A Borrower's Anthology

Feather & Smile

There are some things too light to even exist, that could be blown in just a breeze. They call it fleeting.

...

Philip had a tendency to treat the borrowers as though they were made of fresh glass. It wouldn't have bothered Darius, if not for the way Philip's judgmental stare had landed on him.

Fragility wasn't exactly special. Plenty of things were. Humans were fragile enough, what with their breakable bones, quick-to-change feelings, their gentle mentalities. It varied from person to person because there were just too many factors to account for, but one thing about borrowers remained steadfast, no matter whether it was Nicholas or Michelle. Resilient and muscular from their treks through the day and night aside, one quick squeeze and Darius would have been able to stop them from breathing.

When he had held Nicholas for the first time, he hadn't pondered long on the sensation other than that it had felt nice--like holding a tiny mouse with thoughts and feelings it'd express at a moment's notice. Then, as any real mouse, he had multiplied, split himself into two separate individuals and produced 'Michelle'. With more excuse to touch and prod at another borrower, Darius had seen their dual, growing confidence as a means to make a handful of them. Baffling to him, once he'd done it one time, he had the urge to do it again. And again.

Was it because they were tiny people that made the urge that much more addicting? That definitely played a big role. After all, how many other humans in the world could say they'd done that? Other than Philip, but he supposed it would have only been a matter of time before his elder brother had poked his nose into Darius' affairs, try as he would have to have kept them a secret for however long he could have. Aside from Philip though, it was difficult to imagine another situation as unique as his own in the neighborhood--hell, even in the state.

They were fiddling around with music sheets one night when Darius had asked Nick about others like him. They'd been in the company of Philip and Michelle too considering it had been Philip's room he had infiltrated. Something about more space and less attention drawn to them. Those two had their own private conversation atop Philip's desk, however, while Darius had parked his rear with Nick and his guitar on the floor.

"Michelle and her parents were the first other borrowers we'd met in a long time," Nick had told him. "So I'm sure there are others out there some where. We just haven't met them. Where do you start, after all, but hoping you'll maybe come across some in someone else's house? And what after? A whole lot of you might increase the risk."

"It's hard to say if any have ever met humans like we have," Michelle chimed in. "It's always just been a rule you don't."

From the way Nick had explained, borrowers were as elusive to one another as they were to their landlords, and Darius had trouble imagining an existence where he would have had to hide even from his own kind out of sheer self-preservation. In a way, it was similar to being a spy set out to infiltrate another country; no one could know of the mission, despite how trusted an individual was to said-spy. The threat of discovery would have been far too imminent. Yet if Michelle and Nick had tossed their faith in them, what happened to the other borrowers that may have been in their shared predicament? Neither of the two'd had positive predictions.

No, it wasn't just their physical size against his own, where both Nick and Michelle barely reached his middle finger. The entirety of their existence was delicate, hanging on the whims of humanity. To have another person in his hand, to know that their wellbeing could have been dependent on his mood should he have willed it, was magical, overwhelming, terrifying.

And also insane. Darius would admit that.

.....

There always came a knock and a tap of wood settling against wood, like a door once it'd been opened wide enough to collide with the wall, that alerted Darius to a borrower. He supposed it served not startle either him or Philip. Whatever they deemed as loud to them was not always heard by he or his brother. A quick glance out of his periphery revealed a crop of hair that was a dusty blonde instead of blue. Darius turned his eyes back to his desktop monitor.