We Are Abnormal

Chapter Four

Max stood. "Thanks Sibby. Uh, do you like coffee? Today is going to be a busy day." She started, sweeping her hair out of her flushed face. Her bare feet ran softly over the cold floor.

Sibuna's face flushed in embarrassment. "I-I love coffee." He lied, running a hand through his hair.

"Amazing. Do you like sugar and milk?" She questioned, grabbing a kettle and putting it over a empty fire place. She bent down, touching her hand to the damp wood. After two minutes a large fire blazed in the wood, heating the water.

"I, uh, drink it black." He replied hesitantly. He shuffled his feet, and wiped at his flushed face. His pointed ears were red and began to hang low, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Really?! Even I use milk and sugar, and I fight demons in my spare time!" She joked, pulling off the pot. Well, almost. She retracted her hand, flames licking at it. She felt her skin heat up. "I own you, don't think you can beat me." She growled at it, causing it to groan, as if it were alive, and lower. She smiled and pulled the kettle again, and began making coffee.

Sibuna's once pale face took on a bright shade of red. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, not sure where to move to. His thin fingers played with the edge of his shirt.

She danced around, mixing things, dipping things, and clinking around. Soon she handed him a cup of hot coffee. "Careful, it's hot." She pushed him onto the floor, making him sit down. She took a drink of hers, and smiled.

He nodded, "Thank you" he said politely. He took a sip of the liquid, his face contorted from the bitter taste

Max held back a snigger, making it sound like a snort. "You okay? Want some milk or. Sugar?"

"No!" He shouted, gulping the steaming coffee. He ignored the burn that it left. He cringed at the flavour and immediately regretted doing that. He choked on the taste and his tongue and throat was burnt.

Max stood immediately, stealing the cup from him, and jumped to the makeshift fridge. She shuffled around and replaced the cup. Milk.

"I don't like coffee" he admitted, taking the cup in his hands. He took small sips of the cooler liquid.

"I can tell." She laughed, and stood. "Okay kiddo, let's get going." She informed.

"I'm not a kid!" He cried out defensively, quickly standing.

"But I'm older. I bet you, I'm older." She smiled. And grabbed his arm. "Let's go!"

"Okay, okay!" He latched himself onto her arm, holding it tightly.

She smiled, face turning a bright pink. She brought him outside, and began walking.

He let her lead him about, trying to keep from tripping. His fingers curled around the fabric of her sweater.

She grasped his hands. Knowing where she wanted to go. The mushroom patch. The fields. And the lake. But most of all, the river.

"Where are we going?" He asked, wrapping his pale fingers around her hand.

"Mushrooms grass or water, you choose." She asked chirping.

"Erm, water?" He suggested, sounding confused.

"Alright. Still or moving?"

"Moving..? These are odd choices your giving me" he said, looking at what he hoped was her face

"Moving or still!? Pick one! Now quick!"

"Uh, moving." He decided, still thoroughly confused."

"River? Alright. If you insist." She smiled and began leading him towards the river she'd been in years ago. When hell started.

"Oh! I get it now" he called out, allowing himself to be pulled along.

"Mhm. The other option was a lame. But that could've been a bad idea. I think Raphean is throwing a hissy fit."

"Raphean?"

"Oh, just the king of the lake and such nonsense. He's a jerk. "

"Oh." He closed his eyes, not making much of a difference to his sight, but keeping his eyes open sometimes gave him headaches. "What if we decided to go to the lake? Would we have to fight him or something?"

"Maybe. Happens a lot, actually. He's actually quite humurous when he's mad." She giggled. "But the river is beautiful too, I think. I haven't been there since I was a child. I need to collect something there though."

He nodded in understanding. "I've only ever seen one river." He muttered, "That was before I became a god." His lips curled into a smile of disgust

"Ooooh! What river? Or what's the story behind it?! You got me all curious." She smiled, forgetting that he couldn't see her.

He chuckled at her enthusiasm. "The Nile River. It kept all of Egypt alive. We ate the fish that the waters carried. We planted our crops at the bank and the nutrients let the plants grow." He ran a hand through his hair to the tip of his ear. "Me and my younger sibling would play in the waters during the hot days."

"WAIT! You have a little brother?" She jumped to the conclusion immediately, hating the word sibling. It was too much of a word. "THATS COOL!"
O
Sibuna shook his head, "No. They are neither male or female, they decided this when they were younger. They were a girl at a point, but I think being, oh what is it called, nonbinary suits them."

"Ooooooooh! That's, that's cool. There was this human I had befriended when I lived in, I think it was Canada. They were, uh, a guy that wanted to be a girl. I don't remember the word. They were very nice though." She smiled cheerfully, then stopped. "Listen" she commanded, rushing water could be heard now, they were almost there.

