Chapter 5
Marco POV
After Ace left with Tiara I entered the infirmary to talk to the Doc. Thatch followed me. "Ah Thatch that's a good thing, can you please make an herbal tea for Tiara and bring it to her. She should be drinking lots of it now." the Doc asked him and Thatch went straight to the kitchen. "Why did Ace take her away, wouldn't it be better if she stayed here and how is she?" I wanted to know from him immediately. I noticed that she looked a little dazed when Ace took her away. "She didn't want to stay in the infirmary. She could be related to Ace, stubborn as she is. She's doing well so far and should be back in shape by the end of the day tomorrow. I told her not to run around alone and stay in bed. That's what I told Ace and told him that he was responsible for keeping her in bed. Since she is a guest I could not force her to stay here in the infirmary. Luckily she had only taken one pill." he told me. There was something wrong. "Are you sure it was only one? Thatch and Ace couldn't wake her up, that isn't normal if she only took one." I asked again. "With normal sleeping pills they would have woken her up, but not with these." he started and reached for the pack. "These are very high doses, so it's no wonder Thatch and Ace couldn't wake her up right away, even though it was only one." he added. "Did she say anything about why she took them or where she got them?" I asked the doc, but he said no. After the conversation with the Doc I went immediately to Pops cabin and told him everything I knew. Before I left Pop's cabin he said that he would try to talk to Tiara himself tomorrow to see if we could get some of her memories back. My way after that was not directly into my cabin but on deck.
I wanted to do one last check before I go to sleep when I discovered Tiara at the railing. What was she doing here? The Doc told her not to walk around and there was no trace of Ace, who should take care of her and was responsible for her. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your cabin, lying in bed? Doc said you shouldn't be walking around. You should be resting. Where's Ace, he's supposed to be watching you?" I asked her after I arrived at her place. But I did not get an answer from her. She just turned around and went back below deck without looking at me. Had I really scared her so much that she doesn't even look at me or talk to me anymore? Since I wanted to make sure that she lay down again I followed her to the guest cabin. Tiara went into the cabin and slammed the door in my face. I stayed in front of the door for a while, not sure if I should go in and try to talk to her again or if I should just go into my cabin. "Are you all right, Marco?" Thatch asked and I couldn't think of anything else. I just nodded in response. "It didn't look like you are okay." Thatch said.
I went into my cabin and he followed me, so I told him about the situation on deck and that Tiara seems to ignore me completely now. "Are you serious, Marco? You immediately bombarded her with questions again instead of apologizing for going a little too far in your last conversation? Well, I wouldn't want to talk to you then either." Thatch told me his view of things. That I had to talk to her about the thing in my cabin was clear to me, but how if she ignores me and flees from me? I didn't know what to do for it yet but I'll think of something. "You are already so lost in thought again. One thing that's very rarely from you." Thatch stated. "I was talking to Tiara earlier. She said she took the pill to keep her from having nightmares. Something seems to be bothering her so much that she prefer to take those pills to be able to sleep through the night. But since she had given that info away unintentionally I didn't ask what kind of nightmares she has." he explained to me briefly and then said goodbye. After Thatch was gone I undressed and lay down in bed. Sleeping was not possible now. All the time I had to think about Tiara. She was in my head the whole time. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I was sure she was hiding something and I wanted to know what. The thing that Thatch told me wouldn't let go of me either. I wonder what kind of nightmares she has. What had she experienced that made her have such bad dreams or memories that haunted her, that she took such high doses of pills to suppress them? But to learn all this I had to win back her trust. A quiet "Marco" tore me out of my thoughts.