Nomad Writer

Can you keep a secret?
~

At first glance, she knew something was off about him. Knew? No. In retrospect, she had only assumed he wasn’t normal. He looked the part of an average human with his brown eyes, small nose, and thin lips. He acted like any other person, but there was something too deliberate in his actions. As if he was trying to perfect every reaction and reflex, like an amateur actor.

To everyone else in the class, it came off as the new student’s clumsy charm. To her, there was a deeper intention behind that gauche demeanor. But she only watched with aloof skepticism as he took his seat beside her. He turned to her and nodded with an affable smile. She coolly shifted attention back to the lecturer, ignoring his lingering gaze.

***

He found her sitting alone beneath the sprawling shade of a tree during lunch. Her shrewd gaze that morning had left him feeling exposed. But her wariness wasn’t a threat; it gave him a sense of affinity. As if he could trust her with his secret – maybe even help him.

She looked up as his footsteps approached, lowering her soda from her lips, “Can I help you?”

He smiled. She must’ve read his mind. “Maybe.” He gestured to the empty space next to her, “Can I sit?”

She shrugged noncommittally, only drawing her knees close together when he sat. “What do you mean, maybe I can help you?”

“You don’t think I’m normal, do you?”

She stared at him and then slowly shook her head, following his lead of honesty, “No, I don’t. You’re not human, are you?” Despite the blunt question, she spoke low as if the trees and the wind would carry their conversation to less kind ears.

He smiled, “Can you keep a secret?”

***