The Shades of Blue

Chapter 2

With absolute precision ,he slowly pulled at the not holding the gauze and began peeling it apart. Its not like he hadn't been hurt before but the last thing he wanted was to worsen the wound and ask for someone's help. And the probability of Sage strangling him with this dirty bandage him was very high,high enough for him to not take the risk.

There was a vertical gash on his palm,bigger than he had believed. Lightly prodding the skin around it he hissed loudly. Placing the cotton back on the gash, he rolled the bandage again but it wasn't as simple as he had thought. Holding one end with his teeth, he tried again and managed to roll it a few times until a hand pulled it from his mouth.

She unpeeled the messy layers and placed the cotton back and then carefully began doing it.Sage. She wasn't looking at him rather concentrated on the task at her hand. She smelled like  jasmine tinged with a faint of vanilla.

Honeysuckle

Her brunette hair pulled into a ponytail were occasionally brushing against his face,annoying him. Seems like even her hair liked to get on his nerves. He looked at her fingers and noticed the lack on ring or any signs it had ever been there. There was a faded burn mark slightly below the purlicue and the brown nail paint was half chipped away.

"There. Done"

He grumbled a low thanks in return and pulled his hand away.

"What?"

"Thanks"

"What? I can't hear you?"

"I said-", he saw the teasing smirk back on her face and stopped himself. She ruffled his hair lightly and got up from his bed. There was a tray resting beside her which she must've brought with her. There was a stack of pancakes dressed in maple syrup along with a cup of coffee beside it. He could feel his mouth watering at the sight and his stomach grumbled in appreciation.

He could feel his face heating up in embarrassment and ducked his head down. He didn't even remember the last time he ate, maybe it was yesterday or before that. He was brought here yesterday and he has been sleeping since then. He wanted to get up and brush his teeth but he remembered the last time he had tried to get up and definitely was not looking forward to fall flat on his ass, especially not in front of her.

"What's wrong?", her eyebrows wee pulled together with a look of confusion plastered on her face before it morphed into one of a realization. He wondered if she was always this easy to read for others.

"You don't like pancakes", it wasn't a question but more of a statement.

"Uh n-no. I just-" he was caught between telling her or not because without her would he'd probably die from starvation if he didn't eat and going alone to the bathroom was out of the options. She sat back and lightly pulled his right hand in hers.

"What's wrong ,Robin?"

"I can't get up", the words were whispered so quietly that he wasn't even sure that she had heard him. He looked at her face to see the reaction but unlike before there was nothing visible on her face. It was like a blank canvas, she wasn't showing anything. Picking up the tray she turned around but rather than taking a step she placed it on the bedside table and extended a hand towards him.

"Come on"

A small smile came on her face as he took her hand. With wobbling legs, he slowly got up and hobbled across the room towards the bathroom. The bathroom looked pristine just like everything else here. Holding the basin for support he held himself up in the front of the mirror.

There were huge dark circles under his eyes with his lips turned purplish and cut on his bottom lip. He was wearing a pair of light green hospital gown that fell below his knees with the center's name printed on the back. His unruly midnight black hair looked like they hadn't been washed in a decade. Rising his working arm he tried to fix them but his gaze fell on a dark purplish mark on his wrist and a few other littered across his arm.

He felt like his legs were going to give up with the reality of the situation settling in. Deciding to ignore, he picked up the brush and settled on the floor and did what he had actually came to do. After wiping his face with the clean towel he had found in one of the the shelves he slowly opened the door and saw her standing right where he had left her, beside the door.

Holding his hand like she had done earlier he helped him sit cross legged in the bed and placed the table in front of him.

"Enjoy"

"Thanks for your help" were the last words he said before shoving a giant bite in his mouth and couldn't help but moan at the heavenly taste. He was so engrossed  in eating that he didn't see her still standing there. With his mouth filled like a chipmunk he  looked at her questioningly but both didn't say anything.

"Take your pills after eating", she reminded her as if it was even possible to ignore the multi colored dozen pills resting in the tray. Fine, not a dozen but still you can get the memo. Deciding against arguing with her, he bobbed his head in affirmative way.

"Don't choke on the pancakes." he couldn't help but smile at her words as she left the room. Once he was done with the breakfast, he popped the two pills and washed them down with a glass of water kept of the table. She must've brought it while he was inside.

Now that he was alone, he could feel his thought creeping back in his brain. Lightly skimming over the discolored area on his arm , he flinched a little with pain. Must be from an Iv, he thought and could say the same for the others too. Turning his hands around he looked at them, wondering how he became a human skeleton. It this what everyone saw? Is this why they always held a look of pity in their eyes? He could remember his haunted black eyes looking straight back a him in the mirror in the bathroom.

"Why do girls like black eyes?", he grumbled loudly falling face first on his bed.

"Do I look like a girl to you,idiot?"

Holding the comforter close to him, he tried to close his eyes and sleep before he went down the memory lane he didn't want to. After all sleeping is the only thing he had been doing for the past months but now it doesn't seem as easy as it had been with the drugs and alcohol in his system.