The Walls Have Ears

Gerard's POV (Chapter 29)

"OH MY GOD you are actually an idiot," Y/N said, pushing me to the side.

"Well maybe if I could see, you've been hogging the screen!"

"Shut up, I know what I'm doing,"

"Well I'm sorry but I don't think you're supposed to give a baby elephant formula milk,"

She paused. Finally.

"Well if we weren't supposed to then why would he put it here?"

"To confuse us,"

She doesn't move her eyes from the baby elephant that we found in our room this morning. He (as we'd assumed) was standing watching us expectantly.

"What the actual fuck is wrong with that guy," she finally whispered.

"An elephant? Why couldn't he have given us a plant or something?" She now walked over to the elephant, stroking his head as he nuzzled into her thigh.

I still couldn't bring myself to touch him. I wasn't scared or anything. It's just...we don't know where he's been.

*ksshhh*

"Hey kids, maybe feed the wee lad"

*ksshhh*

I turn and face Dr Murphy sitting at the back of the room on the floor, speaking into the little walkie-talkie in his hand. I give him a bored look.

"What!? I'm not allowed to interfere," he calls out.

He goes back to whispering things into a recorder about us not so quietly.

Fireworks must've done some damage.

I look over at Y/N and the elephant who is chewing on her shirt.

"Seriously, what do we feed this thing? It's starving," she says out loud, trying to pull the fabric out of the elephants mouth.

Dr Murphy sighs like a kid who was told to put candy back. He comes over and feeds the elephant peanuts he had in his pocket.

"You nearly let him starve when you had food all along !?"

"These were supposed to be my lunch thank you very much."

I stare at him genuinely concerned for his well-being.

I was going to say something but decided it was better not to risk another one of his temper tantrums.

He sat on the floor next to Y/N and the elephant joined him. I sat down opposite them not really feeling as if anything mattered anymore.

My stomach fluttered a little as I decided to ask a question that'd been pending for a while.

"Uh.. Doctor?" I croaked, a little scared.

He looked up at me, his crystal like eyes so soft yet so cold at the same time.

"Do you think maybe....you know how you always take us out and stuff, well not always like twice but still...uh, could we maybe, like uh, go out somewhere? Like now? Somewhere we want to go?...alone...so like, without you." I blabbered.

"Doors are always open." Was all he said. Not moving his eyes from the elephant.

There was an awkward silence.

"So we like, have your permission?"

He nodded. Again not looking at us.

There was an even longer silence.

I considered getting up and walking out. This was our chance. Granted, we didn't know where we were nor where to go, and we weren't particularly threatened here, apart from the lunatic on the floor with an elephant in his lap, but we weren't going to stay here forever.

"You know why I chose the elephant?"

Silence.

"Because they never forget.

If you're nice to them once, they remember you for the rest of their lives.

Good companions they make.

Once you've been nice to them, they forgive you for everything for the rest of your life.

They love you forever."

I only realise he's crying when I see a teardrop splash on the white tile floor.

"Why can't people be more like elephants?" He looks up at us now, pale skin red from crying, tears streaming down his face so silently.

I feel like I've just hit a kitten, my heart shakes with guilt and I feel like a complete asshole.

Thus lonely man who had isolated himself from society for so long, picks me and a girl after years of research and careful consideration to be his friends. His family.

I look over and Y/N has tears in her eyes too, staring at him with her eyebrows knotted. She must be thinking the same.

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Later that night Y/N crawled into my bed with me. The whole night we talked about what had happened.

"Do you think he had a family? Or at least a wife?"

"What insane human would marry that psychopath?"

"Don't be rude...maybe that's why he went crazy?"

"Where is she then?"

"Maybe she died. Or left him,"

"Yea all that stuff about elephants forgiving you for the rest of your life."

"You think he cheated on her or something?"

"Seriously?"

"Oh c'mon he's human,"

"Crazy enough to think he could find one chick, miracle for him to find another,"

"Stop that,"

"Just saying,"

"Plus he doesn't seem like the kind to cheat,"

"True, he's very nice to us. Most of the time."

"Think he expects us to...?"

"No. No way. He said it himself: a family,"

"Some fucked up family,"

"Not too different from mine,"

"Yea mine neither."

She put her arm around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Tell you what. We'll be the perfect kids for him, and maybe he'll reward us. "

"With what?"

"A plane ticket back home,"