There's an anchor round my heart, dragging me down

[phantastus]

WHO: James Sunderland, Laura (Silent Hill) and Harmony Cello (OC)
WHERE: On the road.
WHEN: Gravityverse, November.
WHAT: Lost people have a way of finding each other.
RATING: Probably PG.




The first snowflakes of the year were drifting down.

There was a time in his life when he would have been excited about that-- which was a very long time ago.

More recently was the time when he would have regarded it with apathy. Aside from being reminded that he might need to put on a coat, for the past three years, snow hadn't evoked much emotion in him.

But that was gone, too.

Now the sight instilled a flutter of dread in his stomach.


"JAMES! Hurry up, I'm cold!" came Laura's impatient shout from the car door.


"I'm trying, Laura," he muttered through gritted teeth, plunging his head back into the open hood of the car and reaching for the wrench again.

It had stalled on them for the third time this week, and he was starting to get worried.

Comments

[brighteyed]

The angel nodded grimly. Oh, he knew. He reached up and rubbed his neck, swallowing as he did so. He'd seen...so many mutilated barbies in his day.

"Suppose I should find somewhere to hide for the night." He glanced up at that accursed, sticky cup and suppressed a shudder. He wasn't going back in there, that was for sure!

[nineredsquares]

"Yeah... um..."

He rubbed his neck with a scratchy sound-- hadn't shaved in awhile-- and looked around. There wasn't much in here. They rarely unpacked when they bunkered down for the night, beyond basic toiletries and some snacks.

And on top of that, they had to think of something that Laura wouldn't mess with and discover unwittingly.

"... Hm... hang on a sec."

Getting to his feet, he lumbered out of the room.

[brighteyed]

Harmony fluttered aside to let James pass and dared to follow him as far as the door frame to lean around and get a better idea of where they were staying. He took in every side table, every dresser, ever electrical outlet his eyes passed over.

You always had to be ready to use anything as a shelter when you were only six inches tall.

[nineredsquares]

The motel room was dark-- a vague lump on one of the two beds was probably where the little girl who accompanied James was, blessedly asleep and unable to pop any heads off of small creatures.

A television at against one wall, still popping quietly as it wound down.

At the far bed, James stood hunched over, fishing through a duffel bag for something. After a couple minutes of shifting its contents around, he seemingly found what he was looking for and started to head back over, literally tiptoeing past the bed where Laura slept.

Edging back into the bathroom, keeping his feet far from the tiny angel as though afraid that he'd somehow step on him even while looking straight at him. He shut the door as quietly as he could before sitting back down on the toilet and holding up what he'd found.

It was a sock.

"I leave these lying on the floor all the time and Laura never touches them. I... figure maybe I could just put this one on the other side of the bed and it could... I don't know, it's kind of like a ... a sleeping bag."

... It had sounded like a good plan in his head but now that the words were coming out of his mouth, it was getting stupider. He looked at Harmony a little sheepishly, as though worried the angel might be offended by the suggestion that he should sleep in a piece of footwear.

"... It's clean, I promise."

[brighteyed]

The feathers on his shoulders prickled when he spotted the lump that was Laura among all the good hiding places the room had to offer. He wondered if he was judging the kid too hardly. They hadn't technically met. Maybe...maybe if he did slip up and get found out, the girl would be enchanted by him the way other small girls are with things like Tinkerbell...

Oh, Harmony.

When James returned, the little angel was quick to get out of his way. When the man presented the sleeping back, part of Harmony's insides crawled. FEET HAD BEEN IN THAT. GIANT HORRIBLE SWEATY FEET. NO. His eyes briefly flickered to the man's boots and then back to his face. Oh, God. Harmony was a king, damn it, and kings kept their composure. He drew himself up and thanked his host for such a generous offer. He had to be thankful.

"That will be perfect. Thank you."

[nineredsquares]

HE'S DOING HIS BEST HARMONY GOSH.

Even though the tiny angel managed to avoid going into histrionics, James seemed to be aware of the lameness of his offering.

He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"... Sorry there isn't much else..."

[brighteyed]

YOUR BEST IS GROSS, SUNDERLAND.

"That will be absolutely fine." Harmony put his game face back on. He wouldn't be with them much longer, right? He'd survive. "Sooner to bed, sooner to rise!"

[nineredsquares]

8( HE TRIED.

Another shaky grin pulled across the green-coated man's face.

