Fantasy: Part I of II

Fantasy Part I of II

"You got the payment for this month or what?" a loud voice pierced my thoughts.  A pounding on the apartment door quickly followed and immediately I rolled out of bed and made my way to the floor, scooping up the large envelope with both of my hands.  I moved as quickly as I could but the pounding only grew louder.  "You tenants get on my last nerve!" He shouted, as I ran.  "You all think you're too good to come downstairs and make a payment, and the worst of all is that you don't talk to no one!  I gotta a half a mind to come in there right now…"
He trailed off as I slid the envelope under the door, not making a sound but I could hear his weight shift as he crouched down, picking it up.  I lay down on my stomach and tried to get a decent look but I couldn't see his facial expression but I could tell that he was somewhat pleased because he let out a content grunt.  I smiled.  A note and a 'tip' was always enough to keep this man quiet.  I liked how he was so predictable.  
"Alright Chloe," he said and I heard him stuff the tip into his pocket.  "You know that I hate having to come up here…living on the 8th floor and all but I gotta say that you always make it worth my while."
I didn't answer him.  If I did he would know that something was wrong with me, but I smiled, nodding to myself.  All it took was an extra hundred added to the rent and Goat would keep his mouth shut.  It was a comforting thought knowing that my landlord…Goat as I called him never gave me a hard time about anything.  He could easily be silenced with money and a friendly note.  I waited for him to walk away, but was surprised when a smaller knock came from overhead causing me to jump up from my stomach into a standing position.
Surely he didn't need anything else?
"Chloe, I know we never met or anything like that…but I gotta say that it's weird that I ain't ever seen your face.  Hell…I haven't even spoken to you.  I know I can come across as kinda stiff but I didn't never mean to scare you."  His voice was softer than usual but I still couldn't bring myself to answer him.  My voice would be a clear indication of who I was and what I was and despite Goat trying to be nice about the whole thing, I couldn't bring myself to answer him.
The silence that fell between us was deafening.
After a few moments, he finally decided to continue.  "The reason I'm talkin so much to you today is that I'm gonna be takin a vacation to see some of meh grandkids for the next few months.  My son is gonna be watching the complex so he will be the one collecting the rent for a while."
I opened my mouth as though to speak, but I swear that I heard Goat chuckle.
"Don't worry Chloe, I explained the whole thing to him.  He knows that you don't come out and that you don't speak."  He chuckled again.  "You don't gotta worry about tippin him though.  That can be just between you an me.  That'll save you some cash while I'm gone."
I smiled, leaning against the door.
"I won't bother you no more, just wanted to give you the heads up," he said, finally shifting to walk away from the door.
I knocked from the inside of the door in acknowledgement.  I realized that it was low and light, but I wanted to let Goat know that I was listening to him.  I heard him give pause in the halls.
"See you in a few months," he said before returning to the elevator.
With a frown, I went back to my bed and climbed the comforter and settled amongst the expensive pillows that I had sent to the room.  Everything was a hassle but one couldn't expect anything less for a girl standing six inches tall.  I couldn't help myself.  Being a borrower was what I was born as, but it certainly wasn't how I wanted to live.  Living under the floorboards with people like Goat just didn't work for me so I took it upon myself to leave the life that I was supposed to have.  At only 15 years out, I left my parents and told them that I was going to find a way to make it in the human world without anyone knowing who or what I was.  They had their misgivings, but they were so terrified of being seen by a human that they let me go.
It had been 5 years and I haven't seen them since.
Over the course of time, I found a way to make a small living, learning how to write using human technology and sending my work out to anyone who would read.  When the human post office closed at night, I snuck in and set myself up with my on PO Box so I could send out letters and receive checks.  I was a lucky one because after only a few months of hard and intense work I was able to put a down payment on an apartment.  It was tough finding a place that was nice enough and with a landlord who could be bribed but Goat filled the roll perfectly.  No matter what happened, anything could be fixed with a $20 there and a $50 there.
It was an amazing friendship/thing that we had for the past 3 ½ years.  I pay my rent, give him money, he keeps quiet about things.  I tell him that I ordered something off the internet and he brings it in when I'm not around.  It was a friendship that I couldn't have wanted more from.
Still though, as a 20 year old woman, who hadn't seen another Borrower in 5 years, there was still something missing from my life.  I had friends on the computer, colleagues from the places I sent my work into and of course I enjoyed using Facebook, Twitter and my blog…but I wanted to talk to someone.  I needed human contact but Goat wasn't exactly my first choice.
Maybe his son would be the answer to my problems.
***

"C-Chloe?" A nervous voice came to my door much less than a month later.  "This is Chloe Media room, correct?"
