A Story Introduction. Or Something.

“Stop.” Said a voice unfamiliar to him.

“–What? Who said…?” He was trying to get answers from her. “Stop?” He tried to confirm. She nodded, and even though he had his back turned to her, he knew that she must’ve nodded. Slowly he turned around. He searched her face. Her eyes. Quickly darting back and forth and back again. For a sign; anything. She continued looking at him–looking at him with the same persistent stare he knew all too well. It’s not like she couldn’t talk. She clearly could; she just wasn’t a very talkative person, which was the polar opposite of him. She noted that there wasn’t much use in talking. At least about trivial, unimportant things, such as the weather or school. The only reason she ever had spoken to or around him, was for an important reason. She was a lot like those type of people who never ask for help. When they do ask for help, you know it must be serious. And so, “Stop” was all that was uttered. It was faint. A voice that, as far as he could remember (which wasn’t very much to be honest), was one he either hadn’t heard before, or he had heard, just so long ago that the sound of it had been forgotten with time. A sound which, unless one was paying as close enough attention as he was, or being in as quiet of an atmosphere as they had been in, would’ve gone unnoticed.

She was used to it though. At least, the being unnoticed part. She always kept to herself. Away and alone. Quietly doing whatever it was that she did to occupy her small, insignificant, little life.

He tried to speak, but just ended up opening his mouth and then quickly closing it again. She just stared at him. In fact, they both did. They both just stared at eachother for a long time without either one of them saying anything to the other. Time seemed to slow down. It felt like an eternity. Like nothing mattered as long as they were standing where they were –staring at eachother. Taking note of each other’s face. Studying it like one studies art. Then finally, she took a step. Not a very big one, but enough so that the space between them grew smaller. Then she hugged him. It wasn’t like a normal ‘how’re you doing?’ sort of hug. It was like the kind of hug that one makes after not seeing someone for a very long time. It was warm and long. It was sweet. It was also something he was not expecting. His eyes grew wide at the sudden embrace. He eventually closed them and actually lifted his arms up to hug her back. And a smile actually formed on her face. A faint one, but one that was visible on the corners of her mouth. They ceased the hug, and suddenly the world seemed to get a lot colder and a lot smaller. Like all of the joy of life had been sucked out of it.

Then he heard something come from her. A faint sound. It sounded like she was trying to say “wait”, but it came out like “w…a…i…” and then faded into nothingness. It sounded hoarse –like she had been going over what to say for the longest time without having the proper words to accurately explain what she was trying to say. “I……I don’t want you to…to –leave! Please…” She was looking up at him, tears forming in her eyes. She tried her best to burn them back, but to no avail. They started rolling down her cheeks, slowly. He didn’t realize that leaving her would have this much of an effect on her. I mean, he didn’t get social cues about a lot of things –but this especially. “You –what?” He questioned. “I…I mean –you’re… –the best friend I’ve ever had, and I don’t…know…wh –at –what I would do if…if –you never came back." She stuttered from the obvious pain she was experiencing. "I –don’t –I don’t think I could handle it…!” She stammered.

After an almost uncomfortably long amount of silence, he finally spoke. “O –Oh…I –I mean I didn’t real…ize…” He trailed off. He was obviously caught off guard. He felt a strange sensation. A pain. It was almost physical –mostly emotional. A deep chest pain. Like an ache in his heart. “That’s just it, isn’t it? You don’t ever 'get it’, do you?!” She half-screamed at him. He was very surprised at her sudden anger. It came out of nowhere, and he started to really regret his decision to try and leave.

Then she stormed off in the opposite direction; leaving him rather distraught. He tried his best to understand it --what had just happened. Why leaving made her get so upset. What specifically about it. Then he realized what it was. It was because he was leaving without telling her. She didn't know how to react, other than getting upset. He was still new to this whole 'human interaction' and 'human social cue' thing. He tried his best to understand it, but it was hard for him. Which is understandable to a point. But it was also pretty ridiculous, to say the least.