spoon could be used as a tool, he didn’t know, but he may as well try.
Alec handed her the spoon and Puri said, “you won’t get away with stuff like this, especially now that I’m being extra cautious, so don’t even waste your effort.” She then walked out of the room.
Alec was left alone and in silence again, with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company, which was not a good thing with all the new emotions running through his brain over the last day or so.
Alec laid back on his bed. A few minutes passed, and he was just beginning to drown in his thoughts when the door unexpectedly swung open again, which caused Alec to shoot up.
Alec looked toward the door and saw Puri already through the door and locking it. He already knew that it would be impossible to get past Puri, so he wasn’t going to try even if he was prepared.
Alec saw that Puri brought something new into the room. At first Alec wasn’t sure what it was, but then he realized that it was a plastic tub full of soapy water. It was small, but could easily fit Alec inside. Upon closer inspection, Puri had also brought in a towel and a set of young boy’s clothing. It didn’t take a genius to know why Puri had brought all of this in.
“You haven’t taken a bath since I washed you while you were unconscious when I first brought you here a few days ago, so you don’t smell very good. So take a bath.” That was all Puri said before she exited the room again.
Alec naturally sniffed his arm after being told about his smell. Do I really stink that badly? After being in the slums for 3 months, his nose had forgotten how to differentiate between good and bad odors.
Alec sat on his bed for a few more moments before ultimately taking his clothes off and sinking himself into the tub. It was nice and warm; it was his first time bathing in warm water since this life began.
He didn’t really care about how he smelled, but he thought that he might as well keep himself busy and wash himself, as the only other option was to sit there and do nothing.
Hauling a tub full of water into the room so Alec could take a bath displayed the lengths that Puri was going through in order to keep him here, but Alec wasn’t surprised at this point. Puri essentially said that the reason she took him in was out of the kindness of her heart, but going to such lengths suggested another reason.
Alec quickly washed himself. It felt great to bathe again, especially in warm water.
Alec washed his hair after he washed his body. His hair had gotten really long over the last few months. His hair always grew really quickly, so it was almost to the base of his neck at this point.
After cleaning himself, he simply soaked into the water and relaxed, which was a first for him. He had almost forgotten what feeling relaxed was.
The water cleared his mind. Around 20 minutes passed before his fingers got pruned and his body was tired of the warm water. He got out of the small tub, dried himself with a towel, and put the new change of clothes on, which may have been a bit big, the shirt in particular, but overall fit him fine.
The clothes were clearly the most expensive attire he had ever worn in his second life. It was just a simple T-shirt and shorts, but Alec could tell that they were made of expensive material; material that he didn’t know the name of.
After Alec was fully dressed, he saw that quite a bit of water had made its way onto the floor. He cleaned it up with one of the other towels. Alec wasn’t sure what to do about the tub, which was now full of dirty water, but he figured that Puri would take all the back out of the room once she returned.
Alec sat back down onto the bed. It was the greatest he had felt in a long time, perhaps ever. He was almost completely relaxed. Almost. Thoughts, emotion, and conflict still plagued his mind, but those voices were much quieter now.
Alec also sniffed himself again to see if there was a difference. There certainly was, but it wasn’t really any better in Alec’s eyes, or perhaps it would be his nose.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Alec relaxed on the bed for maybe another five minutes until Puri came in through the door again.
“Oh, good. I see you’re done,” Puri said.
I’ve got to make sure I don’t let my guard down just because that bath relaxed me.
Alec sat up and looked over at Puri. He thought that she came just to take all the bathing stuff out of the room, but to his surprise, she wheeled a large wooden frame into the room. It was a chalkboard. A rather old and dusty chalkboard.
“Now,” Puri said. “I’m going to teach you a few things that will definitely come in handy for you in the future. First, I’ll teach you how to read.”
…I’m not sure what to think of this.
This was an unexpected development. Alec didn’t expect Puri to become his teacher. The curiosity nerve in his brain went off, though, and he knew that learning how to read would be really useful. He decided to take advantage of this opportunity.
Puri didn’t grab the chalk from the little ledge on the board, though. Instead she collected Alec’s dirty clothes and towels, and began dragging the small tub of water out of the room.
“Before I begin, I’ll take care of these,” Puri said before leaving the room.
At this point, Alec didn’t even try to escape when she opened the door. He learned his lesson at this point.
Puri returned only about five minutes later. She wasn’t empty handed, though, and had a stack of papers and a quill and a small bottle of ink..
Puri pulled the bedside table in front of the chalkboard, pushed the chair in front of the table, and put the quill and ink on the table.
