Pretty

He was well enough physically.

But on other levels, Leo didn't feel near stable enough to leave his apartment. Not for a few days.

Three days, in fact. Three days of missing classes, and calling out of work by convincing his boss that he was sick. It didn't take a lot of effort honestly, and his boss was more concerned and sad than he was disappointed.

The only lucky break. His part-time job performing at that café was his only lucky break.

But he didn't feel up to it. Not now, after his secret had been revealed to a small group of people, who he knew would spread their discovery to other ears.

Just like what had happened in high school.

It was around twelve p.m. now, and Leo had himself bundled up in a coat of blankets, sitting in front of the tv screen, starving from having skipped meals for the past twenty-four hours at least. SpongeBob Squarepants reruns were all he had to get him through now. Until he could find the will to leave his apartment again.

Pulling his blankets closer to his chest, Leonardo suddenly heard his phone buzz several times from notifications. If he hadn't set the device on the coffee table from where he could see who had texted him, he probably wouldn't have bothered to pick it up.

But it was Noah. And Leo couldn't live with the guilt of ignoring his only friend.

His hand emerged from the blanket coat and latched onto the phone, slowly drawing it in towards himself like catching a fish with a rod.

+

You have 4 messages from Noah_bored

+

Noah_bored

hey leo hows it going

you haven't texted me in a couple days...

don't make me worried about u, leonardo, i have a job i need to manage

how's my best friend doing on this horrible planet?

+

He could already feel himself on the verge of tears. "I miss you, Noah..." Leonardo whispered in a broken tone. "Why couldn't you come to Indianapolis with me?"

Truthfully, he didn't wish that upon Noah. Although he would have absolutely loved to go to college with his best and only friend, to have Noah, his guardian angel, with him at every turn, to comfort him when hell sunk deeper, he knew that Noah had always wanted to become a part of the official cooking staff at his family's restaurant.

Rightfully so. The man had a talent in the kitchen.

Which reminded Leo of his food deficiency at the moment. Noah would kill me for this.Fighting back tears, he urged himself to reply to the messages.

+

Leo.nardo

i'm not good noah

but please don't worry, i know you're a busy man ;-;

+

Noah_bored

i could never be too busy for u leonardo

what's wrong? bad day? not feeling well?

+

Leo.nardo

i don't wanna say, noah...

+

Noah_bored

well i won't force u...

whatever it is, take it easy okay?

as soon as i get a vacation i'll make a trip to see u

+

Leo.nardo

i'd love that 🙁

+

Noah_bored

as would i

as much as i love my job, my sister drives me crazy

still love her tho

but i miss your smiles leonardo

+

Leo.nardo

miss yours too...

+

Noah_bored

[Attachment: 1 image]

+

Leo.nardo

...there's no photo

u literally just typed "attachment: 1 image"

+

Noah_bored

the image shall appear once u send ur smile

+

Leo.nardo

why must u do this to me... (; _ ; )

[Attachment: 1 image]

this is the best i can do right now

noah...please...

i just need something to get me thru the day...

+

Noah_bored

say no more

[Attachment: 1 image]

hang in there leo

the world's got nothing on u that i can't beat with my bare knuckles

+

Leo.nardo

thank you noah...

+

Noah_bored

i'll talk to you later okay?

take care

+

Leo.nardo

bye...

+

It took more strength to set his phone down than to pick it up. If it weren't for Noah, Leonardo truly believed he would never have survived high school. And now he was beginning to feel that he would die before he could achieve his degree.

It wasn't even this specific university that made Leo leave Seattle—it was his paranoia, his reputation in Seattle that gave him that push to attend college away from home.

To get away from people who knew him. Who knew his bizarre secret, who knew of his harrowing fear of going to the hospital because of what he might discover about himself.

For that reason, Leonardo believed he had made people even more wary of him.

Halfway through the tenth SpongeBob episode that day, Leo heard a knock on the door. He sighed deeply. "No one's home," he called out loud, at least how much his voice could manage.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll leave this outside for you then."

Again, that familiar voice. Savannah. "G-...go away."

"Oh, so someone is home??"

"No."

"Oh, okay..."

Leo remained quiet for a time. He listened, simultaneously lowering the volume on the tv, to check if he could still hear anyone outside. He heard footsteps that sounded to be walking away from the door.