"Heh, yeah... uh, good idea. Um... c'mon."

He lowered his hand. It would be rude to make Harmony WALK all the way over to the bed! That was like... a mile to someone so small. :(

[brighteyed]

Harmony drew himself up to his full height and marched aboard. It was sort of nice having a flat hand offered so generously. In his ears of advising he'd been picked up by his wings, his coat collar, his head, his leg, his shorts.

This James was already a vast improvement over his James.

There would be no further grumbling or questions from Harmony that night. They no doubt had a long day tomorrow and if the angel had his way, he would not be spending it in an old soda cup! He was going to have some decisions to make!

[nineredsquares]

Once the little man was safely standing in his palm, James stood the rest of the way up-- slowly-- and started to head back into the other room.

He tiptoed past Laura's bed and over to his own-- gently depositing Harmony and the improvised sleeping bag on the opposite side of it. He didn't think Laura would pay even the slightest bit of attention to a sock on the floor, but just in case he was feeling like it'd still be a good idea for it to be relatively out of sight.

"We, uh, don't really have a set time we get up, but... um... want me to leave out some food?"

What did tiny angel people eat?

... Did they even NEED to eat?

Maybe they ate sunshine and fairy dust or something.

[brighteyed]

He hopped back to the carpeted earth and shook out his new sleeping bag. The angel peered inside experimentally and when he saw no minute creepy crawlies he slapped it down to the floor and started the awkward business of trying to wriggle inside, wings and all.

"I'm mostly just tired...but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to breakfast."

Once he was laying down, Harmony snatched his halo out of the air and tucked it down into his bag so that he didn't make any light.

"Good night, Other James...and thank you."

He ached all over. Anyone who'd ridden most of it in a smelly old van and then the rest of it crammed into a cup would too. He'd fully planned on laying awake and fretting and staring at the electrical outlet across from him but in no time at all he had fallen fast asleep, completely exhausted.

[nineredsquares]

All things considered, it was in fact a very clean sock for someone who was homeless.

Harmony, you should totally be grateful.

"All right... and you're welcome."

James stood for a moment, before realizing that there really was no way to clear the air and dispel the general awkwardness of a tiny winged man sleeping on the floor in one of his socks, so he just cleared his throat and headed around to the other side of the bed. There was some general rustling as he sat down and pulled the covers over himself... and then silence.

The rest of the night passed without any major event.

[brighteyed]

For the fist few hours, exhaustion let Harmony sleep dreamlessly. Then the strangeness that followed James like a raincloud started to seep in. The little conscience was out in the open without any protection beyond a sock. He felt cold. His dreams slowly filled with cramped, wet, creaking halls that were unfamiliar to him.

Harmony almost always knew what he was having nightmares about. It wasn't like he had any shortage of material stowed away in the back of his mind--waiting for him if he were to ever blip home. He wandered these halls with a morbid curiosity but worry soon overtook him. There was a feeling that was starting to weigh down on him and make his feathers prickle. It was that awkward feeling you got when you were visiting a friend when you were little and they got in trouble with their parents.

It was light when the little king woke up but he never remembered opening his eyes. He simply became aware that there was light and that his feathers were still standing on end.

"Ugh."

[nineredsquares]

The first thing Harmony would notice was that the television was on.

Not that he could see it from where his little sock-sleeping bag was, but the sounds of Saturday morning cartoons were loud and clear.

It was an old Powerpuff Girls episode being rerun, by the sounds of it-- and ALSO by the sounds of it (aka the dull snoring coming from directly above him), James was not the one watching.

[brighteyed]

Harmony shook all over and fetched his halo out of his sleepingsock. He balenced it on its orbit and sat up, stretching his wings. They creaked a little but finally the one he'd injured could unfold all the way without sending horrible stabs of pain into his spine. He gave them both a soft flap before letting them fall limp.

"Let's get 'em, girls!" came from the television as Blossom led the charge against evil.

Harmony's feathers, which had only just started to smooth out, stood on end again. That did not sound like a program that the man who rescued him from death by exposure would watch. He only had to duck a little to walk under the bed to the edge nearest the television. He peered out cautiously. Maybe the girl was still in bed. Maybe they had watched something else late last night and it swapped over to cartoons for the morning.

[nineredsquares]

Harm, do YOU remember the TV being on last night?

PROBABLY NOT CUZ IT WASN'T.

