Teach Me to Please | Please Me #1

TWENTY SIX

When you walk into a hospital with a large bag full of things that clatter, it's safe to say people give you looks. Working in that stupid storage room was the devil of hell and that bitchy woman at the front desk never failed to make some sort of annoying remark.

"This is your own fault."

"You should think about what you did."

"If you can't pay the time, don't do the crime."

I considered snapping back but the first time I did that got me with the ridiculously large stack of papers that never failed to make a reappearance every time I went to that room.

I didn't get dinner at the refectory this time though, but instead managed to sneak my way to the exact place I wanted to be. Upstairs. Room 8.

I didn't know what this place was for but all I could say was that these rooms were built to be lived in. They weren't the classic, small, sterile, plain white rooms, but instead the beds had real duvets covers on and the walls on each different room were plastered with personalised designs such as posters or lights, even plants.

I found my way to Room 8 and self-consciously knocked on the door, holding the bag close to my body.

"Come in!" a voice chirped behind it. I nervously gulped. I could be in serious trouble for this. But what was life without a little trouble? I pushed the door open to reveal to the room. The walls had shelves stacked with cards and flowers but the odd souvenirs from random countries stood out too. There were posters of singers like Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey, and Halsey stuck to the walls as well as sketched pictures of frogs and rabbits for some unknown reason. However, laying there on the bed with a light blue duvet cover with pictures of puffy clouds and delicate butterflies on them, was exactly who I wanted to see.

She was colouring in a colouring book, the picture of a bird, before she looked up and smiled brightly, excited to see me.

"Sienna!" she exclaimed and hopped off the bed, running over to her desk to put the drawing down and rushed over to me before flinging her arms around my neck. I was taken aback at the sudden embrace but didn't mind it.

"You came!" she pulled away, still smiling like mad. I had met this girl a matter of two times and she was already treating me like a friend. "What's in the bag?" she then looked down and furrowed her brows at the huge, clunky tote bag weighing down my shoulder.

I awkwardly coughed and pulled the bag off my shoulder. "You said the hospital staff refuse to buy you new paints." I walked to her bed and placed the bag down, I pulled down the top to reveal several colourful paints, vibrant with shimmer blues and pinks, fluorescent greens and yellows, and glossy purples and reds. I watched as her eyes lit up and a little squeal left her lips.

"OMG!" she jumped up and down and rushed over. Her eyes flickered around like flames dancing between each vivid emulsion.

"They're not technically new, but they're not so old that you can't use them –"

"Thank you!" she cut me off and threw her arms around me once more. This girl was definitely a hugger. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squeezed me tightly and shook me around. She was tiny but had the strength of a freaking polar bear.

It's always the small ones who are the most vicious, aren't they?

"Can't.... breath..." I choked out as she squeezed me so tight, she was cutting my air supply. This girl was bony too and the skinny bones of her fingers clawed into the back of my neck.

"Sorry!" she chirped. "It's just.... It's been so long since a friend gave me a gift and... and..." she was she excited she couldn't finish her own sentence. Was this girl on crack or something?