"Dave, look at me."
"What do you want from me, Rose?" Dave sighed.
"I asked you a question. Please do me the favour of answering."
The two of them were seated side by side on the public bus, and Rose had been pestering him since they sat down. Dave didn't want to answer her questions, especially because they all had the same answer: John Egbert. What on earth would she think if he said he was acting this way because of a sickly boy? He wasn't even sure what he thought about it!
"I don't know what you want me to say. I'm just getting my community service over with, okay? I don't want to be stuck in a dreary hospital all winter, all right?" he raised his voice the slightest bit. Not so much that he'd gather the attention of the bus, but as much as it took to get Rose off his back.
She shook her head, "Dave, why are you doing this? This isn't you and you know that. I know your brother has passed away, but that doesn't mean you need to act the way you're acting. Talk to us. Jade and I are both here for you, and so is our mother, even though she is currently incapacitated."
"Which is my fault too, right?" Dave scoffed. He didn't expect Rose to hide the truth from him; that wasn't the kind of person she was. "I know, okay? I know my stupid behaviour is making her drink again. It's not like I'm doing this on purpose, damn it…"
"I know," her voice was softer now, "but, Dave, you have to understand that she cannot handle the way you're acting. Neither can Jade and I. We're only human, you know."
Dave looked out the window of the bus. There was still a good five minutes before they reached the hospital, and he was sure Rose wouldn't just let it go at that.
"It's going to come back and bite you in the butt if you don't stop. Can't you just think about life before your brother's passing? Despite his strange personality and how he constantly criticized you, he really loved you. Mom still has that picture from when you were younger and he was holding you, looking panicked," Rose smiled. "Mom said he was so frazzled and that you hadn't stopped crying. He kept asking her what to do, but you know what else he said that day?"
Dave tried not to show the emotion building up inside him. He didn't want to make a scene.
"He said that, if there was one thing he was absolutely sure of—as he looked at your sleeping face—that he was going to be a really great brother."
Dave looked away. He could feel tears welling up in his burning eyes and he didn't want her to see. He didn't want to show weakness.
"It's okay for you to cry," Rose said, as if she was reading his thoughts. "Everyone cries. It's part of being human. Nobody can always put up a brave face. If you feel sad, you should cry; if you feel happy, you should smile. I miss seeing you smile…"
Dave cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "Yeah, whatever." He continued to stare out the window until he felt Rose suddenly grab his hands, forcing him to face her. She had a stern look on her face, as if she was going to scold him, but she never did. She knew his stop was next, so the last thing she said to him before he got off was, "Dave, you're not in this alone."
When the bus stopped, Dave got off and looked back, giving Rose a slight wave before heading inside the hospital. He really wasn't in it alone. The day he lost his bro, Rose also lost him, as did his mom. He wasn't the only one who was grieving. He knew that.
"Dave, you're early," his probation officer looked surprised as he walked inside. "How nice."
"Yeah, whatever," he said again, moving past her to continue with his usual routine. He would go get his cleaning supplies, pass by a few sick kids and clean for a while until he ditched his officer and went to see John. This time, however, things were different. His officer stopped him before he could take another step, "Actually, we have something different for you today. You've been doing well with cleaning but today we're going to assign you to help out some of the patients, okay?"
"Oh…" Dave said, internally wishing he'd scurried off quicker so she wouldn't get the chance to tell him. "Well, who am I helping? What am I supposed to do? I don't know these people."
"You don't have to know them to help them," she smiled. "Today we have you helping Terezi Pyrope, okay? She's in room 413, on the fourth floor. She's blind and the lady that usually walks her around for exercise isn't here. That's where you come in. Just head on up and she'll take it from there."
Dave nodded and waited until she left so he could sneak up the wheelchair ramps. While he did, he passed by the boy he saw his very first day at Skaia. He was riding his wheelchair down the ramp along with the lanky guy with the clown makeup again. They seemed to be together a lot. Dave suspected they must have been really good friends.
As they passed him, Dave caught a snippet of their conversation.
