The Grey's Curse

Chapter Nineteen - Suspicions

I sighed as I moved Mr. fluffy tails ears back and forth, Well, what was left of them anyway and contemplated on if I wanted to share that story.

'I mean it's not something personal but I always get emotional when talking about Dad'

I finally let go of Mr. fluffy tails ears and brought him into my arms, his now rough feeling fur tickling my arms making me smile despite the situation 'I guess it couldn't hurt to and he seems to be the type that doesn't stop until he gets answers' I couldn't help but glance at him from the corner of my eyes.

'Why is he so eager to know?'

"Alright, I'll tell you" he immediately perked up; looking at me with rapt attention making me shake my head with a small mischievous grin "But" I cut his victory short and watched as his once wide and curious eyes turned to ones full of confusion.

"If I tell you his story you have to tell me why you're here" he bit his lips and his eyes were narrowed as I watched him contemplate my offer.

'Why is he reluctant in the first place?'

After a moment of silence and thinking; he released a defeated sigh "Fine, but you go first" I smiled triumphantly and unsurprisingly he listened intently as I told the story, he chuckled here and there at the parts that little me thought my parents were getting rid of me, I told him about me hiding and overhearing my parents to my breakdown, that I refused to leave my room all day and how Dad felt so bad that he got me my most prized possession.

I ended the story with a laugh, having stopped playing with Mr. fluffy tails midway through and glanced over at my roommate and saw him still grinning from ear to ear along with slight realization etched on his face "And that's the story of the plushie I risked my life for" I chuckled at the absurdity of my own words.

"There was no way that I was leaving him to burn, it would have felt like I was leaving him behind" he nodded with a look of full understanding.

"Ah, makes more sense now, to be honest I thought you were a little crazy at first" I raised a brow at him "And now?" He shrugged "I still think you are" he said nonchalantly making me chuckle.

"Well you wouldn't be entirely wrong" he chuckled a bit before looking forward at the wall as a peaceful silence once again takes over the room.

"Hm, your dad, he sounds like he was a pretty cool guy" he had a far away look on his face as he said that, making me curious as to what he was thinking, before I smiled and nodded "Yeah, he really was" I looked over at him and saw him start to sit up back up from his slouch "I should probably introduce myself now, my names Tanner" I gave him a small smile.

"And I'm Maria, although you probably already knew that from earlier" he confirmed that with a chuckle and shortly after that the room went quiet again, the only sounds in the room being the whirring and beeping of the machines in the room.

I glanced at Tanner from the corner of my eye "Sooo" he hummed and looked at me "Yes?" He asked with a small chuckle.

I groaned and leaned back to lay on thin pillows "Come on! It's your turn to spill the beans, I told you my story on why I'm here and about how important my plushy is to me" I hugged said plushy closer to me as I gave Tanner a stare down who admitted defeat by briefly throwing his hands up with a grin.

"It's nothing big like yours" he admitted with a shrug "I just got hit by a car while walking across the street" his answer was vague and casual and I could only stare at him with silent disbelief 'How did he say that so nonchalantly?!' He acted as if getting ran over was but a minor everyday inconvenience.

Looking at him now he did have quite a few scrapes and bruises but nothing too serious looking.

'I saw some of his bruises earlier but I didn't know that he had been ran over'

Before I could question him more on what exactly happened, he began asking his own question "Sooo" he mimicked me which made me roll my eyes "What about your mom? How is she?" His tone was casual with no ill intent in it but that didn't make the question any easier to answer.

My slight irritation was replaced by shock as I was slightly surprised that he asked that question and I stared at him with disbelief.

'He really likes to ask the most personal questions'

He either didn't notice my look of disbelief or ignored it and just kept looking at me with intrigue.

In all honesty, Tanner's question was a little too much, making me shuffle uncomfortably on the bed as nasty feelings of dread and anxiety made a painful pit form in my stomach "I don't know what happened to her, all I know is that she was in our neighbors house in a dazed like state when I left her to run back in our own house" I muttered and attempted to calm myself by fiddling with Mr. fluffy tails ears again; hoping that he's done with asking such personal questions.

'I kinda doubt that though'

Every now and then I could see him looking at me through the corner of his eye, probably thinking of another question to ask me and I waited a few seconds before I sighed in defeat and turned back to look at him.

"What's your question? I can tell that you have one with the way you're staring at me" I told him matter of factly and he turned his body to face me with an air of seriousness surrounding him.

"Have you met the smile Doctor? I call him Dr. smiles, he's a creeper, always unnerved me and unfortunately I'm almost constantly in and out of here" I looked at him with a quirked eyebrow.

'Glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks the good Doc's off his rocker'

"Yeah, I was here awhile ago and before you ask, I had to jump out of my window to get away from something but that's not important, he was my Doctor at the time and yeah, he's definitely creepy" I shivered at the thought of having to see him again.

'Which will hopefully be never'

Tanner clapped loudly and pointed at me "I know right?! I keep trying to tell my parents but they don't think he's weird and a total creep and I'm like, how?! Just one look at his creepy smile and you know he's a weirdo" I nearly laughed at his enthusiasm that I too think 'Dr. smile' is a creep.

He slowly settled down and laid back on his bed "Even the staff here knows what he is and they still let him work here, it's so weird" I hummed in agreement with him "Yeah and he's so mean with the nurses too and she didn't even do anything!" He shook his head in awe at what was being allowed to happen here.

"This place is messed up, I mean come on, that's sketch" I sighed tiredly "Yeah it really is" I leaned back, trying to relax my tense muscles "I think I'm going to go to sleep...goodnight" he nodded slowly "Yeah I'm probably going to hit the hay too, goodnight" after what felt like five minutes I heard him whispering.

"Hey, Psst, hey are you asleep yet?" I didn't answer him, instead I had hoped that he would think that I was actually asleep. I burrowed my head further in the pillows and thin blanket "Mariaaa" I couldn't stop the little snort that left me when he started whining about how he was lonely and that the room was too quiet.

I heard him gasp dramatically "You are awake! I knew it-hey wait you've been ignoring me!" I didn't even try to hold in my laughter anymore "Wow and I thought we were going to be friends, I'm hurt" I only laughed harder knowing that he was joking.

I rolled over again and in the process of doing so, I catch a glimpse of him smiling "Psh, what made you think we were going to be friends?" I tease with a grin as he looks at me with his mouth hanging wide open in fake hurt.

"I share a room with you and you treat me this way? Now that's harsh" he pretended to wipe a tear from his face making us both laugh and make fun of each other for nearly the whole night.

It was after my tenth yawn that we finally called it a night and went to sleep and despite sharing a hospital room with a guy I just met, it was actually one of the best nights of sleep I've gotten in awhile.