Slowly, Leo rose from the couch, still holding on to his blankets. And after several long seconds of staring at the doorknob, he eventually opened the door.

There was a basket on the floor. From his current standpoint, Leo could see that it was full with fruit, packaged meats, some snacks, and poking out of its back was a stack of papers that looked like they could be homework assignments. Stunned by the sight of it all, Leonardo hesitated to reach out to pick up the basket.

"Ah, Leonardo—"

He jumped. The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, when in reality it had merely come from a short distance. Savannah came walking up to him with her hands outstretched. Leo dropped the basket and darted inside.

"Leonardo, wait, at least take it with you—"

He heard Savannah release a heavy sigh.

"You've missed a couple days," the girl said softly, but loud enough so that Leo could still make out the words. "I took some notes for you, and the professor said we're going to have another assignment coming up so it's...you know, it's probably better if you're caught up or whatever..."

He stayed still. He couldn't open the door while that girl was still there. I can't let her behaviour from yesterday fool me. She's a stalker. That's the only explanation.

So he waited. He waited, and for a few seconds it appeared as though no sound, not even breathing, could be heard on the other side of the door. Leonardo prepared to open the door again.

"Please, Leo."

He froze.

"Please don't do this to yourself forever."

It was then that Leo heard footsteps again, once again departing from right outside the door. This time, he heard them begin to go down the stairs, so he saw it safe to check outside. Savannah was there. Those footsteps he heard belonged to one of his neighbours.

Evidently, by the look of shock in the girl's eyes, she hadn't expected the door to be opened while she was still there. But she was also relieved, because she didn't realise the only reason it had been opened was because Leonardo thought that she was gone.

"Leo, have you not left your apartment at all?"

The boy in question could only stare. To unexpectedly discover Savannah at his doorstep several times mere days apart wasn't something he could mentally handle at this point. "I haven't," he said, in his tired gravelly voice. Savannah noticed the blankets tightly wrapped around the boy's entire body.

"...have you eaten?"

"...yesterday morning."

"It's 3 p.m."

Offended in some strange regard, Leo's nose twitched, and he glared down at the assorted basket, still at his feet. "Don't tell me this is yours."

"Well, it's from me," Savannah said as she glanced at the basket. "But it's...yours. I kinda had a suspicion that you might not be eating well. Overeating or undereating...it's usually one of those when someone locks themselves away.""

...I'm not giving you a blood sample to study."

"I-...I'm sorry?"

Leo hadn't been entirely serious when he said this‌—it had been the first cold, defensive remark that came to his mind so he just let it out. But perhaps it hadn't been the right thing to say, he considered, right before snatching the basket and slamming the door in Savannah's face.

He didn't counter by apologizing or saying 'I'm just kidding' though—after all, Leonardo wasn't foolish enough to fully trust anyone too quickly, especially someone who knew about his 'condition'.

He heard Savannah let out another sigh.

"You can call me if you need anything. I'll be going now. Please come back to class soon, Leonardo."

Leo furrowed his brow at the first comment that the girl had made. Acting on a not-so-far-fetched idea, he took out the papers from the basket and discovered a sticky note attached to one corner.

PLEASE DON'T BE SCARED

I KNOW YOU MIGHT NOT TRUST ME

BUT I PROMISE I ONLY WANT TO HELP YOU, LEO.

I WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND.

I WROTE MY NUMBER ON THE BACK OF THIS NOTE

IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK BUT DON'T WANNA

TALK FACE TO FACE.

Reluctantly, he flipped the note over. Surely enough, the girl had written her phone number there. In purple ink. As was the small note beneath it.

IT'S THE PRETTIEST COLOUR.

THE COLOUR OF ROYALTY.

👑

It troubled him. Those words. Because Leo had grown to despise the colour, the mere sight of purple, all because of his blood. He made sure that nothing in his apartment had the same colour—none of his clothes, nothing. But truly, his strong feeling of self-loathe was the only reason for it.

"The prettiest colour..."

He wanted to scoff at it. He wanted to crumple the paper and throw it away, but he couldn't.

"It's not pretty...there's nothing pretty about it..."

His throat tightened, his hands started to shake.

"Savannah, you're a fool..."