He smiled up at her, "I've always loved the sound of a river."

"Mhmmmm." She knew what she was looking for. "Just bep careful." She warned, she led him forward some more, and then let go. "I have to find something. From a long time ago. I know it's here."

He nodded, "I'll stay right here."

"Alright. Thank you." She smiled, eyes flickering with an emotion she hadn't felt in so long. One that she purely hated. She made her way into the shallows, and began lifting rocks, and logs, and looking everywhere.

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"A book. It was left here a long time ago. When my first physical body was only a few years old." She explained, lifting up a large log. "He's such a fool. I know he left it. Damn, Castein would know, he watched the whole thing." She muttered the last bit.

Sibuna stayed quiet, an aura of concentration forming around him. His eyes glowed beneath his eyes. After a moment, he pointed towards the bank, knowing exactly where it was. "Look closer to the bank, near a huge rock, under some foliage."

"Wha?! Uh, okay." She nodded, and went to the spot. After a bit of moving things around, the brown leather bound book was found. "YES!" She cried. Sounds of joy came from her throat, and she ran to Sibuna. She bent down and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Then she lifted him off of his feet. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

He was surprised, but awkwardly hugged back "Not a problem."

"Hah! I have it! I can't believe I have it!" She screamed after putting him down. She plopped to the ground, and opened the book. And suddenly the world around them was silent.

"What is this book?" He questioned, sitting next to her.

"I don't exactly know. Just that, my brother was reading it. He never let it leave his side when we were younger, well, until l.... anyways...."


He nodded, "Well now you have it, now you can read it."

"Yeah, I can." She began reading the first page. "THE HELL?!" She screamed.

What?! What's wrong?!" Sibuna cried out, gripping her shoulder

"Mary had a little lamb, who's fleece was white as snow." She began to read aloud.

"Are these... Nursery rhymes?"

"yes. I am going to scream. I hate him I hate him I hate him. Prince, I will... I will do something terrible to you!" She shouted angrily to the sky.

"Like you'd said, you guys were young. They might have soothed him?"

"Nonono. There was something he would read over and over. He never like reading."

"Look farther into the book? Maybe you'll find something?"

She did. She looked through and through.

"Is there anything that may seem like it would connect to him?"

"The ugly duckling." She read aloud. "I remember this. He'd read it to me every night." She thought aloud.

"The ugly duckling? That doesn't sound like a very inspirational children's story." He muttered.

"It's about this duckling that looked different from all the other ducklings. And they didn't like him, and made fun of him. But when he grew up he was a beautiful swan!"
o
"So he wasn't a duckling at all? If he isn't a duckling, why is the story claiming he's a duck?"

"Because that's what everyone saw him as. They THOUGHT he was a duckling, and made everyone including himself BELEIVE that he was a duckling."

"That makes no sense. This sounds more like human's social construct, rather than the life of a swan."

"That is the point. It's to tell children that they are beautiful no matter what anyone says. It's fictional."

"If it is telling children that they're beautiful, then why does it call the swan hatching ugly? These are nothing like the stories I was told when I was younger".

"What stories were you told them?" She asked curious now.

"Mostly the history of Egypt and our gods."

"Oh? That sound interesting." She commented, still flipping pages. "It was this chapter he looked at when the whole thing started." She murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Oh. Just, this one chapter. He read through it a million times. And then we uh, got into the fight..... ANYWAYS!"

"Um, is there anything we should do while we're here?"

"We could go swimming. Or fishing. I'm sure castein would live salmon again."

"I don't know how to swim" he mumbledi

"ILL TEACH YOU!" She exclaimed happily. She set the book down and grabbed his hand.

He stood "That may be a little difficult, with me being blind."

"I'll help you. We can do it! Trust me."

Sibuna nodded, "I trust you. So where do we begin?"

"Doggy paddle. Well actually. We should start be getting in." She smiled, and then pulled her hoodie off.

He stood there, not sure what to do.

She grabbed his hand and led him to the water.

The cold water washed over his clothes and legs, making him jump from the sudden change of temperature.

"Sorry." She apologised with a smile, grabbing his hand tightly.

"Sorry." She apologised with a smile, grabbing his hand tightly.

"First, try dunking your head under water."

He nodded, bending down and dunking his head underneath the waters surface, immediately bringing his head up with a gasp.

"Blow bubbles in the water." She informed, smiling happily and demonstrating.

He did as she told him to do, feeling slightly awkward as he did so. He pulled his head back to the surface quickly wiping the water from his faceo

She smiled, and grabbed his hand. "Okay, now kick with your feet." She instructed, holding his sides.

He nodded, kicking his legs, trying to keep a pattern.

