Split

New Girls

I watched as Dennis got up from the sofa, gathering his clothes from the floor and putting them on again. He dusted them off as best he could and started on the buttons, neatly doing them up from the collar down... until he got to the last one which was no longer there. He paused and stared at the fabric where the button should be, even lifting it towards his eyes to get a better look, then looked back at me uncertainly, "you don't know where that went by any chance?"

I shook my head, "Sorry. Does it bother you?"

He smiled and it was uneasy and false, "no, it doesn't bother me."

"It's okay if it does."

"No... it's fine. I can grab another shirt, there's no problem."
I smirked at him and he looked back questioningly, "what?"

"Nothing, it's just cute that you're like that."

"Cute? There's nothing cute about OCD, trust me. I don't exactly like having to think about how many germs are on door handles every time I go out... it's kinda tiring."

"I can imagine," I said, still smirking.

"I don't want to go," he sighed, tucking the shirt in so he didn't have to look at the missing button.

"I don't want you to go either... will you come and see me? If you get the chance afterwards?"

"Yeah, I'll do what I can."

I got up and hugged him goodbye, not wanting to let go, "be careful."

"I'm always careful," he replied flatly and kissed my forehead before leaving me shut in again.

I spent a few hours reading and watched the TV on mute, hoping to hear noise from outside that might indicate that Dennis was back. It must have been around four hours later that I finally heard shuffling movement from outside the door, then wheels on the solid floor-probably the same thing that I vaugly remember being taken to the room on.
I sat back down, already feeling queasy from the guilt of standing by while this happened.

I knew Dennis would be finishing soon, I had been listening out for his heavy shoes on the concrete and could hear him walking back and forth.
He was suddenly unlocking my door and came straight over, exhaling loudly as he sat down next to me. He didn't even bother to clear the seat.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly and he shrugged.

"They haven't woken up yet... look, I made sure they didn't see me... so if there was ever a plan to... I dunno, get them out? They wouldn't know our faces."
It wasn't much but it was something and I smiled at him, pleased that he was even considering going against what Patricia had ordered.

"That's good, at least now there's a chance... how many are there?"

"Five."

"Five?" I frowned, "Hedwig said there was going to be four... unless..." I thought back to what Patricia had said about having an extra girl than they needed last time and his forehead creased.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking but that's not what that is. Patricia wanted as many as possible and that was the number of girls in the group... I couldn't exactly knock them all out and leave one behind, could I?"

"You promise me that you're not interested in those girls?"

"I can't believe you'd even ask that, haven't I made my thoughts about you clear?"

"I just... I don't want to be let down again... I've been hurt too much to believe anything anyone says... I..."

He tilted my head up to look him in the eye, "hey, I'm not interested in anyone but you, do you understand? I don't give a shit about them in the other room, you're all I can think about. And speaking of which, I need to get you some food. Did you want to come with me?"

"Patricia said I wasn't allowed out of here," I answered, dropping the subject and realising that I was probably over thinking the situation.

"She doesn't have to know. And besides, I did this for her; she owes me. And you too, for that matter."

"How'd you work that one out? I didn't exactly obey her when I was running away with Barry, did I?"

"No... but you stood by while more girls were brought here, and I know that was hard for you."

I nodded, "okay, I'll come too."

We both sat in the kitchen and had a sandwich, sitting opposite each other in a comfortable silence. I was itching to ask more questions but I didn't want to push my luck, so I waited until we'd both finished eating.
"So, when is the beast coming again?"

Dennis looked a little thrown off by the question and didn't look at me, "two days. Patricia said that he needs time to rest before he feeds."

I suddenly felt the undigested contents of my stomach start to churn and regretted eating at all, "what's the plan?"

"There's no plan, I don't know how long we can keep the girls from seeing Patricia... and Hedwig is bound to say hello at some point... and if it gets to that point then there's no going back, once they see our faces that's the end of it."

"We'll just have to figure out a way of keeping them from the girls."

We both went quiet and tried to think of some way to work this out.