I stopped jumping around the keyboard and darted my head towards the sound.  Glancing at the computer screen I realized that it had only been a few days since Goat had left to be with his grandchildren.  I was told that this grandson of his understood my situation!  Why was he knocking on the damn door?  Biting my lip with anxiety written all over my face, I climbed off the desk and jogged towards the front door and fell to my stomach again.  I could only make out a pair of worn in, dark denim jeans and a heavy pair of black boots, but I didn't tilt my head up any further before the voice came again.
"Don't worry," he said.  "I understand your situation…I'm not going to come in or anything like that.  I just thought that it might be good for you to hear my voice so you can recognize it."
I didn't answer, feeling my heart pounding against the thin fabric of my shirt.  He sounded young, much younger than Goat but his voice was definitely the voice of a man.  I saw his one foot shift nervously behind the other.
"So my name's Rogan," he went on.  "Uh, I guess there's really not too much more to say than that…" he continued to trail off, muttering this and that and as he did I grabbed the notepad and pencil stub that I kept close to the door and scribbled away.  When the note was finished I slid it under the crack of the door and I saw Rogan's feet take a step backwards in surprise.  Laying back down on my stomach, I saw him crouch down, picking up the note between a finger and a thumb…with jet back nails and immaculate looking hands.  "It's nice to meet you," he read the note aloud, not moving.  "It's nice to meet you two Chloe."
I nodded to myself, trying to peer under the crack of the door.  I wanted to see his face.
"This is probably gonna sound weird," Rogan said, "But can I ask how old you are?"  To my surprise he slid the paper back under the door.  "If you don't' want to tell me, that's fine…I get it.  Oh hell and please don't tell my paps about this.  He said that I'm not supposed to talk to you, but I couldn't' help myself.  Not everyone has a tenant who never comes out of their room and never speaks."  He laughed nervously.
Quickly I wrote out my age and slid the note back to him.  It was a risk, I knew this but he sounded so sexy and I couldn't get over the strangeness of the black painted fingernails.
"Twenty?" He said, keeping his voice surprisingly soft.  "You're young.  Well…that's not fair…not really because I'm only twenty-three."  I saw him shift again and I tilted my head to the side and saw a large hand rest itself on the carpet.  A few small black markings were littered all over his hand and his wrist, 'tattoos' was what the humans called them, but I had never seen so many at once.  I bit my lower lip, not sure what this feeling was in my chest but it felt like falling at an uncontrolled speed.  "So…and once again," Rogan continued.  "If this is butting too much in your business you can tell me to get the hell out of here…but why don't you speak?"
I felt my heart stop as he carefully slid the note back under the door.  Staring at the paper it felt as though there was a timer going off in my head and I had to decide right there and then whether I wanted to continue this conversation with the stranger.
"Like I said," Rogan repeated.  "You don't have to answer."
I was in a daze.  I saw his fingers twitching, a large silver ring on his pointer finger and I was almost mesmerized by it.  It was only when it stopped moving and I felt him starting to move that I was pulled out of my trance.
"I guess that's my answer then.  Once again Miss, I'm so sorry to bother you," he said in a voice that almost sounded sad.  The boots shifted again and before I could think about it, I jumped up to my feet.
"I can speak!" I shouted out, and then quickly covered my mouth, hearing the sounds of him moving.
"D-did…did you just say something?" Rogan's voice came from outside the door.  "Say something else, maybe I imagined it-"
"I can speak," I said more clearly, the loudest voice I had dared to use in years.  In that moment I couldn't think about someone passing Rogan in the halls or a nosy stranger poking their head out to see what the temporary landlord was doing.  All I could think about was how I didn't want that voice to leave.  I wanted to hear it again.
I wanted him to hear me.
"You sound so quiet," Rogan said, still remaining in a standing position from the sound of where his voice was coming from.  
I wrote out a note and slid it out to him.
"Sorry??" The stranger blurted out, a bit too loud for my taste.  "There's nothing to be sorry about, I was only surprised.  It sounded as though you were talking from the floor or something."  He paused for a moment.  "Are you?"  The paper came back from under the door.
"I-I'm," I started to say, balling my hands in tight fists as Rogan moved again.  "I'm on the floor."
It sounded as though he gasped.  "But it's not only that…" he trailed off.  "You sound…"
"I sound what?" I said, trying to make my voice sound louder…larger somehow.
"I'm not sure," Rogan said.  "You sound, I guess small is the word.  Do you not use your voice very often?" He guessed.
"I don't."
"Hmmm," he mused.  "Chloe?"
My face grew hot with the sound of him saying my name.  What the hell was wrong with me?  I lay back down on my stomach.  "Y-yes?"
"Why don't you talk to other people?  I don't want to sound creepy…but you have a really nice voice, just small sounding."
