St. Mary's

6

Rory had finished crying a while ago, he'd decided to go out behind the cabin to cool down, he laid under a large tree on top of a checker red blanket. He watched as the wind moved the branches, the sunlight and blue skies peeping through the gaps of the greenest leaves. The sounds of crickets and birds relaxed him. He and his parents lived in an eco-friendly house in the middle of the woods, it was a very self-sufficient and modern house. Even though his father was the CEO of a very prestigious world-wide, and of course eco-friendly company, they were very modest and free-living. His parents' were basically hippies. Nature was the only thing that truly soothed him when he was sad, it felt like home to the little ginger. He outstretched his hand to shield his face from the light, he twisted it slowly as he felt the hot beams of sunlight wrap around his skin. He closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling, however after a moment the heat was gone entirely. He peeked open an eye to see Jordan towering over him. He quickly scrambled backwards towards the tree as he lowered his gaze.

"I didn't take it."

"I know." Jordan said softly, apologetically.

"I really didn't, I swe-" "Wait, you know?"

As Rory looked up Jordan's heart broke at the sight of his red and puffy eyes, and the tears that stained his fair and flawless cheeks. He sighed gently, as he sat next to the smaller boy, on the small red blanket.

"I'm sorry," He whispered "I'm so, so sorry."

Rory looked up to see a tear fall down Jordan's own face, he instinctively reached out to wipe it away. As his thumb gently caressed his cheek, Jordan tensed, gently taking the smaller boy's wrist. He stared into Rory's pale green eyes with his own chestnut brown ones.

"I didn't mean to get so mad, it's just... I need order, and when things aren't in order, I get so mad. I can't stop myself, I just lose it completely."

Rory gave a little nod to let Jordan know he was listening.

"I found it behind the desk, I just assumed you took it because of your kleptomania... I shouldn't have assumed. It was so hard to even come here, I guess all my frustrations plied together and I-I lost it completely. I didn't... I didn't hurt you, right?"

"No, I cried more in shock than pain." He admitted.

"Can I see?"

Rory took of his bright blue jacket to reveal slightly red upper arms, but no bruises. Thankfully. However, Jordan didn't sigh in relief, he still felt incredibly guilty. Jordan knew he'd never hit the boy, but he still felt bad for getting rough. Rory had already forgiven Jordan, he understood mental health issues like OCD could cause violent episodes. He could see how sorry Jordan truly was as he continued to whisper pained sorry's and self-criticism. He gently placed his arms around Jordan's neck, giving him a hesitant but sweet hug. Jordan halted but ultimately encase Rory with his large muscular arms, breathing in his sweet smell. He smelt like honey and almond butter. Jordan sighed contently as Rory absentmindedly nuzzled into his neck. He couldn't remember the last time he was hugged.  

........................

Later during dinner, everyone had brushed off Jordan's outburst, they were all here for different reasons but if there was one thing they all had in common, it was the ability to understand that they can't control certain aspects of their minds. It's why they're all here, after all. As they were in line for dinner casually talking to one another, Eli spotted something in front of him. The zombies. But that wasn't what caught his eye, it was the large bruise on the back of a boy's neck. He looked at the other 'zombie' boys, some had bruises on their wrists, a boy with purple hair even had a black eye. I mean the wrists could be restraints, right? But the back of their neck? Why did they have bruises anyway? They seemed almost dead as they moved robotically through the line. Eli was beyond curious with the way Si was so hell-bent to stop Jordan from attracting attention from the guards, and the way he vaguely explained it was a bad idea. Eli was smart, he could tell something was wrong, seriously wrong.

When everyone had returned to their assigned rooms that evening, Jay decided he was going to ask what had been playing on his mind all day. He sat down in his bed and waited for Si to settle down, once the lights were off, he spoke up.

"Si." He said quietly.

"Yes?" He stated unsurely.

"Can I ask you something?"

"If this is a booty call, count me in." Si said with a laugh.

"Can you just be serious for a second?"

Si was taken aback by his blunt statement. "Y-yeah."

"What happened to you here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you stopped Jordan from making a scene to prevent him being sent to the crazy cabin or whatever, but you also gave comfort to Eli at dinner the other day when he panicked ... It's like you're scared of the guards, or something, scared of attracting their attention."

"What's your point?" He spat.

"You care about them, right?"

"I don't care about anything."

"Then why did you do it, help them?"

"I didn't want to get caught up with the guards, if Eli had a panic attack it would have attracted  even more attention. If Jordan didn't stop the guards would have come. I don't want to be punished for someone else's problems."

"What do you mean punished?"

Si didn't reply, he knew he'd already said too much. He turned over in his bed, trying to get comfortable. He heard a loud scoff, as Jay turned in his own bed.

"You're not fooling anyone, something is going on with the guards and I'll find out eventually."