Void

Eliane Ishaan did not adhere to the laws of science, and because her parents, Morine and Isaac, lived by those laws, she was expected to conform to them as best she could. When Eliane was scared, sudden bursts of wind appeared; when she was sad, clouds formed, and rain began drizzling down.

Morine and Isaac, though they loved their daughter dearly, were also afraid for her. They taught Eliane how to live life without feeling anything, and by the age of thirteen, not feeling anything became easy. Eliane could stub her toe and wouldn’t feel pain, the pain was there, but she didn’t feel it.

Eliane was homeschooled and was intelligent beyond her years. She hadn’t reacted to anything since she was thirteen years old, and her parents praised her for it. At first, they’d been careful not to interact with her too much, lest that loosen the somewhat unsure hold she’d had on her emotions, but now? Now someone could kiss her on the mouth, and she would just stand there, wait for them to stop, and walk away. 

Eliane was twenty now and currently starting her second semester of her second year at Oxford. She was an Epidemiology major, which was the study of diseases and disorders.

Eliane took a seat in the middle of the second row on the left of the lecture hall. The hall slowly filled with students from all different majors, seeing as Behavioral Science was a common course for a wide variety of majors.

Someone took the seat to her left. Eliane didn’t turn to look their way, she just stared straight at the large projector screen at the front of the room, and Professor Walton who walked to sit at his desk and began arranging his belongings. He wore spectacles that sat low on his nose and didn’t smile or greet them before starting class. 

“Hello, nice to finally see you in person.” He didn’t bother standing as he spoke, didn’t bother looking at them either. He was focused on pulling something up on his computer and connecting it to the projector. “I know this is a big change from the virtual classes you’ve been attending these past two weeks but being face-to-face with one another is necessary for the group work you’ll be undertaking.

“This group project counts for fifty percent of your final grade, so work hard, and don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.” He pulled up a PowerPoint, on it, were the instructions for their project. “You and your partner must choose a human behavior you find interesting and investigate it. You will submit a paper detailing your research, process, study, and findings."

“I’ll let you have the rest of class to choose a partner and get thinking. Now is the best time to ask questions, if you have any, but also feel free to email me, or visit during office hours.” 

The person on her left tapped her shoulder. She turned to face them.

“Want to be my partner?” A man sat beside her. The first things she noticed about him were his thick blonde curls, rectangular, steel rimmed glasses, and perfect teeth. His eyes were a deep blue, and he had a smattering of freckles on his sun kissed cheeks. He was well dressed in brown leather loafers and matching slacks with a white undershirt peeking out from beneath a slightly unbuttoned burnt orange button down. His accessories included a gold buckled belt, a steel ring on the index finger of his right hand, and a classy watch on his left wrist. The angles of his face were sharp, his nose perfectly shaped. He sat in his chair in a way that alluded to self-confidence, or perhaps arrogance, if the grin he gave her was any indication of his character. 

“Sure,” she said automatically. She didn’t care who her partner was, just so long as they didn’t prohibit her from performing well on this project.

He held out a hand. “I’m Aaron.”

“Eliane.”

Eliane’s Behavioral Science class was twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. So, every Monday and Wednesday for the next two weeks Eliane and Aaron worked on their project. They’d chosen to investigate the behaviors of highschoolers. Their goal was to examine and understand the difference between the ways highschoolers acted around their friends vs. with adults. 

Eliane had come up with the idea, of course, but Aaron hadn’t seemed to mind. In fact, unlike most other people at Oxford, he didn’t seem put out by her lack of reaction to… well, anything. He seemed set on breaking her. Every day for the first five minutes of class he would ask her questions about herself. The first day, she ignored him. The second, she decided there was no harm in telling him. Where was she from? Knightsbridge, London. What were her parents' names? Morine and Isaac Ishaan. What was her major? Epidemiology. Why? Her parents had chosen it for her.

The questions always lasted four to five minutes before Aaron gave up. On their fourth day working together, he asked a question she was less than inclined to answer. 

“Why are you so…” he struggled for the right word.

“Numb?”

Aaron snapped his fingers, “Exactly!”

“None of your business.”

He poked her in the arm, but his tone was anything but playful, “Come on, I won’t tell anyone.”

She shook her head, and he didn’t ask again.

Two more weeks passed before they finished gathering research and planning out their study. During those two weeks, Eliane warmed to Aaron (as much as someone like her could warm to anyone). She now considered him her friend. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a friend is a person with whom one has developed a close and informal relationship of mutual trust and intimacy. Since she’d never had a friend before, she wanted to make sure she knew what it was, so she looked it up. She and Aaron trusted each other, that was for sure. She hadn’t been the only one sharing pieces of her life with him after all. He’d told her all about his country home in Switzerland and how he’d grown up pretty isolated with his parents many acres of land making being social a bit difficult. To anyone else, his words would’ve sounded spoiled and selfish, but she wasn’t anyone else. During her teenage years, she’d loathed her parents for turning her into an emotionless robot. But now, she was grateful for it. She could go about her life without causing problems or needing special treatment from the people around her.