"Um… w-when do you think I'll b-be out of Skaia, G-Gamzee?"
"I dunno, bro, heh, but no matter what I'll be with you the whole time."
Strong bond, Dave thought to himself as he scampered off. Once he reached the fourth floor, room 413 wasn't hard to find. It was straight down the hallway. He knocked on the door and when he heard a 'C'm in!' he waltzed on inside.
"Uh," Dave looked around the room. There were crayons and markers littered all around the floor and pieces of printer paper that had been doodled on with reds and greens.
"Hello?" the girl was seated on her bed, doodling away on a piece of paper. Dave wondered how she could see anything she was doing. He walked over and looked at the paper, surprised to find that she was pretty good, despite being blind.
"Nice pictures," Dave said.
"Thanks," she giggled, pushing up her red sunglasses. Dave had to give her props. He always respected a good pair of shades.
"Um, I guess I'm supposed to walk you around?" Dave said, although he wasn't actually sure.
Terezi pushed herself up and stretched, knocking over a few stuffed dragons that had been placed on her bed. "Oh, so you're the new guy?"
"Yeah," Dave said, "that'd be me. The name's Dave Strider."
Terezi reached her hands out and touched his face. He jumped, surprised, wondering what the hell she was doing. "Why are you—"
"Shorter hair, pretty sweet sideburns… You're wearing sunglasses," she said, giggling. "You're surprised."
"Well, yeah," Dave pulled his face away, "it isn't normal for someone to feel up someone else's face, you know?"
She grinned, "I can't picture you in my mind if I don't at least feel for myself how you look."
Dave sighed, feeling slightly bad about his reaction now. "Right, sorry. Anyway, should we go?"
Terezi looked at him briefly before standing to place herself right in front of him. She reached out and grabbed his hands, just like the way Rose did.
"What are you doing?" Dave frowned. The sensation was far too familiar and it reminded him of home. He didn't like how she could do that to him by just holding his hands. She was basically a stranger.
"You don't want to be here, do you?" she asked. "I can tell by your voice."
"Well, I don't mean to make it obvious," Dave said.
"When you can't see anything, like me," Terezi said, "you learn a lot by listening to someone's voice. The pitch tells me you're in the peak of your teenage years, but the tone tells me that you haven't had an easy life. You still harbour your emotions, don't you? You're one of those people that thinks it's okay to put up a brave front, aren't you?"
Dave's eyes widened behind the cover of his dark shades. How on earth could she tell all that just by the way he spoke? It scared him. A lot. He didn't even know what he could say to something like that. It was like talking to Rose. She knew what he would say before he even said it. It was almost like she was psychic—her and Terezi.
She let go of one of his hands and pulled him toward the door, "Let's go then, shall we?"
She completely changed the subject, Dave anxiously thought to himself, but followed her nonetheless… Hey, wasn't he supposed to be the one leading?
"Terezi," Dave huffed, flustered, "I'm supposed to be walking you around Skaia, not the other way around."
"Oh, please, I've been here a while now; I know my way around the hospital, even if I'm blind," she snickered. "You are just for safety."
"Like an accessory?" Dave joked, regaining his composure.
"A radical accessory," she joked back.
The two of them walked around the square shaped floor, exchanging brief stories or jokes every so often until they reached Terezi's room for the third time. "Is that enough?"
"Sure," she said. "I don't need to walk around that much. I mean, I'd rather be doodling."
"Right," Dave said, pushing open the door for her. She walked on in and plopped on her bed, grabbing some crayons and her stuffed dragons.
"So, what now?" Dave asked, "What do I do?"
"You're supposed to stay with me," she said, giggling, "but I can tell there's somewhere else you want to be."
"What?" Dave was taken aback. Was it because of his tone again?
"You…" she paused briefly before continuing, "You have the voice of someone who's had a lot of pain, but there's someone you're thinking about—someone that takes your mind off of it."
Dave took a step back. What was she getting at?
"Dave Strider," she began, "are you in love?"