Care (Slashers X Reader)

FOURTEEN

"Are you feeling alright, dear?"

"Hm?" You hum in question as you drag your gaze from your lap to look at Hannibal.

"I asked if you're alright. You seem to be elsewhere at the moment." He closes the book he had been reading to you before setting it aside to give you his undivided attention.

You frown slightly, having not realized you had zoned out while listening to him. You're currently sat on the floor outside his room while he's perched in his chair on the other side of the glass. "I'm sorry, Hannibal. I guess I got distracted."

He purses his lips for a moment before responding. "Is it perhaps because of your nightmare?"

Scoffing, you shake your head. "Why am I not surprised that you know about that?"

"I know a great deal of things." His thin lips twitch up in amusement. "I hear many secrets despite being confined to my room."

"What kind of secrets?" You raise a brow as you pull your knees to your chest to rest your chin against them.

"They wouldn't be secrets if I told you them, now would they?" You narrow your eyes at him which makes him chuckle. "The only secrets I'm interested in is yours. Tell me, dear. What was your nightmare about?"

You shift a bit uncomfortably. Ever since your chat with Danny and the others you've begun to overthink the entire situation. They made the nightmare seem as if it's far more than just a dream. They made it seem like you're actually in danger. To you the dream had no real significant meaning but to them it appears to be quite serious. If only they would've explained more.

"Shouldn't you already know since you seemingly have eyes and ears all over the place?" You tease him in hopes that it'll distract him.

"I can assure you that I know exactly what your nightmare was about." He leans forward in his seat as he laces his fingers together. "What I want is to hear it explained in your own words rather than retellings from others."

Sighing, you chew on your bottom lip before telling him every single detail of your dream. You leave nothing out, making sure to include everything no matter how insignificant. He listens with rapt attention, nodding along as you go over parts that he heard from the others. When you finish, you patiently watch him as you wait for him to tell you what he thinks.

He's silent for a few seconds before responding. "I believe that Danny is correct. Should you find yourself in that type of nightmare again, you should try everything you possibly can to awaken yourself. I also think that you should take a few hours to get away from this place to give your mind a chance to relax. Stressing about the situation will do nothing to help it."

"I wasn't stressed until everyone made a big deal out of it." You mumble the words underneath your breath. You hadn't given it a second thought until the others reacted the way they had.

Huffing, you get up off of the floor and stretch out your sore and numb limbs. "I believe our hour of time is up, Hannibal. I'll take your advice into consideration and think about taking a break. Thank you for speaking with me."

"Anytime, dear." He flashes you a smile that you quickly return before scurrying off down the hall to head back to your room.

Glancing at the clock, you find that you still have a few hours until dinner. There's nothing else on your schedule until then so you're free to do what you want. You spot your small shopping list resting on your nightstand and decide to go ahead and go shopping since you have the time to. After changing out of your scrubs and into one of your usual outfits, you grab your things and head out.

The drive into town is a bit long yet peaceful as the scenery is beautiful. There's nothing but trees for quite some time and with it getting close to fall the leaves have begun to change color. You're certain it'll be even more gorgeous once they fully change into shades of red and orange.

The trees fade away as you arrive at the town. Small buildings are scattered about, most of which are small family owned businesses. It's a quaint little place with a small population yet you wouldn't be able to tell with the amount of people out and about. People are going in and out of shops and weaving down the sidewalks making it appear busy with bustling life.

If you didn't know better, you'd think the place has nearly a thousand residents but in reality there's only 116 people living there. A large number, certainly, but not compared to most cities that have thousands of people. You much prefer the smaller places where everyone is friendly and knows each other. It feels a lot more welcoming.

Pulling into the parking lot of the only shop that sells a multitude of things, you park your car before exiting to head inside. There's a young teenage girl who looks quite bored behind the register while an older man restocks some shelves. With how small the place is you wouldn't be surprised if they're the only two employees in the entire place.

You give them a polite smile as you pass them before wandering down the aisles in search of what you need. You've been spending quite a bit of time with your patients and have been running out of places to put their gifts. You plan on getting a scrap book of sorts for all of Jason's drawings, more tacks to hang Michaels masks with, a small book shelf for your pressed flowers and wax figures, and then a photo album for the pictures from Danny. You'll also probably pick up some new books for Hannibal and Norman, some magazines for Bo, and some new music sheets for Brahms. They've all been really well behaved lately and you think they deserve some nice gifts because of it.

Luckily this tiny shop has pretty much everything you need. It doesn't take very long for you to have a cart filled with things, including a book shelf that you'll have to assemble yourself. Thankfully it's rather small so it'll easily fit in your car and you'll have no problem finding a spot for it in your room.

Wanting to make sure you've got everything, you wander the aisles one more time just in case you spot anything else to get. You're barely paying attention to your surroundings as you walk resulting in you accidentally running into someone. Apologies fall from your lips as you try to make sure they're okay but you stop once you hear them chuckling.

"That's one way to hit on someone." The man jokes, making you smile in relief that you hadn't hurt him. "I've never seen you around before. Did you just move here?"

"I guess you could say that. I actually live a bit out of town." You keep the answer a bit vague yet truthful since you don't want to give the handsome stranger too much information. "What about you? How long have you lived here?"

"My whole life, pretty much. My mom moved us here back when I was a baby and we've been here ever since." There's a flicker of sadness in his deep brown eyes but it quickly disappears. "What made you decide to move to this little old town?"

You lean your forearms against your cart as you accept the fact this conversation won't be ending any time soon. "My job."

"Not a boyfriend?" He smirks slightly, obviously flirting a bit.

You scoff slightly, trailing your eyes over him for a second to take in his looks. He's got fluffy soft looking sandy blonde hair, full pink lips and his body is obviously fit showing he works out. Definitely very attractive. "No boyfriend, sadly."

"A shame." His smile grows showing that he doesn't actually find it to be a shame. "I don't have anyone either."

"I don't think I asked." Your tone is light and a bit flirtatious.

He laughs, shaking his head a bit. "I just thought I'd put it out there. Who knows, maybe I'll interest you enough for you to give me your number and our situations can change."

You quirk a brow at how bold he is though you're not complaining. "I don't even know your name."

"Chris." He sticks his hand out for you to shake only to pull it to his lips as he presses a soft kiss to your knuckles.

"(Y/N)." You try your best not to blush as you pull your hand away. Glancing at your phone, you notice that it's getting close to dinner time and that you need to get going. Silently cursing, you quickly tear the bottom part of your shopping list off and scribble your number down to give him before saying goodbye.

Rushing home, all you can think about is the cute man and whether or not you're actually interested in getting to know him.