I rested my chin on my crossed arms, still staring at his boots.  There was a piece of dried up mud on the front.  
"C-Chloe?" He tried again.
I came back to reality.  "W-what?"
"Can…can I…" he trailed off each time, completely falling silent for a moment as a door opened down the halls and I heard the footsteps of Mrs. Gayle coming down the hall.  I quickly came to my feet.
"What are you doing here??" Mrs. Gayle's snappy voice inquired at Rogan.
"Meeting the neighbors, I'm the new landlord-" he started to say but Mrs. Gayle cut him off.
"I am aware who you are," she said.  "My question is what are you doing at the mute's door?"
"Mute?"
"The thing that lives in this room," she continued.  "Never comes out, never talks to anyone…only reason she's here is because she bribes your grandfather.  Looks bad for the building you know.  Maybe you can convince her to leave."
Just as Rogan was about to retort, Mrs. Gayle's heels shifted and she went to the elevator.
"Bitch," Rogan muttered once the elevator door had closed and it began to descend.  "Are you okay?"
"M-me?" I squeaked out, surprised.
"Yes you, I'm sorry you had to hear that.  She probably wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't here like some creeper."  He let out another uneasy laugh.
"What were you about to ask me?" I dared to ask him.
"Huh?"
"You started to say, can I…but then you never finished," I said.
"Oh," Rogan mused.  "It was nothing.  Just a passing thought."
"What was it?"
"I was going to ask if I could see you."
I walked up to the door, pressing my hand against the cool white surface.  Closing my eyes, I tried to imagine what he looked like.  "Do you really want to?"
"Would you actually consider it?  I mean…you don't know me, at all."
I nodded to the door.  I couldn't resist seeing the owner of the voice.  It was hypnotic.  "It's been a really long time since I've let anyone see me.  Almost five years."
"Five years?" Rogan said with surprise.  "That's a damn long time without seeing someone.  I'd be more than happy to take a look at you," he continued.
"Crouch down," I instructed, pulling away from the door.  I looked up, wondering what his face looked like.
"Excuse me?"
"You said that you wanted to look at me, I'm telling you what to do."
I heard him fall to one knee.  "Ahhh, I understand," he said.  "You don't feel comfortable letting a strange man into your room when you're by yourself.  I get that.  I dig it actually.  Means that you don't go around trusting everyone."
"Something like that," I said in a quiet voice, crouching down myself.
"So what?  Are we gonna look at each other under the door or something?" Rogan asked.
"Would that be weird?" I asked.
"Wouldn't be the weirdest thing I ever did to meet a girl," he said, the smile literally coming through his words.  "But come on…I'm ready if you are."
"I have to warn you," I said with caution in my voice.  "I'm probably not going to look like other girls."
"Oh?"
"Y-yeah," I said, realizing that my voice was starting to shake.  "Please don't be surprised.  I don't even know why I'm doing this."
"Don't be nervous," Rogan offered.  "No matter what happens, I won't come in and I won't judge.  I'm your landlord."
I took in a deep breath, lowering my stomach to the floor, the goosebumps running up and down my arms like wildfire.  Why was I so nervous about seeing him?  He had promised that he wouldn't come in…but…but I was still me.  What if he was lying and came bursting into the room the minute he realized that I wasn't…wasn't human?
"Are you second guessing your decision?" Rogan's voice came from behind the door.
"Maybe a little," I said.
"What color is your hair?" he asked.
"Huh?"
He chuckled.  "Your hair color, maybe if you tell me what you look like, I won't look so surprised."
"Black," I answered quickly.
"Long or short?"
"Long."
"Eye color?" Rogan asked.
"Blue."
"Light blue or dark blue?"
I actually smiled.  "Light."
"Show me your face."
I giggled slightly.  "Huh?"
"Black haired girls with light blue eyes," he mocked a shiver.  "Seriously the hottest girls on earth.  I'm literally dying to see you now.  Come on, let me see you."
"Okay then…" I said, lowering my chin to my arms so that I could clearly see under the crack of the door.  He had begun to move again as well.  "I'm here…so whenever you're ready."
I seemingly held my breath as his knees hit the carpet and his hands pressed to the floor to steady himself.  He moved…he shifted and suddenly chin came into view his skin was so light, almost as light as mine and it was lightly frosted with dark stubble.  Then I saw his lips.  They were full, pink and down turned as he struggled to wedge his body to the floor.  His nose was soft, and more stubble was under his nose and above those lips.  I swallowed to myself as I noticed bits of hair starting to show and then finally…
His eyes.  Dark blue eyes settled on my frame, widening with interest as they danced around my body.  I felt dizzy.  He was gorgeous.  
"Is…is that really you?" He whispered.
I stared.