“Please sit. I grabbed these for you, since repetition will help you learn the alphabet faster, or really anything faster. Do you know how to use the quill?”
After hesitating for a moment, Alec nodded and walked over and sat down. Alec looked up at Puri, waiting for her to begin teaching him.
Alec was curious as to why she just had a chalkboard lying around. He thought that she may’ve been a teacher at one point, or maybe she had used it to practice learning something herself. In any case, Alec wondered how good of a teacher she actually was.
Puri didn’t say anything and just began writing on the chalkboard. After a few seconds, if became clear to Alec that she was writing individual symbols in a row.
“This is the alphabet in this language,” Puri said after writing down 32 different symbols, her tone now turning more formal. “And these,” she wrote down ten more symbols, “are the number symbols. You must memorize all of these. I’ll start with the sounds that corresponds with each letter before I tell you how the numbering system works.”
Puri then began to go through each letter one by one, telling him the different noises that they made and conditions for which noise they made in any particular word. She also pointed at which letters were consonants and which ones were vowels.
Why would two different letters make the same noise? Why would the same letter make two different noises? Just come up with another letter.
Alec did actually pay attention and he wrote the letters down. Escape was still on his mind, but he largely calmed down at this point. He had regained his rational mind, and decided that it was best for him to play her game again: he would pretend to get close with her and gather any useful information and skills in the meantime, and then escape the first guaranteed chance that he got. So for now, he was a diligent student.
“That is all for the numbers,” Puri said after she got through all of the letters. “Now for the numbers. I’ll teach you how the numbering system works tomorrow, as I don’t want to utterly overload your brain with information, so I want you to simply memorize the symbols for now.”
Learning 42 different symbols in one day along with the different sounds for the letters I feel is already kind of a lot.
Alec was very intelligent. One wouldn’t be incorrect in calling him a genius. However, memorizing 42 different symbols instantly was far beyond him. Alec had a good memory, but his memory had never been trained in this way, so he was having a hard time.
At this point, it was unfair to judge how good of a teacher Puri was, as it was a bit too early to make judgements, but Alec thought that she started with the correct topic, and taught it correctly, but it also didn’t seem to take much thinking for someone to realize that they should start with the letters when teaching someone how to write, and it wasn’t too difficult to teach someone sounds. If Alec were to give her a rating now, he’d say that she wasn’t a good teacher because expecting someone to memorize 42 symbols in one day and match sounds to 32 of them was asking for a bit too much.
“Now what sound does this letter make,” Puri said, pointing at the third letter she wrote.
She was obviously quizzing him to see how much he remembered. Alec couldn’t remember the sound that that letter made, so he stayed silent.
“It makes the ‘ts’ sound. Now do you know this one?” Puri pointed to the seventh letter that she wrote down. Alec remembered this one, but he still stayed silent. He may have calmed down, but he was still as wary as ever.
Puri continued to quiz Alec for another 5 minutes, but she seemed to realize that Alec wasn’t going to say anything even if he knew the correct answer, so she stopped.
“If you truly value this information,” Puri said with the air of authority that was befitting of a teacher, “and wish for me to teach you more, then I want you to memorize all of these symbols by tomorrow. And please, talk to me and ask questions.” Puri then exited the room, taking nothing with her.
Alec did value this information, so he decided to study while he was alone in the room. Besides, his brain needed some stimulation. He couldn’t just sit there and do nothing for too long; he was too intelligent for that. His thoughts could only keep him occupied for so long, and he wanted to get away from his thoughts.
By the end of the day, he thought that he had most of the letters and numbers memorized, though the memories weren’t utterly set in stone, so he would need to look them over again tomorrow if he truly wanted to memorize everything.
He eventually decided to try and sleep. The light had mostly faded from the window, and he was a bit exhausted from studying since his brain had never had to do any studying. No one had ever taught him knowledge in a classroom like manner. The only time he ever got even something remotely like this is when he had caught wind of a couple of the lessons that Sessa, his mother, had taught to Drei.
Alec began to feel pain from the bump on his head when he tried to relax and fall asleep. The dull pain had probably been there all day, but Alec seemed to just notice it at this point in time. He truly felt the uncomfortable feeling of pain for the first time in a long time. Though the feeling was more of just a minor discomfort more than it really hurt, so Alec didn’t really think anything of it.
The thoughts and emotions within Alec’s head and heart threatened to rise to the surface, but his mental fatigue kept them in the corner. And so, Alec was able to sleep comfortably that night.
Alec’s dreams went to the empty dark void again that night. Perhaps it was a blessing.
