Alone But Never Lonely

"Hey, pipsqueak."

Zaine ignored the voice, closing his eyes and moving closer to the wall, willing himself to become darkness itself. They wouldn't get to him again. Not tonight.

His bedroom door opened, and light from the hall ways spilled in, dusty yellow against his mahogany carpet. It glinted off old pictures that hung on the wall. He didn't much care for them himself; they were pictures their aunt had brought with them from her old house to make her feel more at home. As if she ever came to Zaine's room. Only his siblings came to his room, and only when they needed something from him. It didn't bother him. He liked it alone. It was nice and quiet without Jace's loud, cracking voice and Diana's weird music. His room was his sanctuary.

Jace's big head poked into his room, eyes squinting as he looked around. He wasn't as accustomed to the dark as Zaine was and flipped the light switch. The lights didn't come on. The light bulb had gone out a few months ago but Zaine didn't bother to replace it. Jace flicked the switch a few more times before giving up and walking inside.

"Yo, twerp! Where are you?"

Zaine winced slightly and shimmied further into shadows. His foot caught on the edge of his stool and it wobbled. Jace probably wouldn't have noticed anyway, as he had already given up the search, except that on the stool lay two or three broken toy cars that Zaine had found on the playground. The one with three tires began rolling off. Before Zaine could even react, let alone catch the thing, it had hit the floor, and his brother had returned to the room. In the darkness, their eyes locked. Zaine's breath caught in his throat and he didn't move, didn't even blink. Jace seemed to be fooled... Until he walks over and yanked the curtains open.

As natural light hit his eyes, Zaine hissed and shut them. Far too bright to keep them open. Jace walked over to him, and Zaine could sense the older boy was grinning. He would have looked to confirm it if he had the nerve to look his brother in the eye.

"Hey, Shadow man," his older brother greeted. It was the only nick name Zaine liked. Without any warning, Jace tugged him out from his hiding place by his arm, and in one smooth motion, pinned said arm behind his back. He caught Zaine's leg with his own, and using his own weight, flipped his little brother onto his back.

"Ooow..." Zaine groaned from the floor. He had landed awkwardly, and didn't want to risk moving for fear something might be broken. He looked up and glared at his brother's shirt collar. "What was that for?"

"Anne wants you." Only Zaine called their 'aunt' Aunt Anne. He was too intimidated by her not to.

"Couldn't you have just told me?"

"No."

Zaine frowned and finally picked himself up, rubbing his shoulder. Was Jace purposefully targeting the arm that Conner had targeted earlier that day? With some effort, he stood and glanced at his brother. Jace seemed to be looking around. He always did this when he came to get Zaine.

"Your room is creepy," he said.

Zaine's lower lip pushed out. "Is not."

"It's always so dark in here. It's freaky."

Zaine turned and made a fist, though he had no intention of using it on his brother. "Is not!"

Jace's eyes fell to meet his, and Zaine, for once, couldn't look away. "Why aren't you normal?"

Zaine's mouth opened, but he didn't have an answer, so he closed it again.

"You're always locked away in your room alone. You need to get out more or you're going to die lonely, you know," Jace said. Zaine remained quiet, so with one last reminder that their so called aunt wanted to see him, he left.

Zaine was watching the floor, eyes blurry, a metallic taste in his mouth from biting his lip to hard. The tree against the window shifted in the wind, drawing his attention to its shadow on the floor. Among its branches lay his shadow, stretched out over the floor like a giant, connected at his toes. His smile was a crooked one, but genuine, and he knelt down to put his hand on the dark blue patches. His shadow raised its own hand to meet his.

"I may be alone," he whispered to his shadow, "but I'm not lonely."



threw in the story to kill all your feels.


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