Author’s Note: There’s a saying about dogs…
“You look like a fellow with women troubles.”
He frowned, looking up at the man with his dog. He should have gone further than the park, but he did not know where to go and could not convince himself to leave the planet. He wanted to be close to Luna and her books and her theories. She had helped him, and she would keep helping him despite everything that he was. “How can such a thing be possible or even so obvious?”
“Nine times out of ten, when a guy looks like you do, it’s because he’s got trouble with his girl. It’s just something that seems to hold true no matter what. You look like you’ve had a bad fight with yours.”
“Luna is not mine. She is a friend, or so she calls herself. She is… kind but does not understand what she is doing. I cannot be around her. All I’ll do is hurt her. I don’t want to hurt her.” He moved away from the man. “Please do not let your dog come any closer. I will kill it.”
“Excuse me? What did the dog do to you?”
“Nothing, but I am not able to control what happens when I am touched. That is why I would hurt Luna and why your dog would be dead. I am trying to be fair and warn you—do not let it sniff me—stop following me, you foolish creature. I am not something you want to investigate.” He jumped back, trying to avoid the animal. He had no desire to hurt it, but if he did not get away from it now, he would. “Get it away from me.”
The man pulled on the leash, dragging the dog back. The animal whined at him, but he shook his head. “Some people just don’t like dogs, you know. You don’t want to be around them.”
“That is an erroneous statement. It is not that I despise the animals. I cannot help their curiosity, though, and they always seem to think that I should be touched.” He reached behind him and picked up a handful of grass, letting the hunger take it before directing it back at himself.
“Damn.”
“That could have been your dog.”
“Why would you do that? That’s some kind of… magic trick, right?”
“No. That happens to everything I touch.”
“You were sitting on the grass just fine.”
“That is different. I do not know why. Luna wanted to figure it out, but all I did was destroy her book and scare her.”
The man knelt down next to his dog, wrapping his arms around the animal. “I think you should figure it out. It has to suck not being able to touch anything—especially her.”
He frowned. “No one said I wanted to touch her. I did, by accident, and I somehow didn’t hurt her, but that is not something I will ever do again. It is too dangerous, and I have tried not to hurt anyone ever since I knew what I could do. I have done terrible things, and I cannot allow myself to be that monster again.”
The man nodded. “Still, seems to me your girlfriend is right. If you could figure out what makes it so you can walk or sit on the ground and not die, then maybe you can find a way to touch things. You already touched her once without hurting her, so maybe she’s the key to figuring it out. Maybe it’s because you do want to touch her that you can.”
“I was pointing at her art, not trying to take her hand.”
“Maybe that’s it. You weren’t trying to touch her, but you wanted to, so it happened and didn’t hurt anyone. That could be what you need. I think you need to let her help you.”
“Why do you even care? You don’t know me, you don’t know what I am, and you should be afraid of me. The advanced species of the universe hate and fear my kind. Why are you humans so stubborn and foolish?” The dog barked. He glared at it. That creature should be afraid as well.
“Maybe those ‘advanced’ species you’re talking about never bothered to try understanding what you are instead of hating it. This world could teach them a lot about that—and I’m not saying that we should be proud of it—but we have a long, ugly history of prejudice and discrimination on this planet. We’ve fought wars and more wars because of the color of someone’s skin or the race they belong to or even their religious faith. We fear what we do not understand. That’s the real problem.”
“You do not understand me. Luna does not understand me. Yet, neither of you fear me.”
The man shrugged. “Maybe all you need is someone with an open mind. Sounds like you’ve already found that person. Go back to her, apologize, and stay with her until you have it all figured out. It has to be worth trying.”
“Luna is my friend.”
“That means she’ll help you. That’s what friends do.”
“She is my only friend. I cannot let anything harm her, especially since the greatest threat to her is me. I cannot go back to her.”
“You won’t keep many friends if you run away from them. You know why they call a dog man’s best friend? This guy always wants to be by my side. He’ll protect me, watch over me, help me, and play with me. All important qualities in a friend, I think. You’re not being a friend to her if all you do is run for her protection. She won’t think much of that when what she wants is for you to stay.”
He sighed. “I still do not understand friendship.”
Yeah you do. You just don’t want to. :hugs him virtually: You can throw a hug you know. 😉
He could use a lot of virtual hugs, yes, that’s it.
He can’t reconcile caring and friendship with what he is and what he’s done. So he can’t understand it, even if he should after what Luna’s showed him.
Oh, I think he understands it more than he knows. He understands that being a friend for her means doing what he thinks is best for her, even if she doesn’t like it. He’s willingly or unwittingly ignoring that that also means her being a friend to him means doing what she thinks is best, even if he doesn’t like it. 🙂
Yes, typical uneven relationship there. It’s only what he’s doing for her that’s right, not what she wants to do for him. So if he needs to stay away to protect her when she wants him to stay and work through his control issues, that’s what he thinks he should do.