Intimacy. That was the final word Oxford Dictionary used to define friendship. While she trusted Aaron, she hadn’t told him anything. He was still in the dark about how her emotions manipulated the weather. She didn’t exactly see any harm in telling him, but still, she’d never told anyone before, and didn’t know how.

It was Wednesday, and they were packing up to leave class when Eliane decided to tell Aaron that she’d accepted his request to be friends. He’d referred to her as his friend multiple times already, grinning at her the way he always did or twining his arm through hers. She’d shut him down every time.

“Aaron?” She stood, slinging her backpack over her shoulders.

Aaron turned to face her, and waited as she walked over to his side, and they began walking out of the lecture hall together.

“I’ve decided that we’re friends.”

He smiled broader than he ever had, which was saying something. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Good, but you’re a little late to the party.” He gave her a squeeze. “We’ve been friends for weeks; you just didn’t know it yet.”

They started spending time together outside of class. They would get lunch and tea and talk about their favorite things. She didn’t have any favorite things, or at least, she hadn’t thought she did. Aaron coaxed a few answers out of her. Eventually she admitted to favoring warm weather over cold weather, enjoying the color red, and that she’d always wondered what her hair would look like if she cut it short. Eliane had red-brown hair that fell just past her chest, and she was pale from staying inside all her life. She stood at 5 '6 with brown eyes and a naturally slim physique. She hadn’t cared about what she looked like in a long time, but somehow, Aaron had made her realize that she still wondered what her hair would look like short. 

They walked arm-in-arm around University Park while the sun set. It was the most human contact Eliane had ever experienced. When Aaron had first suggested they spend time together outside of class, Eliane hadn’t been sure it was such a good idea. What if being around such an expressive person all the time made her start feeling things too? But even if that did happen, it was worth it, at least for now. 

She liked spending time with Aaron. Maybe she even liked Aaron.

The ground trembled almost imperceptibly. Love was the most dangerous emotion, causing earthquakes. But she didn’t love Aaron. She li–

“Did you feel that?” Aaron turned from the textbook he was skimming in preparation for his neuropsychology test.

“Yes.” Eliane had already decided that she would eventually tell Aaron about her disease, but should she tell him now? It was as good a time as any, and the opening was there.

“Strange, felt like a mini earthquake.” Aaron shrugged, but before he could turn back to his book, she placed a hand on his arm.

“Aaron?”

“Yeah?” 

“It was a mini earthquake, and it happened because of me.” She removed her hand and waited for his response. 

His face twisted in confusion, then he laughed. “You can’t be serious. How would you cause an earthquake?” He laughed some more, patting her knee. “Didn’t think you’d ever crack a joke, but here we are.”

“I’m not joking.” 

He looked up at her, and his smile faltered.

“How?”

“Remember when you asked why I’m so numb? It’s because dangerous things happen when I feel things. My emotions control the weather.”

His mouth was slightly agape as he stared at her. “How is that possible?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Epidemiology degree remember. My parents both work in STEM, and they can’t understand it either. They started teaching me how to suppress my emotions when I was six.”

“You sure this isn’t some big prank?” 

She almost rolled her eyes. Maybe hanging out with Aaron wasn’t such a good idea after all, she hadn’t reacted this much to anyone in years.

Aarons initial apprehension melted when she didn’t respond. “So, what emotion causes earthquakes?” He sounded intrigued.

Eliane shook her head. “Get back to studying, Aaron.”

He laughed. “I’ll let it go for now, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to tell me everything later.” His voice turned serious. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

“I know.” She trusted him. In the five weeks they’d known each other, he hadn’t once shown any sign of being disingenuous. 

They spent the next week conducting their experiment, which meant they saw a lot of each other. During that week Aaron asked twelve times for her to show him how her emotions controlled the weather. She’d shut him down every time. It was too dangerous.

Another week later, she had to suppress a laugh and had actually rolled her eyes. She, Eliane Ishaan, had rolled her eyes! It was unacceptable. Luckily when she almost laughed it was already sunny out, but when she rolled her eyes… clouds rolled in out of nowhere. Aaron was there, and when he saw what was happening, he asked again. She had to tell him. 

“Clouds appear when I’m irritated.” 

“You’re irritated?”

She raised her brows. “This is… what? The fifteenth time you’ve asked me to show you.”

“Fair point. So?”

“So?”

“Will you show me?” 

She sighed. They were sitting outside a restaurant they frequented for lunch, each with sandwiches in hand. “Fine.” 

