Daniel cooked some eggs, bacon, pancakes and toast. He poured cereal and juice in a glass. He placed all of it his green tray. He carried it up stairs. When he entered the room, she was still asleep.
She looked peaceful and well rested. She looked like it was the first time in years since she got to sleep in a nice warm, safe bed.
He smiled at her. She looked happy, and he was happy for her. He placed the tray on the floor and slowly took out the needle from her arm. Violet opened her eyes with a jerk and shot up quickly.
“Whoa, whoa, you’re okay,” Daniel explained. “Just getting the IV out, I brought you here, remember?”
She looked around and nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Good. Well, on that note, morning. I brought you some breakfast up here. Lay back, relax, okay?” he said picking up the tray. Violet lean against the pillow and eyed the tray. Her mouth started to drool.
“Holy shit!” she almost screamed. “That’s a lot of food!”
“I guess,” he said questioning her views of measurements. “The cereal is however my, but the rest is yours. I thought I could eat with you, talk a little,” he said talking his bowl before Violet had the chance to stab him with the knife he stupidly let her have.
The tray covered Violet, and forks started attacking the plate. She dug into the warm meal and moaned as she bit into each bite. “This is so amazing!”
He found himself smiling along with the girl. He took a couple bites of his cereal. “I am happy you are eating. How long as it been since you got a meal like this?”
“Years,” she said with her mouth full.
Daniel frowned. “Please, do chew your food.”
Violet didn’t reply to his statement. She stared at the walls, chewing her food, then looked to the window to see the snow falling down. She turned to Daniel. “It’s snowing.”
He just replied with a caveman sound.
“Are you going to build an igloo? Or a snowman? Or best of all, a snow angel? I think snow angels are just so beautiful. I mean, snow is pretty, and angels are nice and stuff, but when you put the two together, it’s so breath taking, and so wonderful and graceful that you just can’t help to spread your wings out and get lost in all of the white around you.”
“You just got from the snow, why do you want to go back?” he asked.
“Why not?”
“You’re . . . odd,” he said taking a bite of his breakfast.
“And you’re boring,” she snapped, turning her head towards him.
He seemed to gulp. “Sorry, but I don’t like the snow.”
She shrugged. “Can I go outside then?”
“What? No, why?”
“Because it’s snowing, duh,” she said.
He narrowed her eyes. He hated the way she talked, yet he was drawn to it. “You could speak a little nicer, don’t you think?”
She looked away. “I suppose.”
“How’s the pain?”
She smiled. “It’s gone.”
“Good. What you really need it the most was a lot of fluids, and some cranberry pills.”
“Well whatever you did, I’m not feeling any pain.”
“Where did you stay, before? Can I ask? Where did you stay during the cold before here?” he asked.
She stopped eating per second, and it is split moment he could see her eyes filled with emotions. “Here, there . . . . everywhere.” It sounded like she didn’t wanted to talk about those places.
“So, no home?”
She seemed to laugh about it a little. “Yeah, no home.”
“Do you have a plan as to where you are going?”
Violet turned her head towards him and narrowed her eyes. “What’s with all the questions, uh?”
“I just-“
“What? Just wanted to get to know me? Just wanted to help me? I’m unhelpable dumbass, and you better get that through you thick head, pony boy! I I know how this works! You being nice to me, then you expect something back. ”
“Pony boy?” he asked in a near whisper. “Look!” he said standing up, almost slamming the bowl on the side table. Violet’s eyes grew wide with fear, but Daniel didn’t hold back. He held a finger up and screamed down on her, “I am just trying to help you. I don’t know what you think I’m going to do, but I swear to you I am not doing anything and expecting something back. It will you please stop disrespecting me and my in my house.”
She looked away. A few moments passed by. He sat back down and took his bowl back. She looked like she was on the edge of crying but trying not to. He didn’t feel bad one bit. She nodded quickly. She wiped away a tiny little tear.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“You better be,” he said placing back the bowl on the table and crossing his arms. “Look, I’m not a mean person. I just ask for you to be a little respectful. It’ll get you far in life. I’m not saying be a totally kiss up, just be a little kinder to those who help you.”
