It had been a week since then, and I'd settled quite nicely into the Benedicts. Obviously, I was still afraid, but Gray had been with me all through the week, helping me getting along. Somehow that made it easier, even though I shouldn't trust him. It was funny how the worst part of my day was when he left for school, despite the fact that I should've felt relieved. 1 person in the house (normally Sky) was a lot better than the twenty billion that normally inhabited this place.

So I had survived, but that didn't mean I was any less angsty. I was still waiting to do something wrong. I'd been told off though, and nothing had happened. I'd been explicitly told to not make any more meals, which wasn't that confusing, they perhaps liked cooking a lot. What was confusing though was their reaction to me making breakfast despite their wishes. They just asked me not to. That was strange where I came from. You were never asked to do anything. You either did it or you were beaten to unconsciousness.

"We're home!" Friday had come and gone, allowing a sigh of relief to escape my mouth. I'd been bored for the past week. With nothing to do but patrol the forests, I'd soon run out of things to entertain myself with. Which meant long mornings of staring up at the ceiling and long afternoons of Gray talking to me whilst I mumbled answers. I didn't mind the latter so much, those were actually quite enjoyable, but it gave me the feeling that we were getting closer. And doing that hurt.

"Oh, Gray can you do the shopping for me?" The question was asked but the rest of the sentence was lost to my ears as Sky's voice shushed down. I'd lost my curiosity over what people said in this house after that day with the soulfinder talk. I didn't want to confuse my mind any further. In fact, I'd done a pretty good job of repressing that memory for the duration of this week.

I was still staring up at the ceiling, almost in a trance, when the door opened. Startled, I jumped up, sticking my back to the wall and taking on a defensive pose. When I saw Gray's head sticking through the crack of the opened door, I relaxed, slumping back down on the bed.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"No, it's fine." He could see that I was lying, the scepticism in his eyes too obvious to miss. Regardless he invited himself into my room, like he did on most days. I'd gotten used to it, but that's not to say that it didn't still send my heart racing.

"Anyway, I heard from mom that you've been cooped up all day. She wants me to get some socks for Max and Vince, so I was wondering if you'd want to come. You still need to buy yourself some winter clothes." Now that he said it, escaping the house did sound nice, but getting out only to go into another enclosure didn't sound nearly as pleasant. Especially considering how over-stuffed it would be. He was right though, I did need new clothes. On some days, it was so cold that I couldn't go out without shivering half to death. Sighing, I decided. I'd need to do this whether I wanted to or not.

"I don't have any money." Ok, so maybe I didn't make up my mind that much. Maybe I was still making excuses in my head. But it was true, I couldn't afford any other clothes. The monster had only ever given me money to do the shopping, and I was expected to only spend money on that. If the monster found out I'd splurged a little on myself he would've gone ballistic.

"Were you honestly expecting to have to pay for your own clothes? You're part of the family now." I'd never been told that in my life. It left a warm feeling in my chest, one I hadn't experienced in so long. But I couldn't let him do this for me, I didn't deserve their money – I'd done nothing but mope around for a week straight.

"No, I can't possibly let you do that, I-"

"Maisee stop freaking about it, clothes aren't that expensive anyway, and mom gave me extra to pay for you." Gray tried to keep convincing me, but my mind had wandered. I didn't pay attention to the end of his sentence as an idea popped into my brain. Surely if I started to go to school again and got a part time job I could pay them back? It's like he said, clothes aren't that expensive so I'd be able to earn the money for them in no time. Then I wouldn't feel so bad about what I was doing.

"I… Alright." A huge smile lit up his face, and just like he always did, he offered me a hand to stand up from the bed. Shakily, I brought my palm up to his. This was the first time I was letting him touch me, but it was different to whenever my dad did. He was always harming, his hands never rose to me if they weren't in a fist to punch me. But Gray's was open, palm up in a sign of peace. And for once, I found I could let myself trust, even if it was only this little bit. His eyes widened as he saw that I would accept his offer. I'd never done that before. A shock of electricity ran down my arm as our fingertips touched, and I noticed that Gray had felt it too as we both looked at each other in shock. Was this part of his ability too? I hadn't felt this with anyone else.

"C-come on, we… uh… we need to leave before the, um…" Then he stopped completely, just staring into my eyes. We hadn't noticed but I was still on my bed, my hand in his, and neither of us had moved since the electricity. "I honestly can't remember what I was saying." Too entranced by his presence, I didn't hear what he said. So tilting my head to the side, I let my voice drift around the room, hoping it didn't sound as vulnerable as I thought it did.

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind." I was bewitched by his presence, as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, shooting me a smile. He was so close to me. Wait. He was… Close. Too close. Closeness hurt. I needed to get out. Now. Startling out of the wonderful daydream he'd put me in, I took my hand out of his and helped myself to my feet, passing a stunned Gray.

All the while I was trying to keep my breathing under control. Gray had always seemed to keep me planted in reality but I'd never expected that reality. It was different to anything I'd ever experienced. And that was setting off alarm bells all over my head.

"Shopping?" A still confused gaze met mine as Gray deftly nodded, gesturing towards the door.

"Uh, yeah. Shall we?" I had to suppress a giggle at his confused expression. If I laughed at anyone back at the monster's house I would get screamed at, so I'd never even thought of laughing around him. But here in the nicest bedroom I'd ever had, with the nicest guy I'd ever met, all I wanted to do was laugh non-stop. With joy, with tears, with anything. Or even with nothing at all. He was doing something to my heart. I wanted him to stop. But at the same time, I never wanted it to end.

"Mhm." Humming in response, we made our way out of the house, still in a comfortable silence. I wish he'd fill it up with stupid comments to distract my mind from the path it was going down. I'd done this already too many times this week, a loop in time that just kept repeating itself. I discovered I was more comfortable with Gray than I should be, I freaked out, I told myself that getting close to others was dangerous, I figured out I couldn't help it, I panicked a little more, and then things went back to normal. That is, until it started again.

The walk to the car was short, and as he opened the door for me I had a small lapse of confidence. I trusted Gray but could I really do this? Could I trust him with taking me where we were supposed to go and not somewhere like the places my father had taken me? At my hesitation he rose his eyebrows at me, motioning for me to get in. It was like that first day all over again, when I couldn't force myself to take a step into the house.

Finally noticing that something was wrong, Gray let go of the door, leaving it hanging open. It teetered there, teasing me with closing and putting an end to the nightmare in my head. But never getting there.

"Maisee is everything ok?"

Hi :)

Extra long chapter for you wonderful people :) (1500 words, I mean I didn't even know my attention span lasted that long XD ) I've been seeing the nominations going on in the Finding Sky awards and OH MY GOSH GUYS YOU VOTED FOR ME? You all deserve the tightest hugs in the world!

An also a massive thanks to my reviewers, for making me feel amazing no matter what =^.^= I hope you guys liked this chapter :)

Bye bye :)