He grinned and grasped her hand in his. “I knew you’d eventually agree.” 

“What do you want me to feel?”

“I can choose?” 

She nodded. 

He rested his elbow on the table and propped up his chin, leaning in close. “Feel whatever caused that mini earthquake two weeks ago.”

She nodded again. “Alright.”

Eliane focused on the feel of Aaron’s free hand clasped in hers. How his thumb sometimes rubbed across her palm. She took a breath, and it shuttered with the nerves she was beginning to feel in response to his proximity. 

The ground began to shake. Violently. 

She stomped down on the emotion until it died.

Aaron’s eyes widened. “Woah.”

Eliane took a deep breath.

“What emotion was that?” Aaron’s eyes burned into hers. 

She released his hand. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” The question came out as a whisper. 

Somehow, they’d moved closer to one another, their legs were almost pressed together, and their shoulders were touching. 

The ground rumbled.

Eliane stood. “I need to drop something off in the library.”

“But–”

“I’ll see you at the lab in an hour.” She sped off, little tremors in the earth followed her all the way to the library.

Eliane was skimming through the shelves in the library. She wasn’t looking for anything, not really. She just needed something to do; needed something to take her mind off–

Stop. She couldn’t think about that. 

She leaned up against a bookshelf and closed her eyes.

“Eliane?”

Her muscles tensed. He’d followed her here.

Aaron walked toward her and stopped only a foot away. He looked different. He didn’t seem as cocky; didn’t seem like the joking friend she’d come to lo–

Shit. 

Thunder rumbled outside. 

No thinking cuss words. No thinking cuss words. No thinking cuss words. She repeated in her head until the frustration bubbling inside her died. 

“I said I would meet you back at the lab.” She took a step back to put some distance between them, something she’d never needed before. Her back hit the bookshelf.

Wind whooshed past them out of nowhere, ruffling her hair. 

She was nervous? This wasn’t good. She needed to get out of here. She needed to–

“Breathe.” Aaron cupped the sides of her face, and a stronger burst of wind blew towards them, pushing him closer.

She hadn’t realized she’d zoned out. She must’ve looked distressed, because Aaron’s features were lined with concern.

“What’s happening? You can tell me.” He dropped his hands and pushed them into his pockets. 

She took a deep breath. She could tell him; it would be the death of her; literally. If she felt too much, she could destroy the U.K. If she ever felt love, she could topple buildings. And if that ever happened… she would have to kill herself.

But she had to tell him. 

“I love you.”

There it was. The truth. The ground began shaking again, more violently than it ever had. An alarm went off somewhere in the building, and people began shouting. Aaron pushed her up against the bookshelves behind her, shielding her body as books began falling off the shelves and onto the ground. 

“So that’s what causes earthquakes then.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Love.”

More and more books fell, all of them landing hard on Aaron’s head and back, but he didn’t move. He held one hand to shield himself and held her by the waist with the other. 

“Yes,” she admitted, and blushed.

“If I had the same ability as you, the world wouldn’t survive a minute. My love for you would break the foundations of the earth, Eliane.” 

The earthquake shuddered to a stop. 

Aaron took a step back, looking around in confusion. “What–”

She took two quick steps forward, grabbed his face in her hands, and kissed him, short and sweet. She was leaning back when one of his hands grabbed her hair, the other holding tight to her waist, and he pulled her against him. He kissed her back. His lips were soft, and Eliane had never felt so much all at once. She felt love and joy and passion–but at the same time–confusion and fear that this was all a dream.

Aaron took two steps forward until her back hit the bookshelves again. He leaned back an inch, and said, his lips brushing hers, “The earthquake stopped when I told you I love you.” He leaned in closer until his lips ghosted over her ear. “Maybe you were given this ability as a test, a test to see if you would be brave enough to feel the strongest emotion of all, and have it reciprocated. If I’m right, then you did it Eliane.” He pressed a soft kiss beneath her ear, and she gasped both the sensation, and his words. “You’re free.”

He was right, she was free. Aaron had freed her.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and she slid to the floor. No clouds blocked the sun outside, no rain fell from the clear skies. Aaron squatted down beside her against the bookcase, moving fallen books out of the way to make room for him to sit. He wrapped his arm around her as she curled her knees to her chest. She pressed her face into his shoulder and cried. She cried so hard her lungs burned, and she kept crying until she could barely breathe. All the emotion’s she’d kept pent up for so long rushed to the surface all at once. If Aaron hadn’t been there to hold her together through wave after wave of sorrow, joy, grief, and unending sadness… she was sure she would’ve broken apart.

“I love you.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “And I’m so proud of you.”

She looked up at him, her eyes drenched with tears. “I love you too, Aaron.”