“Hey, hey it’s okay,” he said soothingly, eyes darting to the door to make sure the mother didn’t come into the room without him knowing about it. “Don’t… don’t cry. I mean, it’s okay to cry if you’re upset. It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m… not going to hurt you.”

The little girl sniffed, her brow furrowing in confusion as she pressed her face into the cloth baby doll in her arms. Should I keep talking? What do I do? Hero felt his heart pounding in his chest, wracking every rib in his body.

“I just… I saw you were upset and wanted to try and make you feel better. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The notion of Hero scaring someone like a human was absolutely ludicrous, but it was the only thing Hero could think of at the moment to apologize for. The statement also seemed to confuse the little girl, but at the very least she stopped crying for the present.

Every third breath or so was a hiccup, a sniffle, or some combination of the two, but after a minute or so tears were no longer streaming down her slightly pudgy cheeks or her glossy golden eyes. She wasn’t saying anything, but Hero definitely seemed to have her attention now.

The Borrower’s thoughts were racing, grasping at anything to keep his head from swirling out of control. His family prided themselves in not being seen, captured, or breaking the rules ever. What if they found out? What would happen to them? He couldn’t think about that right now. Right now he needed to focus on earning this little girl’s trust and hope she wouldn’t tell her mom.

“Um… my name is Hero. What’s your name?” It wasn’t a very strong introduction, but it was the only thing he could think of to say next. The little girl eyed him for a moment longer before muttering something that was muffled by the doll she was pressing into her face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“Maggie,” said the girl bashfully, her mouth barely peeking out from behind the doll.

“Maggie,” repeated Hero. “That’s a wonderful name. Well, Maggie, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for scaring you. I didn’t mean it.” Maggie again looked confused again, but this time responded with a small head shake.

“You didm’t scawre me,” she muttered, sniffling pitifully afterwards. Hero didn’t know if he was just hearing things, but something didn’t quite sound the same.

“Oh… I see. Good to know,” he said with a smile, now letting his nerves drive his curiosity. “Well, if you don’t mind my asking, why were you crying?” Maggie sniffed three times in rapid succession.

“Wewl, the gurls on the pwaygwound weren’t vewy nice. Vey… vey….” Maggie’s eyes were beginning to fill with tears again.

“It’s okay Maggie, just…” Hero began breathing deeply in and out, exaggerating the shoulder movement so she could see him breathing deeply. Seemingly, she understood and latched onto Hero’s words to copy his motion.

“I wanted to pway too, but vey made fun of how I thpeak and ven… ven dey… pourled deir juice on my dwess.” Maggie’s eyes were filling again with tears, and so were Hero’s eyes. How could they do something like that? How cruel!

“Well, Maggie, I like the way you talk,” said Hero. Maggie sniffed a few more times.

“Weally?” she asked, her sweet little voice carrying like a spring breeze. Hero nodded and smiled.

“Really,” he affirmed. Maggie let the smallest smile curl across her face as she continued to stare at Hero. Then, like clockwork, there was a shuffle in the other room which pulled at Hero’s attention. Hero wasn’t sure who it was, but he needed to make sure Maggie was the only one who knew about him. The Borrower was snapped from his thoughts when Maggie spoke again.

“Awre you a toy wike in the movies or awre you wreal?” Maggie had taken a step forward and was reaching a small, pudgy fingered hand toward him. Hero’s heart leapt into his throat as he gasped involuntarily.

“Um… yes,” sputtered Hero, taking a few steps backwards as Maggie advanced another step. “I mean… kind of. I’m… well…” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the toys with the blue haired happy girl from the kids show. “I’m kind of like an imaginary friend.”

Hero didn’t want to lie or fib to the child, but he couldn’t think of anything else that might keep her from grabbing him. Maggie’s eyes looked a little confused, but she stopped advancing.

“Imaginawy fwiend?” asked Maggie.

“Kind of like an imaginary friend. You see, I come here and there from time to time,” replied Hero, trying to make his fib seem less severe. It didn’t make him feel any better, but it seemed to make sense to Maggie at the very least.

“So, yourl my fwiend?” asked Maggie. The aspiring hero couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear at the human girl’s question.

“Of course,” he smiled. “If you’ll have me, I will be your friend.” The warm, youthful smile from Maggie was all the reward Hero needed. He glanced over at the doorway, hearing the shuffle again. Then the voice of a young man called out.

“Maggie? You okay?” The voice came from another part of the apartment.

“I’m okay! I’m just tawkin’ to my fwiend Hewo. He’s imaginawy.” The fluidity of Maggie’s statement was flawless and played perfectly to Hero’s intention.

“Oh, okay. Well, tell Hero you’ll be right back after you have a snack and get a new change of clothes on.” Hero breathed a sigh of relief, slightly unnerved at hearing a human call out his name, as he backed up toward the embedded hook. Maggie, however, took note as well.

“Awre you weaving, Hewo?” asked Maggie. Hero hesitated, not sure how to answer the question.

“Well, yes. Just for now, but I’ll be back. Okay? I mean, you’re getting a snack and everything. That’s going to be fun, right?” asked Hero. Maggie looked a little unsure, but eventually nodded. It was heartbreaking, but Hero had other obligations to attend to. He still needed to go see Sam.

“Tell you what,” offered Hero. “Why don’t I come see you tomorrow?” This once again brought a thoughtful, sweet smile onto Maggie’s face. She nodded vigorously, her pigtails bouncing like golden brown wheat stalks.

“Okay. See you ven. Fank you Hewo.”

Maggie took up her doll and left the room while Hero carefully descended the line slowly. His palm were sweating and his heart was aching from how hard and how fast it had been beating during that entire exchange.

As he made his way back to the hiding place in the wall by the baseboard, he couldn’t help but feel sad. He realized that Borrowers were always under potential threat of humans. It was a given fact. Hero had never really stopped to consider that humans were just as much of a threat to each other as they were for Borrowers.