It took longer than expected. For Liu to come back, I mean. I had already finished my breakfast and was currently sketching in my little sketchbook while Whiskers rests besides me, watching me flick my pencil into multiple directions. While I was so concentrated on my drawing, I heard the door click open. I know it had to be Liu, since most people besides him usually knock before entering, so I didn't bother to try and hide Whiskers. As expected, Liu came in, almost hesitantly. He shuts the door behind him, walking back to the chair he sat on before, taking a seat. He doesn't look at me. He doesn't look at Whiskers. Hell, all he's looking at is at his feet. I pause from my drawing, placing my utensils down on my lap, allowing Whiskers to curiously paw at the pencil I laid down. "You okay?" I softly ask Liu, who responds almost immediately, "fine." I bite the inside of my cheek. The room was filling with tension way too quickly. I try to look over to Helen for help, but he seems too concentrated on his drawing. Thanks, Helen. I shortly purse my lips. "Helen?" I call out for the raven haired male, who lightly tilts his head up to look at me. "Can you help me get on my wheelchair? I'm, uh, paying Cici a visit." I smile shyly. Helen stares at me for a few seconds before looking straight behind me, presumably at Liu. "Liu would be glad to help you this time." He states. I turn my attention to Liu, who seemed surprised at Helen's sudden statement. He tilts his head to look at me, as if asking for permission. I give him a smile, which seems enough to convince him to help me. "Um, sure." Liu utters, pushing himself up from his spot. He heads over to my bed and hesitantly eyes the blankets over my lap. "Just tell me if I accidentally hurt you." He clears his throat nervously. I smile reassuringly and nod, extending my arms out to him. He hooks an arm underneath my legs and the other on my lower back. I wrap my arms around his neck to get a secure grip, making sure I won't suddenly slip from his arms.
Liu is being overly careful and gentle with his actions as he walks over to the other side of the bed, where the wheelchair was. As he carried me over to the wheelchair, I swear I could feel his heart wanting practically explode. His heartbeat was rather quicker than normal. I didn't question it, though. I felt him gently place me onto the wheelchair before straightening up his posture. I thank him with a smile. "Want to come with me?" I offer kindly, just to break off this thick tension in the room. "To where?" He questions. "To this one little girl called Cici. Her family doesn't visit her often so I spend time with her when I can." I beam. Liu lightly smiles before nodding. "Sure, why not?" He chuckles shortly. "Great! Helen, watch over Whiskers, will you?" I question before placing my hands on either sides of my wheelchair. I see Helen nod curtly, "sure." I flash him a smile before nodding my head towards the door.
"Come on, let's go!"
~
He doesn't know why, but he has this itch. This itch to see her again, this itch to touch her again. She was the only thing keeping him mentally stable for the time being. But after many days of futile attempts of trying to escape and see her was slowly making him unstable. He was much more aggressive towards everyone, more than usual, that is. Every time somebody tried to talk to him, he would snap at them. And being constantly watched by his acquaintance wasn't making this any better.
"Masky,"
"What?!"
Masky's voice was rough and agitated. His fingers twitched in need as he narrowed his eyes at the orange hooded male. Hoodie crossed his arms over his chest. "Look at how you're acting. What would Slender think of you?" Hoodie spat. Even if his expression isn't visible, it's clear by the tone of voice that he was heavily disappointed and irritated with his friend's behavior. Masky scoffed, hugging his own arms whilst digging his nails through the fabric of his jacket. No matter how or when he tried to leave, Hoodie would always be one step ahead of him. Hoodie was always the one with tricks up his sleeve. It would be useful in certain situations, but not in this one. "You're shaking," Hoodie pointed out. Masky narrowed his eyes at his friend and said nothing. "Stop doing that." Hoodie placed a firm hand on Masky's shoulder, only to have him violently jerk back. Even through the black holes of his mask, he could clearly see the fury burning in his eyes. "Don't fucking touch me," Masky sneered so venomously. Hoodie didn't expect his friend to ever act this way. And it's all because of some idiotic female out there. If Masky wouldn't get his shit together soon, Hoodie would be more than ready to finish this girl off himself. "Alright. Keep acting like this. See where it'll get you." Hoodie bluntly warned before making his way past his friend.