Max smiled again. "Now move forward, and do it all together, while pushing your alarms through the water."o

His eyebrows knitted together in concentration as he tried to do all of the actions together. He was able to swim a few feet, before sinking underwater.

Max sighed and dove after him. Pulling him back up she sighed again.

"It's okay. Nobody is perfect at swimming. I'm sure you'll get it. Maybe we should take a break?"

"No! Let's do it again, I will get it down." He said persistently, jumping back into the water. His arms and legs went to work, rhythmically trying to keep his above water. His legs kicked erratically and his arms kept him steady. But alas, he fell under again.

She pulled him up again, then got an idea. "TRY Using rythym. Like this." SHe clapped her hands, a beat.

He nodded, wading into the water, before kicking off. He followed the beat she set, managing to keep his head above the water. His head fell under the water, but after a small struggled he pulled himself back above the water level. He paddled himself back to shore, a tired grin settled on his face "I did it!"

"Good job Sibby. That was great!" She exclaimed. Wading into the water, to meet him. She gave him a big hug then.

He hugged back, laughing triumphantly

Max smiled. "Now we can go to the lake." She started to the shore.

He nodded, taking her hand

Max led the way, laughing happily as she kicked the sand off her feet.

Sibuna smiled, shaking water from his hair, in an almost dog-like way.

Max laughed, and flicked water back at him

He smiled up at her, a laugh escaping his lips. His cheeks and ears are flushed. He concentrated for a second and made his long ears wiggle.

She giggled. "How did you do that?!" She asked happily. Then she put her hands in his hair, "not puffy."

He laughed, "Wiggling my ears is basically my only natural talent."

"Only natural talent? What about the Stars thing?Speaking of which, I had a few questions."

"How do you move stars? And how did you become a prophet? And what was the first prophecy you saw?" She asked as they began to approach an area of giggling girls and boys swimming around.

"Moving stars takes a lot of practice, if you want to keep them in the sky. It takes a lot of mental power, because its mostly convincing them to move for you. But if they don't move where you need them to be, you'd have to move them forcefully. It's hard to explain. I gained that ability by killing my best friend, which I really regret. She was my best and only friend, not including Nephthys."

"That's... that's... wow." She breathed. "Wait. How many people can move stars?!" She exclaimed

The stars can move themselves. And with enough practice, a star can move their own kind. Star gods can move stars. A human would probably die if they attempted to move a star. So, not too many people."

"Hmmmmm. Interesting. So, what stars did you move around? Or are you sworn to secrecy?!"

"I know I accidentally brought you down. And one other, I've moved a few around. I don't remember their names, sadly."

She stopped, eyes suddenly glazed over. Her mouth hung open, and she made no sign of existence. She stood that way for five minutes.

"Max!? Max! Are you okay?" He called out, pulling on her arm. He couldn't see her face, but he knew something was wrong.

She shook awake again. "You... you... you did that?I... I..." she fell, her senses crashing again tears streaking her cheeks, so confused. She was mad, but, estatic.

His head bent downwards, guilt washing over him. He pulled away from Max. "Im sorry. I was curious of how my abilities worked. I didn't think." He took a few steps backwards "I'm sorry." He braced himself, expecting to be hit.

She looked up at him. "It's... it's alright. I wouldn't... I wouldn't have had you if.... if you hadn't... if... i... i... just..." she kept tripping on her words, she wanted him to come back over to her. But understanded that he was scared.

"I'm sorry." He called out, but it was more directed towards the sky than Max. His back hit the trunk of a tree, and he slid down, pulling his knees against his chest. "I'm sorry." He said again. He wiped at his face, pushing away tears that dripped down his cheeks. "Do you want to go back? I can try and find a way. I can try to put you back in the sky." He sobbed out. "I didn't know. I'm sorry" he said one more time, pressing his face into his knees.

She shook her head. Forgetting he couldn't see her. She looked over at him, and crawled over to him slowly. "No. I like it down here." She whispered. "This is my fault." She muttered before she made it to him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked about this."

"Its my fault. I could've taken these emotions better. But some times I guess I forget that I'm still just a kid" he sniffled, reaching out for her.

She grabbed his hand and crawled to him, laying her head on his shoulder. "We should... let's just forget this ever happened. Okay?"

He nodded, wrapping his arms around her.

he grabbed his hands, staying silent, trying to make no movements. Instantly she felt better. Relieved. Brought into the arms of, someone who'd been in her life longer than she had ever known

He buried his head into her shoulder, "Im glad I met you." He whispered under his breath,

She smiled, and squeezed his hand. "I'm glad I met you too." She whispered back, closing her eyes.

Anyways" he cleared his throat, his cheeks and ears flushing, "Isn't there a place we were going?"