Burning

Chapter TWENTY

It really wasn't her fault if she touched it or not. Sometimes things just, fell, right? When Annie had 'cleaned' Mariah's room she had mostly just shoved things off the bed into the corner and since then Mariah had decided to tidy none of it. Well, occasionally she would dig through the pile, find whatever she needed and leave the rest. She often cursed the whole time about not being able to find whatever it was she was looking for, make a vague comment about the mess needing to be taken care of, then start over a few hours later. But Gabby wasn't supposed to touch anything.

It was day six of her convalescence period, supposedly ending tomorrow and she'd been out of the room a total of five times. On top of that Chris had suddenly stopped coming to relieve her of her boredom the last two days. It was strangely reminiscent of the days at the library. His absence was more noticeable now that she was used to it. And he was a good distraction. She was soooo bored. But she wasn't supposed to touch anything.

Mariah's error was leaving her alone so long. She should know better. Gabby couldn't stand it anymore.

She poked the delicate chain attached to a small metal box with her toe, then tugged it slightly. Gabby glanced at the door. She curled her toe and tugged again. The box came loose, along with a shower of other items. Gabby put both hands on her face. "Oh noooo how could that have happened?"

She turned to the door, scooting a few inches at a time until she was next to the escaped papers, bottles and other random bits. "I'm just cleaning it up. Putting it back where it belongs."

She flipped open the metal box greedily. Inside appeared to be a series of metal toothpicks each tipped with what reminded her of the colored see through plastic that decorated the wooden spear shoved into diner club sandwiches. She pulled one out, surprised with the weight of it. The side felt a little gritty and when she rolled it in her fingers a dusty coat came off to show the dull orange of rust. She put them back quickly, burying that one on the bottom. Only one thing examined and she's already messed up.

Gabby clasped her hands around her legs. She glanced at the door, rocked back and forth a few times, looked at the pile. Gabby picked up another box. This one just seemed to be random junk. Safety pens, a few thumb tacks and ugly gray bobby pins. She put that back neatly and moved onto a notebook. This was more interesting. Mariah didn't really seem like the artsy type but it reminded her of sort of free form poems with titles like 'Blind' and 'Quiet for everyone'. They were a little too modern. Gabby had no idea what she was supposed to feel from reading them. She replaced that neatly on a box and noticed something white and shiny in a jar. It was very much not in the pile she'd accidentally dislodged.

She grabbed it anyway. It looked exactly like the ointment Mariah had put on her leg previously, minus the concerning red streaks. In fact... Gabby examined her leg. She had a large area of scabbing at this point and pink, sensitive skin around it but the cut was completely closed. It didn't even bother her when she bumped it. Werewolves had crazy good medicine. She frowned, wondering if the infirmary team hadn't used any on her since she was human. She found a second notebook, or, what she thought was. Instead it had letters, sealed in plastic tucked inside the pages. They were all in the same scratchy handwriting.

After you reached out I thought you were going to visit us but I guess that was too much to expect from you. It rains here more than I'm used to. He behaves- most of the time. Please respond. Oh, and you're welcome.

-L

You missed my birthday but I didn't forget yours. Did you like the flowers or did you throw them away?

-L

I saw horses and thought of you. Did you need another charm for your collection? All you need to do is respond. Why did you ask me a favor if you are just going to ignore me again now?