…
Alec woke up that morning feeling well rested. His mind immediately went to the symbols that he had learned the previous day. Without looking at the chalkboard he went through each of the symbols one by one in his mind. He was able to remember most of them, but after looking at the chalkboard again, he was able to recall all of them. He was pretty sure he matched the correct sound to each letter, but it was possible that he got the sound wrong.
He felt a slight displeasure after failing to recall all of the letters without looking at the chalkboard. He didn’t realize it at the time, but he actually felt slightly upset and frustrated at not being able to memorize all of the symbols immediately.
The sound of strong winds coming from the window made Alec’s head turn toward it. It was the first time he had heard anything but either complete silence or himself when alone in this room.
It’s rare for winds to be this strong.
The winds were hardly ever fast, at least in this kingdom, the Paelo Kingdom. Though that didn’t mean the winds were never strong. Alec remembered a couple of cold nights while he was living in the slums. His shelter helped, but an open basement in an old, run-down house wasn’t the best at staying warm.
Alec got up out of bed and walked over to the window. It was darker than it had been any of the previous mornings that he had woken up in this house. It was still dark enough where you could see both moons.
For the first time, Alec looked through the window to really see what was on the other side of it. There wasn’t much, there was really just a street with a couple of middle class manors in his view. Though he did see a lone tree. There were birds flying around it, signifying the beginning of a new day, though even Alec’s sharp ears couldn’t pick up the chirping behind the glass.
Alec’s vision then focused on the glass. It was something he had never seen before until arriving in this city. It was most definitely a richer person thing.
Alec knocked on the glass. It felt as hard as steel. Puri had told him that he wouldn’t be able to break through it and though Alec was no expert on breaking windows, he could feel that Puri was correct.
Alec then went back to his bed and sat back down. If Puri was on the same schedule as she had the last few days, then it would still be some time before she came into his room with breakfast. Though, that would be excluding the day prior, as a few things happened.
Alec’s mind immediately went back to scrolling through the different symbols in his head and playing the sounds that matched with them. He had purposely avoided thinking too hard about his newfound emotions, the dream from that night, and why he did what he did after that dream. It was all a mess in his mind, and so far, he had kept his brain focused on other things up until now.
Some time passed, and Puri entered the room with breakfast right on schedule. Alec was at the desk, writing the symbols down at this time. He was seeing if he could spell some words by taking the sounds of each specific word and correlating them with a string of letters that made their sounds.
When Puri saw Alec doing this she smiled brightly. It was the first time that Puri had ever smiled at him with true happiness. It was actually the first time anyone had ever directed such an expression at him in his life.
“It makes me happy to see you studying,” Puri said. Alec was so captivated by her smile, though, that he didn’t hear her.
“Is something the matter?” Puri frowned. “Your face seems almost dumbfounded.”
Alec didn’t answer nor shake his head. He just looked away and let his face drift back into its normal look.
That morning went by very similarly as the day before. Alec ate breakfast with Puri, still didn’t respond to anything Puri said, and Puri taught him some reading and writing. The big difference was that Alec didn’t wash himself on this day.
Puri began the lesson by erasing the chalkboard and telling him to write down all the symbols and make the corresponding sound by memory. Though he was able to get all of the letters correct, he mixed some of the sounds up. This brought back Alec’s earlier displeasure.
As it also turned out, the words that Alec attempted to spell were all wrong. It turned out that there was a lot more nuance to spelling than simply sounding out a word and putting the corresponding letters down. And this was still basic stuff when it came to writing. Alec realized he was in for a long ride if he was going to learn how to do all of this stuff.
“I realized that I should not have had you memorize the number symbols in addition to all the letters,” Puri said. “It made little sense as I will not be teaching you arithmetic until after you learn reading and writing, so you need not worry about the numbers for now.” She had fully taken on a formal way of speaking.
Alec agreed with her, but he also thought that she should’ve also realized her mistake of forcing way too much on him in one day, especially when he had no classroom learning experience and couldn’t take notes.
Puri then went into more of that nuance when it came to reading and writing in this language. Again, Puri pumped Alec’s mind with perhaps way too much information. Alec was able to retain a decent amount of that information, but he was deeply held back by his inability to take notes and review on his own.
As for what Alec thought when it came to reading and writing, well, he thought most of it was illogical. For example, he didn’t really understand the concept of silent letters and homophones just seemed to overly complicate things for no reason. Really, what is the point of letters being there if they make no sound?
The day ended very similarly to the last: Puri left after dinner, Alec reviewed all of the information he retained over and over again, he was able to sleep well, and he dreamt of the void.
