Gaining Innocence

Discoveries (CH:18)

CHAPTER 18:

A small, sticky hand appeared in his line of sight and he took his royal blue crayon without asking. Henrikas pursed his lips in disgust. Pausing in his drawing, he cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes as the other proceeded to ignore him.

"Excuse me, that's mine."

The large hazel eyes looked up at him, blinking once, before looking away. Ignoring her question, the boy had resumed his drawing.

Irritation flared brightly in his gut and he manipulated it as best he could.

Infanticide was a line he wouldn't cross, but he was reconsidering the idea because it was getting more and more tempting as each second passed, trapped in this little hell.

He took a deep breath and silently counted to twenty in Lithuanian before turning to the boy again.

"I said it's mine."

The boy looked at him with a frown. Henrikas wondered if his face ever contorted as much as the child, it was quite strange to see how malleable the children's faces were, and frowning.

"It doesn't have your name," he sniffed arrogantly, and turned away.

Henrikas resisted the urge to push his red crayon up to the rude boy's nose. If anything, it would add a lovely deep red hue that would definitely enhance the color; however, the toilet was something else.

"Is there something wrong here?" One of the caretakers came out suddenly with his hands resting on his hips. She was one of the youngest who worked here. Her brown hair was tied in a ponytail and flowed past her shoulders, reaching her pale yellow uniform at the hip.

Henrikas wondered if the woman had taken too much pride in her hair or just an idiot for not tying it up enough that the sticky little hands couldn't reach it. Henrikas leaned toward the latter. She certainly didn't look bright.

"He took my crayon," Henrikas began, trying not to sound too smug about it.

She smiled, but it was fake, rather forced because it was expected of her, and she bowed halfway. "Daniel, Did you take his crayon?" "He didn't ask me," Henrikas pointed out.

Henrikas was insulted by the investigation and her easy dismissal of him. That was rude of him.

He, Daniel, how worldly, frowned, "He doesn't use it."

Henrikas did not point to the scattered crayons the boy had chosen and placed on his table. He didn't need to know if the girl had a pair of eyes that could see perfectly ... which didn't seem to be the case. He purposely didn't mention the too many crayons on the rude boy's table.

She was playing favorites or blind, maybe even both.

"Why don't you let Daniel borrow the, uh, what's your name?"

"Henrikas". At least the female had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Right," he said, shaking his head, "Can you let Daniel borrow the crayon?"

"Daniel, what did we say about yelling in the room?" the woman said reprimandingly.

"No, because it is loud and annoying to others," muttered the rude boy.

"Yes, that's right," he said condescendingly, "We respect each other, so that means ... no yelling, no hurtful words, and no fighting. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Miss Fiona," the boy said reluctantly, staring at him.

"Great now - Daniel, I see you have a blue one here, can you stop ... Henrikas, right?" He has nodded, avoiding rolling his eyes. "Henrikas, it's okay. Can you let Henrikas lend you your crayon?"