The hot water streamed down the back of his neck and over his shoulders. He turned the dial on the shower up waiting till it was almost too hot to stand. Steam rose up in front of his eyes and his skin turned red and for just one second he forgot about the little man in his bedroom. But he knew he'd never fully forget, not ever, those bright blue eyes would be in his mind till the day he died.

He turned the shower off and rubbed himself dry with the towel. He dressed and then sat down on the small bench outside the showers with a sigh. He let his head drop into his hands. He was so confused, his head was pounding from stress and he felt slightly sick.

"Blaine!"

Blaine jerked forwards his elbow slipping from his knee he looked up to see Wes staring down at him a look of slight concern on his face. It was obvious that he had called Blaine's name several times but he had not heard him.

"Are you okay, you look pale?"

"Yeah, I mean.. yeah." Blaine said.

Wes sent him another questioning look.

"I'm feeling a little sick. Why are you here? It's a bit late for taking a shower."

"Alarm didn't go off, it was a choice of shower or breakfast and I really need the shower." Wes said with a smile. Blaine barely heard him.

"Okay.. I'm going to uh…" Blaine pointed to the door an stood up.

"Yeah. If you still feel sick after breakfast you can check in with the nurse. She's really nice."

"Yeah I will."

Blaine picked up his bundle of night clothes and towel and said goodbye to Wes. He walked down the hall to his door and stopped. He did not want to go into his room but he had to. He needed his shoulder bag for class. With a deep breath he opened the door threw his wet clothes onto the floor and grabbed his bag all managing not to look into the corner of the room where the pencil box was. He shut the door and ran down the stairs.

In the dining room he grabbed a plate of pop tarts and sat down with David and some other Warblers.

"Morning Blaine."

"Morning." Blaine replied ignoring the rest of the conversation going on at the table. The other boys seemed to know to leave him alone. He took a few bites of his pop tart but his mouth was so dry that he couldn't swallow them. He got up and poured himself some coffee from the large vats at the side of the room. Dalton breakfast coffee had to be some of the worst in the world. Luckily there was a coffee bar only five minutes down the road that they went to at lunch time. He winced slightly when he felt a hand clap him on the shoulder. He turned to see Gary one of the other Warblers who was in his first period class.

"Want to talk together."

"Yeah sure." Blaine agreed. They walked down the hallway together. Blaine hardly heard a word spoken by Gary as he chatted about his girlfriend in Dalton's sister school. He did manage a few non-committal comments that he hoped made some sense.

Blaine could not concentrate on any of his morning classes. His mind kept slipping back up to his room and the little man in the box. There was something very wrong with him. He could not figure out if he was really insane or that there was the possibility that everything he ever knew about the world was not true and that tiny little people exist. Would that mean that Dragons and unicorns and the lock Ness monster were also real? The bell for his second lesson surprised him when it went off. He had thought he had been sat there for ten minutes not fifty. He looked down at his notepad and realized that he had only managed to write the date. He sighed as he packed up his things and headed for his third period science lesson.

The teacher had tried to get his attention three times before Blaine had finally looked up and realized that she was talking to him.

"Mr. Anderson, you are not concentrating."

"I'm sorry Miss Patel."

"Are you feeling alright? You look rather pale."

"I just have a bit of a headache." Blaine lied.

"Nurse Mr. Anderson."

"I'm fine."

"I said nurse Mr. Anderson."

Blaine sighed and stood up. He had learnt the way through all the Dalton hallways over the last two weeks so he knew that the nurses office was just next to the dining room. As he walked he considered what to tell the nurse. He had a banging headache and felt sick and tired. He didn't think he could tell the nurse about how he felt like he was losing his mind. He didn't want to find himself locked up in a mental institute drugged and restrained.

He walked into the nurses office finding it neatly fitted with a couple of beds and tables and little packs of medication and needles. And of course a nurse, an impossibly thin tall woman with thin lips. She gave him a friendly smile as he walked in.

"Hello. I haven't seen you here before, so either you're unusually healthy or new."

"I started at Dalton just over two weeks ago."
"Blaine, Right? I got your notes."

"Yes."

"So what can I do for you?"
"Miss Patel sent me."

"She must have sent you for a reason."

Blaine sighed.

"I am feeling a little sick and headachy."

The nurse reached into one of the draws and got a few things out.

" Sit down and open up." She said holding a thermometer.

Blaine opened his mouth and held the thermometer in his mouth.

"All normal." The nurse said checking it a minute later. She sat in a chair opposite him.

"Are you sleeping alright?"

"I had a rough night last night but other than that.."

"Anything on your mind?"

"No not really."

"Blaine. I can tell you're keeping something from me."

"It's nothing important. Perhaps I'm a little stressful."

"Changing school is stressful. Especially coming from your background, you had some injuries?"

