Bruised (Phan) [EDITING]

3

Dan was switched to a new room which meant a new roommate. He felt uncomfortable with that decision. He enjoyed his quiet room because Connor never talked loudly or snored or toss and turned. He was like that of a feeble mouse.

Connor was always shaking, sure, but that didn't bother Dan. He thought Connor to be the best roommate available. He was kind and friendly. Social. He knew when you needed space and when you needed to be comforted, he knew when to check up on you and when to let you be.

Dan grabbed his duffel bag and placed it into the small closet he was given. This new room smelled like laxatives and he hated that temptation. Then Troye walked out of the bathroom with his backpack and made eye contact with Dan. No. No, no, no.

Dan narrowed his swampy eyes but before he could make an accusation Troye walked out of the room. Dan spun around to the trashcan and saw it. The magazine pages torn from a book, licked off laxatives that had been painted on the page. An old trick the two had learned from being there so long.

He couldn't believe it! Not Troye, not again. He thought Troye was finally getting better but he should've known by the guilty look on the boy's face.

Then the nurse came in, swapped the sheets, emptied the trash, and Dan couldn't believe her. Don't you smell that? He wanted to scream, to rat Troye out, but he couldn't.

The nurse, with a click clack of her heels, left the room and Dan knew she didn't care. It meant more money for her boss which ultimately meant more money for her. Unbelievable!

Then his new roommate came right through, a backpack lay atop his shoulders and his eyes seemed lost. Pj was his roommate. The green eyed boy sniffed in the stench and groaned almost silently.

"Laxatives," Dan supplied. A frown reaching Pj's lips. Dan took a breath.

"Don't tell anybody."