“But I didn’t ask to be helped,” she said looking up at him.
He just nodded. “Yeah, well, a lot of us didn’t ask for things we didn’t want in the first place. It just happens, okay?”
She nodded. “I wonder, and walk everywhere. I sang for money, and . . . did things here and there. I don’t have anyone and I try to keep it that way. I’m just trying to make it. I had a sleeping bag, but someone stole it from me. Steal from the homeless, isn’t that just something. It was my only friend for a long time.”
“Where are you from?”
She took a moment and sighed. “Colorado Springs.”
Daniel gave a smile and nodded. They were starting to get somewhere now. “Okay.”
“Why did you take me? Are you a serial killer? Like, you said you were a doctor-“
“RN.”
“Same thing, Doc,” she said.
“Not really, big differences,” he explained.
“Still, you’re Doc either way. But you’re not going to gut me, are you?”
He smiled. “Not sure at this moment.”
Violet’s whole face turned white. “Please, tell me you are just kidding.”
Daniel got the hint behind the suddenly unusual tiny voice. He nodded, “Yes, I am just kidding. Don’t worry. You’re safe here, okay?”
She nodded and returned to the food on her tray. Daniel picked up the T.V. remote on the nightstand and turned on the tiny T.V. Violet gave a long sigh as Daniel flipped through the channels. She glared at him for the longest time. Daniel finally saw her blue eyes shooting through him.
He looked around as she didn’t let go. “What?”
“T.V.? You are the odd one! You want to get to know me, but you put something like that on? How? Doc, you are supposed to be a doctor, a smart cookie. Just think about it. You can never get to know someone like this.”
He looked to the TV and then to her. “I don’t know. I thought we were done talking, you know?”
“No! We are not!”
“I’m sorry,” he said watching the T.V.
“Turn it off!” she demanded.
“You may like this show. Also, you can add a please in there.”
She sighed. “What’s it about?”
“It’s an adult cartoon show, but by the judgment of mouth, you would like it.”
“I don’t like T.V.,” Violet mumbled.
“Well, you will like this, and it keeps your mind off of trouble in your life. Trust me, you’ll like this show.”
So they did. With a sigh, Violet watched the show. They both gave a slight giggle when something funny happened. Nothing that funny happened. Nothing to hug your stomach and just shake all over, or to even give a real laugh too. It was all middle school humor and nothing else. Daniel didn’t know what was exactly happening in the show, he just watched. Violet didn’t care. She kept looking outside the window.
After the show had ended, Violet turned to Daniel. “So, what do you do for fun?”
Daniel pointed to the T.V. “This.”
“That?”
“That,” he answered.
Violet pointed to the T.V. “This?”
Daniel nodded. “That.”
“Why?”
“Because . . . . It’s there, and it demands to be watched,” Daniel sighed.
“It doesn’t demand anything, it’s T.V.,” Violet “When is the snow going to melt?”
Daniel turned his head away from the T.V. for the first time in ten minutes. He felt as though he had been punched in the stomach by the little blonde head. He sighed. “Just one more episode, eh?”
She sighed. “No, I don’t want to watch anything anymore,” she said pulling the blankets up to cover her head. But she forgot that there was a tray of food, making it fly all over the place. Daniel and Violet both jumped out of their skin and stared. Violet seemed to freeze.
“Goddamn it,” Daniel said.
“I’m sorry!” she seemed to almost screamed, out of fear. Daniel noticed the tone.
“No, it’s ok-“
Violet didn’t let him finish. “I got this; I’ll clean this up, okay?”
She started to pick up the plates and the cups. She got the food picked up quickly. Luckily there was no spill on the sheets. Violet picked up everything and stared to run out the door. Daniel just watched her leave the room. He took the sheets off and put them in a pile.
He remembered the fear that grew so big in those bright blue eyes, as if she thought a fist was to meet her face as a punishment. The way she stepped back, the way she tried to hide away, though she couldn’t. The way she ran out.
Something trouble had seemed to surface to her face. In those twelve seconds, she seemed to have told a story. He sighed and met her down stairs.
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