From his new vantage point, he had a very nice view of the girls pummeling an equally-brightly-colored villain on the screen of a small TV set on the dresser-- and he also had a good view of a pair of skinny little legs merrily kicking away over the edge of the second bed.

Laura was awake, all right.

[brighteyed]

Oh, no...

Harmony withdrew out of sight. So the girl was up. He had to be quiet--perfectly quiet until James got up. He crept back toward his sock and dragged it under the bed with him for good measure.

And so he waited. And waited. Harmony hunkered under the bed cocooned in the sock and tried to ignore his growling stomach. There was no hope for him going back to sleep to wait it out and if he dozed off under the bed he might get left behind.

No doubt the poor man was quietly hoping he'd turn out to be a hallucination. His James often did.

[nineredsquares]

... Yeah.

Yeah, truth be told, he totally wanted Harmony to turn out to be a hallucination.

If he was real? That said some things about the state of things that James didn't want to deal with. Not that he wanted to be crazy-- but he was already crazy. He'd rather be crazy without also having to think about supernatural things seeping into his life again.

But hoping that the tiny winged dude under your bed would disappear was a good excuse to stay in bed, so he was sleeping in a little longer than normal.

... A little, because there was only so long he could get away with it.

After a time, there was a huff from the general region of Laura's bed. Then a creak of the mattress springs, and a pitter-patter as she got down from the bed and trotted over to James's.

"James. JAMES. JAMES. Wake UP."

[brighteyed]

Yes, James, James, please wake up! Harmony was startled out of his groggy worry cycle by the shouting and looked at the bottom of the boxsprings. He swallowed.

Harmony had put quite a bit of trust in this tall, moose-like individual. He had to depend on the mercy (and intelligence) of this man to get him to where he needed to go in one piece.

How was James going to distract the tiny destroying angel?

[nineredsquares]

The man in the bed above let out a moan, and the mattress groaned right along with him as he started to turn over.

"All right... all right... m'up..."

"No, you're not, your eyes are still shut! You're gonna fall back asleep!"

There followed a series of thumps and a grunt from James. He sat up.

"OKAY... okay..."

A pair of feet appeared as he swung his legs off the bed.

[brighteyed]

Harmony had to do something. He had to make himself known. He might not get another chance! James might not go looking for the sock that was no longer by his bed and as a tiny person, he was painfully aware of how unobservant Big People could be. The angel rushed forward.

He gave one of James's rough heels a sort of punch-something that couldn't be shrugged off as the pins and needles of sleep or something like a fallen blanket corner.

[nineredsquares]

Saying that it hurt would be an exaggeration, but it was certainly a surprise.

He let out a quiet "Ah!" and yanked his foot up again.

8( WELLP there went his hopes of that whole thing yesterday being a really weird hallucination.

Fortunately for Harmony, either Laura didn't notice or she just didn't care when James seemed to hurt himself doing things as simple as putting his feet on the floor.

"If we don't go get breakfast soon, I'll probably starve," she said, glaring pointedly at him.

[brighteyed]

And so Harmony waited again. As the girl spoke, it was only reaffirmed that she was the one in charge. She was the one he was going to have to watch out for. He entertained the idea of some little girl trying to boss his James around and let out a dry chuckle.

Then he clapped his hands over his mouth because shit.

The angel swallowed and ducked further back into the darkness of the underbed. Thank goodness it was just an underbed and not The Underbed.

[nineredsquares]

"Okay, okay... if you wanna head out to the car, I'll just uh... be right behind you..."

"Well HURRY UP! HMPH!"

She turned and flounced off towards the door. One benefit to her loud mouth was the fact that tiny sounds didn't carry too well over her voice.

James waited until she was gone, then let out a wheezy sigh of relief and slowly leaned over to peer under the bed.

8( Oh.

"... Uh... a-are you okay under there?"

[brighteyed]

A burst of feathers hit James full in the face.

Harmony couldn't help it. He'd been sitting cool (though weary) and collected there in the darkness, but as soon as a huge human face loomed into view, his wiring took over. He was a shoulder angel. He belonged on a shoulder.

Using one of James's big jug handle ears, Harmony took his post atop the man's shoulder. Harmony tried to make as small a show as possible out of smoothing them back down--he'd surprised himself.

This was probably the longest he'd been away from his charge--and the furthest--not that he thought about it. He had to guide somebody.

"Sorry about that..."