The Follow-Up

Landon hadn’t seen Katherine in a few weeks, so they decided to pay her a visit. They weren’t particularly hungry right now, but they were a little curious about how well she was getting along with her parents. Besides, they wanted a new pair of crochet hooks and Katherine had mentioned that she had some money saved up. They usually preferred food or supplies themselves over money, but if they could get Katherine to pay them that would be just fine.

Every electronic device was connected to each other on a multilayered map of radio, sound and light, and Landon cruised through it with ease. It was like a giant cardiovascular system: there were the broader noise-textured veins that took him across counties and states, and there were the capillaries that let him peer into neighborhoods and homes. Landon cruised along to Katherine’s house in eastern Tennessee and arrived at the end of a capillary in her kitchen, the telephone. It looked like he was nestled up in the wires of a phone speaker that floated through a vast, static-y void. He couldn’t see what was on the other side of the plastic phone, but he could hear perfectly. He listened in to the kitchen for a few minutes, but it sounded empty. He hopped up to a path above him, a TV screen in a girl’s room. Now he could see walls that were painted a peachy orange and a neatly-made bed. There was a desk was covered in textbooks and papers and a pink digital alarm clock that looked like it would be fun to hide in. Katherine sat at the foot of the bed, smelling even more sad than the first time they’d met. She was staring at the ground and twirling some of her long curls with her finger.

Landon oozed out of the TV, causing Katherine to shriek and shield her face with her hands. “I don’t have anything for you to fix! Please leave me alone!”

Landon smiled and sat down next to her. “Hey, don’t worry about all of that. I’m just here to say hi. How’s everything going?”

“How does it look like it’s going?!” Katherine yelled. “I’m feeling miserable and you’re going to make it worse!”

Katherine did indeed smell miserable, like a plate of stale brownies that had fallen to the ground. “Why do you feel so upset?”

“There’s no point in telling you. You’re probably gonna ignore it and try to eat me!”

“I don’t eat people, I feed on them; there’s a difference. And I wouldn’t ignore you either. I came because I wanted to know how you’re doing with your parents,”

Landon clarified. They decided to focus on getting new crochet hooks later. Talking to Katherine felt more important right now.

“What? Really?” Katherine nervously peeked from between her fingers.

Landon grinned wider, showing as many teeth as possible to show that he meant it. “Yeah, really. I like it when my food has variation, so it’d be nice if you experienced emotions besides sadness when I visit you. … Oh, and humans stop functioning properly if they don’t have good relationships. We don’t want that to happen, right?”

Katherine began to pick at her shirt sleeve’s hem, but stopped herself when she caught Landon staring at it. “Fine. But only because I need to get this stuff off my chest, anyway. I talked to my parents and they said they’re too busy to take time off, but that we can hang out more on the weekends. We’re going to a nice restaurant on Saturday.”

“That’s great. If I had parents I’d want to eat out with them too,” Landon said sincerely. “But you’re still upset. There’s something more going on, right?”

Katherine’s eyes had already been wet, but now she broke down into tears. “It’s a bunch of stupid high school drama! You wouldn’t get it!”

Landon pulled a pack of tissues out of its leather jacket pocket and offered them to Katherine. “Maybe not, but you can enlighten me. I don’t want you to feel sad right now, okay? You’ll feel a lot better if you tell me. I won’t judge.”

Katherine snatched a tissue and wiped her eyes. “Ugh. When you met me I was upset over this boy I had a crush on. I thought he’d just forgotten about me, but today he and friends wrote a bunch of mean notes about me and stuffed them in my locker. At first he seemed really nice, but he called me ugly and stupid and too dark for the school and…” Too distraught to finish her sentence, Katherine clung onto Landon and sobbed into their arm.

Hugs were normally something Landon only watched on TV, but now seemed like a good time to give one. They turned to face Katherine and awkwardly wrapped their slender arms around her, patting her on the back. “That must have sucked a lot.”

Katherine eked out an “It was horrible!” between sobs. She clung onto Landon for a few more minutes, until her tears had mostly ran out. “I’m so sorry. I dumped all this drama onto you and I even got tears on your shirt.”

“Don’t worry about it; you needed to get all of this out. Hey, let me tell you something.”

“Hmm?

Landon let go of Katherine and looked her in the eye. “Everything they said is subjective. You look great to me, and you can’t be stupid if you’re in school.”

Katherine rolled her eyes. “It’s a public school. They let anyone go there; the bar isn’t that high. Half of my grades suck, anyway.”

“I’ve never set foot inside a school, yet here I am,” Landon countered. “Do I look stupid to you?”

Katherine looked reluctant to answer. “I guess not? It’s hard to tell because you’re so weird and we haven’t talked much.”

Katherine felt more tense after saying that, so Landon raised his hands in innocence to indicate he wasn’t offended. “Well, I taught myself how to read, speak, and tailor after spending a few years as an insentient blob. You’ve gotta be at least a little smart to do that, right? Going to school doesn’t determine how smart someone is. It’s about what’s already in here.” He poked Katherine on the forehead.

“Thanks… But what about the ‘too dark’ thing? I’m one of the only black people in the school, so it feels like—”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Landon declared. “You know, brown is my favorite color because it’s the color of human skin. And some other things, obviously, but I like it mainly because of the skin. Humans are such a wonderful species, you know? You all taste delicious, your technology is the reason I spawned, your fashion sense is great — and most of you have brown skin. It’s like that color, and by extension you, represent the entire human race. So I don’t think you’re too dark at all. I think the people who said that are too light, yeah?”

Katherine looked like she was about to cry again, but with tears of joy this time. Her scent shifted into a fresh plate of brownies, a little bitter yet warm and rich.

“The way you worded that was so creepy, but you’re right! I never thought about it like that. I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but… You’re really kind, Landon.”

Landon placed a hand on Katherine’s shoulder. “I’m just doing my job. Even I don’t like dealing with unhappy customers twenty-four-seven.”

Katherine nodded and cautiously looked between Landon’s face and his hand. “Aren’t you going to feed on me? Have you started already?”

“Nah, I’m not doing that today.” Landon casually waved her question away. “Like I said before, my feeding is only a temporary fix. You were bound to feel upset again sooner or later, and you have to work through it on your own. It’s no fun for either of us if you keep relying on me to take your feelings away, especially since you’re so young.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Katherine paused for a moment before asking, “Who helps you with your emotions?”

That question gave Landon pause. It wasn’t something they’d thought about before. “No one, really. I pick stuff up from TV, radio, and the humans I observe, but that’s about it. I’m not complaining, though. I don’t really have emotional issues.”

“Lucky,” Katherine muttered. “Um, there’s a lot of stuff I still find really creepy about you, but you’re also really nice in some ways. So, if there is some kind of emotional problem you think I could help with, then I guess you could visit and ask me about it.”

Landon automatically gurgled, a noise that made Katherine jump in surprise. “It means I’m excited. I accept your offer,” they explained. They were about to add that Katherine was the first human to ever tell them something like that, but suddenly they heard the sound of a creaking door and voices coming from downstairs; Katherine’s parents were home.

Katherine jumped to her feet and lightly pushed Landon towards the TV, whispering urgently, “Go! I’m not letting them know you exist!”

“Relax, they won’t. I’ll catch you later, Katherine.” Landon waved goodbye and placed a hand on the TV screen. His human form melted away and he re-entered the intangible world of radio waves.