The next day was much more of the same. Puri continued to be Alec’s teacher and Alec continued to be Puri’s diligent student. The only real difference with this day was that Alec finally decided to start asking questions.
Alec thought that it didn’t really make any sense to remain silent. He was already learning from her and completely relying on her at this point, as much as he hated to admit it. Things would be easier if he started asking questions and speaking with her.
Alec’s distrust of Puri, and people in general, was still as great as ever, but he wasn’t going so far at this point to only give Puri his silence.
A couple of days later, after Puri finished her lessons for the day and after they had eaten dinner, Puri stayed and chatted with Alec.
“Back home up in the north,” Puri said, “there are these bright green and purple lights that appear in the night sky during the equinoxes. They were the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen in my years.” Puri looked up at the ceiling with a sentimental smile on her face as she recalled those memories fondly.
This is what Puri began to do from thai point forward. She would sit down in the early evening after dinner and after the lessons and spend time with Alec, talking to him, mostly about things back in her homeland. Though, she didn’t say much about the things she did when she was still there. It was clear at this point that she didn’t want to talk about her life there.
Alec did very little of the talking. He would occasionally ask a question, but he was just a listener for the most part. To his surprise, Puri didn’t ask him any questions. These conversations were less conversations and more like a play, with Puri being the actress and Alec being the spectator.
As the days passed, though, their conversations began to look more like actual conversations; Alec started to talk to Puri…
“My father was a knight for this kingdom,” Alec said one day. “I don’t know how talented he was, but I know that he was very proud of his work.”
…Well sort of. When Alec did talk, he really only spoke of small details from his life back in his old home. He didn’t tell any stories and didn’t say much about his own thoughts on anything. However, it was a start, and he and Puri had definitely gotten a bit closer, even if Alec himself didn’t realize it.
As the days passed, Alec’s mind was continuously occupied. He purposely kept it that way. This allowed him to avoid confronting all of his new feelings.
The next noteworthy thing to happen was two weeks after Puri had become Alec’s teacher.
Alec’s studies had been going well, and his brain was getting accustomed to classroom type study. He wasn’t an amazing student, but he was a good student and absorbed most of the information that was taught to him. He still had a long way to go before he could read and write at a good level, but he had made significant progress over the last two weeks.
The day was like any other; Alec woke up, ate breakfast, learned reading and writing, took a lunch break, learned a little more, had alone time (which he mostly used for studying), ate dinner, and had his evening conversation with Puri.
“Alright, I’m going to my chambers to rest for the night. Bless your dreams.” Per usual, once the sun went down and the room went almost completely dark, Puri ended their conversation and left.
Alec didn’t say anything in response, but he did nod back to her.
He watched her open the door, slip out, and close the door back behind her in one quick motion like he had several times before. However, this time, there was a click that he didn’t hear on this particular day.
Alec took immediate notice of that. He waited a few seconds, but still didn’t hear the click that indicated the door being locked.
Alec then stood up from his bedside and went over to the door to see if he heard correctly or if his ears were playing tricks on him.
He reached the door and turned the knob. It turned all the way, and Alec could feel the door ready to open.
She really did forget to lock the door.
Alec’s first instinct was to open the door and run out, trying to escape. He almost did just that, but something stopped him. The emotions that he had been suppressing for weeks boiled up a little bit, and they seemed to be telling him not to do that.
The will to escape and his suppressed emotions were in stalemate. The will to escape barely won out, causing him to push the door open, but it only won out for a second. His emotions rose closer to the surface and resumed the stalemate.
Alec stood there for what seemed like several minutes. On the outside, he was just standing at the edge of a room doing nothing and looking at nothing, but on the inside there was a violent conflict ensuing.
Eventually a third party arrived: his logical brain.
I’ve already escaped this room once, and I wasn’t able to escape. Even if I were to try to find another way other than the front door, Puri has probably already thought of that and already has measures in place. It’s not worth the risk.
Then Alec’s curiosity emerged as a fourth party, but his fatigue won out over that.
Alec reached out and grabbed the doorknob again. He closed the door and walked back over to the bed and laid down.
Alec was able to go to sleep quite quickly and had a good night's rest, which had become the usual over the last two weeks.
Just like almost every other night, Alec dreamt of himself floating aimlessly in the black, empty void. On this particular night, though, and many nights going forward, Alec did not float. He could see nothing below him, but he could walk like there was a surface below him.
The next morning, Alec could tell that Puri was much happier for some reason. (A/N: Can you figure out why?)