"They've all healed." Blaine said.

"Okay." The nurse stood up and poured a cup of water.

"Take these two pain killers and drink this and have a lie down."

Blaine swallowed the tablets and gulped down the water then stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"To my room.. to lie down."

"Nope, you are lying down here. Have to keep an eye on you Mr. Anderson. You can close the curtains behind you and I'll make sure nobody disturbs you."

"Yes thank you."

Blaine closed the curtains around the little bed thinking that it was unlikely that he would be able to get any sleep with how stressed out he was feeling but the pain killers must have done something to him because he fell straight asleep.

Blaine woke up to a familiar voice.

"I was just checking he was okay."

"You know I can't relay any information about a patient."

"Is that Wes?" Blaine called out.

"Hey Blaine, how are you feeling?"

"And now you woke him."

Blaine smiled to himself, it was nice to think that one of his new friends cared about him enough to come visit him during lunchtime. Blaine stood up and unhooked the curtains. Seeing Wes stood next to the nurse.

"I'm fine."

"Aare you sure Mr. Anderson?"

"Yes, the headache has gone."

"Good." Wes said. "I was just dropping by to check you were okay and tell you not to bother with coming to the warblers meeting tonight. You look like you could use the rest."

"Though you have slept for five hours." The nurse added.

"Five hours!" Blaine said not quite able to believe it.

The nurse laughed lightly.

"You needed it. Here, take two more of the tablets. Go relax, make sure you eat plenty and come talk to me any time you want to. There's no reason to make yourself ill with stress."

If only you knew, Blaine thought. But he did feel less stressed, mainly for one reason.. he knew what he needed to do next. He needed to visit the Liberian.

"Thanks." Blaine said taking the pills.

"I got to go to the meeting. Glad you're okay Blaine." Wes said.

Blaine promised the nurse he would look after himself and he practically ran out eager to get to the library. When he entered the huge room he froze. It was four o'clock, the hour between lessons ending and dinner. No students bothered returning to their rooms at this time. There were club meetings and quick outdoors games except it was raining which meant that those not in club meetings were in the library. Every table and comfy chair were full. He sighed knowing that he would have to wait till after dinner if he wanted to have a private conversation with the Li librarian.

"Come with me Mr. Anderson."

Blaine jumped and turned around. He had not heard the diminutive (though that word had developed new meaning in the last twenty-four hours) librarian approaching him. Her strange eyes bore straight into him as if she could read what was going through his mind. Wordlessly he followed her behind her desk and through the open door behind it.

The entire of the small room was taken up by filing cabinets, except for one corner that had a little desk with a computer and two folding chairs. The librarian gestured to one of the chairs and Blaine sat down in it. She grabbed the other one and dragged it to the other side of the room (though this was only a few feet away) and in turn sat down. She stared at him silently for a long moment. Long enough for Blaine to feel very uncomfortable and start to fidget. He had to talk, at least then this uncomfortable moment would end.

"Tell me of the little people."

The librarianeyes narrowed and Blaine was terrified for a moment that she would say 'what little people' and he would find that it had all been in his mind even the strange conversations with the Liberian. After a moment of consideration she decided to talk.

"You see them."

"Yes.. they… they are real then?"

"Yes. They are."

"I'm not mad?"

"If you're mad then I'm mad too."

"That's not really that comforting."

The librarian's eyes narrowed and she scowled at him. Blaine swore to himself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just very stressful to realize that everything you believe to be real isn't."

"No." Thelibrarian said.

"Sorry?"

"You're wrong. I'd say that everything you believe to be real is real; except how do I know what it is you believe for all I know you could believe that the President is an Alien sent to harvest humanity for organs. But just because the little people exist doesn't mean that everything you believe to be real is false it just means that one thing you believed to be false, that little people exist is actually a truth."

"You're saying everything's the same except this one thing."

"Yes."

"It's a very big thing."

"No it isn't. The little people keep their distance. If you do not bother them they do not bother you. Everything in your life is exactly as it was."

"Except they exist."

"They've always existed. It never bothered you before."

"I didn't know before."

"So now you're a little bit wiser."

Blaine sighed and ran his hand through his curls. Was he actually accepting this now? Did he really believe there was a three inch man in his bedroom? Yes. He did. He believed it because his only other option was to believe that he was insane, and that was not a nice thought.

"What are they?"

"They call themselves the burrowers. They are a unique civilization, they are not animals like mice or birds they are most like us. They speak our language and they live in villages or single families. There culture is similar to ours, they are gathers. They live off things our society creates. They burrow what they need. For centuries they have lived in forests or in the sewers or in houses. The ones who live in Dalton have lived here for close to sixty years. Taking what they need at night."

Blaine sat thinking this over.

"They really exist." He muttered to himself again.

"Yes Mr. Anderson. The burrowers exist."