Thank you so much for your comments! Any and all are welcome. It has been a while since I have written anything and its's tricky to get back into practice. Its so encouraging to know people are reading (and sometimes even enjoying) my work.
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Soul went back to his drawing and doodles some birds in the clouds, he knew Sylvia wasn't going to be happy with him once she saw how inane his drawing was, but honestly Soul didn't care, he had plans, ideas, and even possibly people to help him with them. Maybe he could get home, maybe he could escape, and best of all he could find out some answers.
The day finished without incident. Sylvia was civil through dinner and still didn't mention the escape attempt. The others were there too, looking worried, but no worse than any other day. Soul could almost imagine that it had never happened.
Soul would be almost relaxed, armed, as he was, with his new plan. But Scott was watching Soul constantly, probably aware that he had a plan. Soul wondered how much he could share, how much he was willing to share. He did feel a connection to Scott, but how much of it was an actually friendship and how much of it was constructed? Though in the past hours he had felt much more balanced toward Scott, he still couldn't trust his feelings. He wished the clarity he felt toward the other parts of his plan would expand to how he felt about Scott.
Dinner ended and Scott and Soul headed back to their room. The red walls seemed oppressive and Soul wasted no time stripping of his formal dinner wear. He sat on the bed and thought hard. He would have liked to think longer but the feeling of Scott's weight hitting the bed and then his arms closing around Soul's shoulders shorted out his thoughts and made any sort of heavy duty reflection impossible.
Revulsion and attraction fought within Soul and made him feel nauseous. He pulled himself free and began to pace around the room. But his trains of thoughts had been throughly derailed.
"What are you thinking about?" Scott lazed on the bed and looked both delightfully edible and terrifying.
"You." Soul answered. He hadn't decided what he was going to share but he knew he had to start somewhere. He decided that Scott deserved the truth, even if it wasn't all of it. He remembered the first time he had felt any calm before today- it had been when he started to share a few things with Scott. It had been the first hint that he had done something right, he wanted to continue with that.
"What do you mean." Scott had sat up a little at Soul's word, but still looked like a throughly debauched lord or some manor. And if Sylvia got her way he eventually would be.
Soul took a deep breath.
"I mean I am trying to decide what to tell you. I know I need to tell you the truth. But I don't want to tell you all of it." Scott shrugged.
"I also want you to promise not to tell." Scott nodded and sat the rest of the way up, aware now that they weren't just talking about their relationship. There was something deeper going on, and Soul was willing to share.
"I promise not to tell."
Soul took another deep breath.
"So we obviously didn't get out. I had a feeling that it wouldn't work. And I began to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea, then after when nothing happened I began to wonder if somehow Sylvia had something to do with it." Scott opened his mouth to talk but shut it again when Soul held up a hand. "I began to feel really nervous about doing anything. I don't know anything still. I don't know what anyone wants me to tell them or what to do but then I began thinking of all the people that know things."
"My mother knew everything, and the twins, well they knew my mother, they lived across the street for years and no one ever bothered me. They knew where my mother was this whole time. They can't be on her side- not entirely right? And I need to see my mother. Somehow she has stayed out of this for this long. She must know how to help me." Scott nodded and leaned forward.
"That all makes sense, but my mother has her hands in a lot of people's pockets. Even more than you might guess. Its really scary but you have to trust someone right?" Scott sounded extremely sad and for a moment Soul felt bad. He couldn't imagine growing up in this place. If he wasn't so confused about his own feelings he might have wanted to be friends with Scott. He hoped someday this would all be over and they would be able to start over.
Soul felt deflated. He really wished he wasn't a part of any of this. He wished he had been born someone else. Someone that had no special talents. He wished he was stupid, he wished he couldn't draw, he wished he had just given up at the beginning. Right now he just wanted to sleep. Planning could wait until the morning.
After they had both brushed their teeth and put on soft sleeping shorts they found in one of the dressers Scott walked around to what had become his side of the bed. He picked up a pillow and started toward the living room. A large part of Soul wanted to let him go. He wanted to think, he wanted his own space. But he realized and even larger part of him did want to trust. He was so tired of feeling alone, of feeling trapped and confused.
"Come back." Soul slithered under the smooth covers and opened his arms. Scott looked conflicted and almost as lost as Soul felt.
"Just to sleep, please?" Slowly Scott started back toward the bed. He faced the wall and stayed as far to the side as he could without falling off. Soul felt awful- he didn't want to push but he did kind of want to be held. Just for now before he had to really decide what to do with Scott. Soul pushed down the artificial feelings that he could feel rising and pulled Scott's arm across his waist. He could feel Scott resisting, but when Soul threatened to keep sliding backward Scott was in serious danger of falling off the bed if he didn't cuddle back.
