Empath

Chapter 3

"Damn," Al muttered, "I need to trim my beard." He had just gotten out of the shower and was observing his reflection in the mirror of Anabelle's bathroom. He stroked the coarse hairs on his chin. They were getting longer than he liked. He had been in such a hurry when he left his desert home that he hadn't brought anything with him except his black trench coat and scarf. He hadn't known that he wouldn't be back immediately.

"C'mon, Al," Yui whined like a puppy. "I gotta pee! Ana only has one bathroom, y'know!" He was doing a little jig outside the bathroom door, much like he did when he was standing outside Al's front door in the desert, two days prior.

"Ana?" Al questioned, "Calling your patients by nicknames now?" He turned away from the sink and turned the handle of the bathroom door. He opened it and was greeted with Yui's face, which was surprisingly perky for someone who had just woken up. Al was a little taken aback, because Yui's face was a bit closer than he expected.

"I'm allowed," Yui pouted, "she said she doesn't mind."

"Whatever," Al replied, with an eye roll.

Yui put his hands on his hips and smiled haughtily, as though he had just won some sort of battle. Then his shoulders relaxed and he looked at Al's beard. "Need a razor?" He asked, observantly.

"Yeah," Al played with his beard, self-consciously.

"You can use mine, if you want." Yui offered, with a smile.

Al looked over Yui. His face hadn't a trace of stubble. He was wearing a sleeveless black zip-up shirt that he usually wore under his red leather jacket, and his bare arms looked perfectly hairless. "You shave?" Al asked. "I had a feeling you were naturally hairless."

"Oh, mostly," Yui made a short little shrugging motion. "I only need to shave some areas."

Al squinted at Yui, as he often does. This time, it was as if he was trying to use x-ray vision to analyze what areas of Yui's body might need to be shaved. He shuddered when he realized it. "Yeah, no thanks," Al concluded, disgustedly, "I'll buy my own pruning supplies today." He hadn't brushed his teeth since he got there either, but he decided he wasn't desperate enough to use Yui's toothbrush, after all the places Yui's mouth had probably been.

Yui shrugged more noticeably. "Suit yourself!" He smiled as he took Al's place in the bathroom. Al closed the door behind Yui and then noticed that he smelled something delicious. He made his way downstairs. He held onto the white railing as he carefully descended the narrow wooden staircase.

The front door of Anabelle's place led to a small, narrow lobby, with a light wood floor and ornate Victorian walls. On the left side of the entrance hall were the stairs leading up to Anabelle's bedroom, Timmy's old bedroom, and the bathroom. On the right side of the entrance hall was the living room, which Al and Yui had sat in on their first night there. The second doorway off of the hall went into the dining room. The kitchen was accessible though either the dining room or living room.

Al decided to walk through the familiar living room again. He noticed how the chintzy sofa clashed with the ornate Victorian wallpaper, as he skirted around the delicate-looking tables and decorative porcelain lamps. He noticed the small, circular end-table to the right of the sofa. It still held the tissue box that Yui had grabbed and handed to Anabelle on their first night here. What he hadn't really acknowledged before was that, beside the tissue box, and under a stained glass lamp, was a five by seven inch framed photograph of Timmy. Al froze, and his heart panged with the same feeling he had when he couldn't fall asleep on the first night that he had stayed in Timmy's room. He had heard of the boy, felt his mother's pain, and slept in a room surrounded by his belongings, but this was the first time he was seeing him. Before he knew it, Al's eyes started tearing up. He wiped them away with his black sleeve.