Dogs Aren't the Only Special Ones

Hive Le Gion entered the room as Aimouryllice devoured the last of her fish. In his hand he was holding a plastic carrier bag. It was full of various raw fish, each wrapped in a neat clingfilm wrapper. everything from cod to sturgeon. Hive even got a little bit of expensive tuna, he wasn't sure what Aimouryllice liked. All fish tasted the same to Hive, and he rarely ate fish. Most bugs could not survive underwater, so Hive avoided the sea like the plague. Even the boat he had traveled on to the island had made him nervous, but the dead man with the box was friendly, and so that had been alright.

"Hello friend Aimouryllice A'Phoche who is like a fish but not a fish! you were sick so I came to say hello but you were not awake so I went to get fish for when you were awake!"

Hive wasn't a fan of fish, but he knew that Aimouryllice was, and so he handed over the carrier bag to the girl in the bed. He hoped she would notice the wrappers before she bit into the fish. Eating plastic would probably make things worse.

"You are alive and well now?"

@Lucidity

Aimouryllice looked bad, but Hive didn't notice. To him, she was the same friendly fish girl he had met before, albeit with a slightly different skin. She said the word 'surprise' which Hive had discovered was both bad and good. A good surprise was a friend turning up with fish. A bad surprise was a person made of bugs popping up from beneath the sofa you were sitting on. He hoped this was a good surprise.

"No, friend Aimouryllice A'Phoche who is like a fish but not a fish the fish is not poisoned. It is safe. I have tried a piece of each to make sure! Food is safe! no chocolate in the fish!"

Hive thought back to what he had eaten for breakfast. Some of it had been chocolate. Some of it had been sugar cubes. Some of it had been brambles. He was sure the chocolate had not been poisoned. Why had it affected Aimouryllice so? Hive thought back to what the healer had told him while he had been waiting outside.

"I think you are what is called 'allergic' to chocolate. It is safe for most people, just not for you. Like most people can eat certain vegetables that have been sprayed with insecticides, but I cannot because I am made of insects. But fish are safe."

@Lucidity

"Thank you friend Aimouryllice A'Phoche who is like a fish but not a fish. I would very much like to meet your people, when you find them."

If bugs could smile, Hive would be smiling. Aimouryllice was nice to him, and that was a rarity. Not nice because they were scared of his appearance and didn't want to upset him, or nice because they had to be, like the staff at the school. Hive didn't like people who lied. it made no sense to him, lies. If you have to lie, it is better to say nothing. Lies would be like writing your own lines into books, or adding your selfies to a Van Gogh exhibition. It just seemed... unthinkable to Hive. Stories were different. They could be fun. they were not lies. Noone wrote a fiction book designed to be the whole truth. That would be very boring. They cut out the boring parts in stores. Noone had to queue at the super market in Harry Potter or go to the toilet in Great Gatsby. No, it was all the exciting parts.

"There are some books in a bookshelf in the hallway. For people who are in bed and would like to read. Would you like me to get you some. There are some fun childrens books, like Clifford the big red dog and some fun adult books like Of Mice and Men. I do not know how good your reading is. Would you like me to get both?"

@Lucidity

Hive never understood the distinction between childrens books and adults books. Children had more vivid imagination, so why did they need pictures? Adult books were long, and sometimes, rather boring. He had read a novel by a man named Tom Clancy. it had been very boring, full of gruff men with guns. Childrens books on the other hand had magic parrots and cats who rode in planes. They were much more interesting.

"I will get the book which is not for children, friend Aimouryllice A'Phoche who is like a fish but not a fish, although Clifford the Big Red Dog is a nice book. Clifford is very big and very friendly."

Hive slipped out of the room and came back with a pair of books: A tattered copy of Of Mice and Men and a slightly more pristine looking copy of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Hive held them both out to Aimouryllice, one in each hand.

"This is the book I talked about. It is very nice. It is set many years ago. It is about two brothers on a farm. This other book is a play by a man named Shakespeare. It is a very good book, although Lady Macbeth is not a nice lady. Not at all. But the book is good. It is about a man who is a Scottish king and not a nice man too."

@Lucidity

Hive had not been gone long, but the look on Aimouryllice's face said she was glad to have him back, as he handed her the books.

"Oh yes" said Hive, as Aimouryllice inspected the books "Shakespeare is a very good writer play man. He wrote many plays. Some are funny, some are sad. Most are both, although i prefer the funny ones. This is a sad one. It is still good. But i will find you a happy one at some point. The books are very good."

It was not uncommon to see an insect or two in the school library late at night. What often confused people was how two insects appeared to turn the pages, while a third flew up and down, reading the words. Hive had discovered early on that his dorm room was well within the range of the library, so he could send off a few bugs to read books, while the rest of him stayed at his dorm.

"Yes i do feel emotions"

People often thought Hive was simple, because of his manner of speaking, his complicated comprehension, and the sheer fact that bugs aren't that smart. This was untrue. Hive was just smart in a different way. Imagine if, to speak, you had to conciously vary the tone and frequency of thousands upon thousands of insects, just to make a noise. And Hive did feel emotions, inumerable insects, thinking as one.

"I feel many emotions. Surprise. Joy. Sadness. Anticipation. Calmness. I have not felt anger or fear yet, because I have had nothing to be angry about or scared of" said Hive, with a happy buzz "My personal favorite emotion doesn't have a word in english. Yuputka. It is a word in the language of Nicaragua for that feeling of having a bug on you. I always have a bug on me. I am always Hive. My name is Hive Le Gion, it is nice to meet you. Emotions make things interesting. Without emotions we would all be robots."

@Lucidity