~
I knock on the door a few times before hearing a soft, high-pitched voice reply to the knocks, "Come in!" I cast Liu a short glance and a smile of reassurance before pushing the door open. Liu helps out by holding the door open so I'm able to enter more easily. "(Y/n)!" The little girl who sat in her bed along with a few papers and crayon excitedly turned towards me. I smiled, waving at the younger girl. "Hey, Cici. Already drawing, I see?" I giggle softly, making the little girl nod. She picks up one of the multiple scattered papers on her bed and holds it up. You can barely tell what's going on in the drawing, but with her explanation it will start to make sense. "This is me on a unicorn!" She points her little finger at a stick figure riding on a circle with four sticks attached to it and a stick attached to the head. I smile broadly. "You've been practicing a lot, haven't you?" I question, making little Cici excitedly nod. As she places her drawing down and ready to show me another, she catches the eyes of someone behind me. She cocks her head to the side. "Who is that?" Her innocent voice questions adorable as she curiously eyes Liu. "Oh," I shortly laugh, slightly turning my wheelchair sideways to glance over to Liu, "that's my friend, Liu." I state. Cici eyes him for just a few seconds more before smiling. "Liu! Want to see my drawings?" She beams excitedly. Despite Liu having multiple stitches across his face, Cici doesn't bring up any of them. What a cute, little girl. Liu chuckles and walks over until he's next to me. "Sure." He responds, kneeling down in front of the bed and resting his arms on the mattress. Cici claps her hands excitedly along with a giggle before grabbing another drawing she had scattered on her bed.
They were all cute drawings, to say the least. All cutesy scribbles made out of the colors from the rainbow. However, they progressively started to get odd. It started out with fantasy pictures, such as her riding a unicorn, finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, et cetera. Then it went on to family drawings. From her mother celebrating Cici's birthday with a little cupcake to her father being buried beneath the ground with her and another little girl standing on top of him. Even Liu thought this was getting a little too weird. But hey, kids have crazy imaginative minds, right? Cici was proceeding to her last drawing, which she explained to be her and her best friend 'putting daddy to sleep'. Liu was oddly quiet the whole time, eyeing all her drawing curiously, as if he was trying to piece something together. I, however, just nervously laughed. "Very... nice, Cici." I respond, to which she smiles proudly. "I spent all day drawing these! My friend told me she'll be taking care of daddy soon." She smiles innocently, showing her few missing teeth. I glance over to Liu who simply stares back at me with furrowed brows. I turn back to Cici and clear my throat. "Cecilia, does your friend not like your daddy?" I question. Cici shakes her head. "No, but I don't like him either! He hits mommy a lot." She frowns. Ah, I see where this is going. An abusive husband, huh? Poor kid. "How old is your friend?" I ask. Cici looks down at her little hands and starts counting with her fingers, before stopping at eight. She holds up eight fingers. "Eight! Like me!" Her smile returns. Liu looks puzzled, so do I. What would an eight year old little girl mean by "putting daddy to sleep soon"? Probably just little girls with their imagination. I don't pay much attention to it. She's young, what does she know? "I really like it when my friend comes to visit me." Cici suddenly starts.
Sounds like she really likes her little friend. I smile, going along with her story. "Oh yeah? When does she come visit you?" I ask. "When I'm sleeping." She responds. That's a little bit of an odd response. But then again, she probably means during visiting time when she's usually asleep. "She wakes me up to tell me stories and play! It's very fun!" Cici giggles excitedly. I smile. Well, good for her. She got some company her age to keep her entertained. Liu shortly stands up to stretch his legs, since he's been sitting on the harsh floor with his knees the entire time. He stretches his arms out above his head whilst shooting a glance at the clock. "It's almost lunch time." He states. Already? I follow his gaze to the clock. Oh wow, he's right. Time surely flew by fast. I should probably get back to my room. "Ah, I should probably head back." I state. Cici looks disappointed for just a few seconds, but accepted the fact I had to leave. "Aww, okay! Bye, (Y/n), bye, Liu!" She waved us goodbye before we left her room.
Liu shut the door behind him as I already made my way down the hall to head to my room. "Weren't those drawings odd?" Liu commented. I agree with a hum and a nod of my head. "Yeah. But she's a kid, what do you expect? Kids go through these weird phases." I state, making Liu shortly laugh. "Yeah, you're right about that." I chortle softly. It took merely a minute before I arrived back in my room. Liu held the door open for me like he did before. Helen was still peacefully sketching in his sketchbook and Whiskers was still sleeping on the bed. I wonder if Helen ever does anything else besides drawing. Once I entered my room, Helen looked up from his sketchbook. "Good that you two are back," Helen flipped his sketchbook shut and shoved it back into one of the empty plastic bags. "I need to leave early." Helen states, standing up from his spot. I raise a brow. That's new. Leaving at lunch time? He has his reasons, most likely. "Oh, okay..." I mutter out. "Your lunch is in this bag and your dinner in this one." Helen pointed at each bag individually before looking up to Liu. "Do you mind watching over her for me?" He asks. Liu shakes his head. "Gladly." He responds. Helen nods and grabs his bag with the art utensils. "Appreciate it. I'll see you two tomorrow. Bye." Helen shortly waves at both Liu and eye before leaving the room, leaving me alone with Liu. It's just me and him, now. Okay, well... "Can you help me onto the bed?" I ask. Liu snapped out of his short trance and hastily nodded. "Of course," he responded. Like before, he hooks his arm under my legs and one on my lower back before carrying me to the bed. He places me onto the mattress unbelievably gently before draping the covers over my legs. Whiskers was laying next to my propped up pillow, soundlessly sleeping. I turn over to where the plastic bags were and try to stretch myself out enough to try and reach them. "Careful, I'll get that for you." Liu lightly tugs me back into the position I sat in before going over to the bags. He grabbed one of the bags and placed it on top of the empty chair where Helen sat previously. He took out a plastic container and popped the lid off. Just like Helen does, he grabs a plastic fork from the bag and sticks it in the container before handing it to me.
As always, I thank him with a silent smile before eating my delicious lunch. The TV had been on the whole time on this kiddies channel, so I decide to change it up into something more interesting. The news, of course. The first few couple headlines weren't such bad news, more like showing phone recordings of people saving animals. It's good that we still have these sorts of people around. Makes my heart warm up. As I'm eating my food, I notice Whiskers sniffing at the container I had on my lap. This made Liu quickly lean forward and pull Whiskers away. "No, we don't eat that." Liu stated as he placed Whiskers on his lap before hunching down to grab his backpack. Out of the backpack, that I assumed was empty, he grabbed some sort of green cup with a lid screwed onto it. Liu unscrewed the lid and pressed down on it, making the lid magically transform into a bowl. Man, the things people invent these days. The cup was filled with kibble, which Whiskers seemed very excited about. Liu placed down the tiny bowl and poured in enough kibble to fill Whiskers' little stomach up. It's so cute seeing Liu take care of his pet. I mean, by his appearance, he seems like an intimidating person. I certainly thought that about him when I first met him. But who knew he would end up being such a gentle soul? As I was busy appreciating Liu's care for Whiskers, a sudden voice from the TV caught my attention.
With the good news out of the way, the grim ones were surely to come. The so called 'headless body in the woods' has finally been identified by people. It's shocking that it took them so long to find out who the person was. I was barely listening to the news' anchors words, I was much more focused on the pictures. Mainly the pictures of Emma. My stomach churned inside and I suddenly lost my appetite. I frown, shoving the container away from me. Liu seems to notice this and grabs the container with half-eaten contents inside away from me. "Not hungry?" He asks, grabbing the lid from one of the plastic bags and putting it back onto the container. "Lost my appetite." I confess softly, fiddling with my fingers. Whiskers had already finished his bowl of kibble. The feline licks his lips before casually walking over to my bed and jumping onto my lap. He curls up on my lap and rests his head against my stomach along with soft purring, as if he were to comfort me. I smile ever so slightly, giving Whiskers a light scratch behind the ear. I sigh, shifting my attention back to the TV. I can't let this haunt me forever. One day or another, I'm going to have to move on. But one thing just leaves me puzzled. They found Emma's body, but not her head. And to this day, Dylan's body hasn't been found or talked about at all. Did someone discard the body so quickly? Has none of his co-workers noticed him missing, or do they just not care enough? Will I ever find out? Most likely not. Just thinking about it gets me heartbroken. As I was slowly slipping into a cloud of depressing thoughts, I heard someone knock at the door. "Can I come in?"
I recognized that voice that belonged to Samantha, which meant there was no need to make an attempt in hiding Whiskers. "Yeah!" I reply. The door clicked open and Samantha entered with a clipboard in her hands. She shut the door behind her and smiled at both Liu and I. She usually never comes by at lunch time, unless Helen didn't bring any food. So, why is she here? "Okay, so," she starts, looking down at her clipboard for a few seconds. Her lips held an excited smile before she looked back up to me. "We usually send our injured patients to physiotherapy, but since it's an hour long drive to get there, we let them decide for themselves." She starts explaining. Physiotherapy, huh? Does that mean I'm ready to start walking? Now that I think about it, the idea of walking sounds a bit worrying. "Some people are more comfortable being helped by someone close to them instead of a stranger, so if that's something you'd like to do..." Samantha trails off, travelling her eyes over to Liu. An hour drive isn't long, but it might be a hassle getting me in and out of the car and bringing my wheelchair along, et cetera. So, I might as well get all the help right here. "Um, yeah, I'd rather get help here, if that's okay." I state. Samantha beams happily. "Okay!" She pauses shortly to scribble something on her clipboard. "Well, then I'll come back later. I'll be helping you with a few leg exercises and we'll take it slow from there, okay?" She asks for confirmation, to which I agree to with a nod. "Alright, I'll see you soon." She shortly waves Liu and I goodbye before walking out of the room. Liu turns his head to me with a smile. "Ready to start walking again?" He questions in a teasing tone. I laugh shortly, playfully rolling my eyes. "Yeah, I can't wait for people to stop babying me." I joke back.
Liu chuckles lightly. "You'll help me out, right?" I smile, extending my hand over to Liu. He hesitates for just a second before gently grabbing my smaller hand in his with a smile.
"Of course. Always." He beams.