I muttered painfully as a large weight pressed down over my body. I struggled to move around barely able to even lift my legs under the wet sheets. S-S-So hot -! My eyes popped open spying a dark green ceiling and decorate bars which lined the top of the bed. I sucked in a deep breath wrestling with the covers crushing me under its supreme weight.
"H-Hurts -!" I muttered before gasping. I tightly gripped the top of the covers using all of my morning strength to shove them off. I barely freed one leg from the feet tall of covers before toppling over the bed in a painful heap. W-What the heck -?! I spun around, gapping for air as I spied the ten layers of comforters stacking high on my bed. I was sleeping underneath that?! I was nearly crushed!
I sighed as a pile of folded clothes caught my eye. I picked up the tan cargo pants and blank tank top. Ah, these are different from my other clothes but...a smile spread across my face. I bet Nightmare got these to help me cope with losing everything. Ah...all my stuff...this sucks! My violin, my wrench, my money...everything. A frown pulled my lips down as reality once more slapped me in the face. Nothing. I...really have nothing here. I sadly sighed. This sucks...everything I've worked so hard for is gone - a faint rapping interrupted my thoughts.
"May I come in?" The irresistible voice crooned. I perked up in an instant looking over my clothes; well, I'm as decent as I'm going to get. I quickly pulled my hair back and hopped on the bed.
"Come in." I answered. Gray opened the door carrying in a tray with soup and a glass of water. I leaned back in surprise. He brought me breakfast in bed? "Huh?"
"I thought you would be hungry. You didn't eat anything before you went to sleep right?" He asked setting the tray down on the nightstand.
"Ah, I didn't. Thank you." His eyes flickered over to the sweat inducing covers.
"Were you warm?"
"Ah, it was fine, thank you." But I don't remember having so many covers. Heck, I don't even remember climbing into bed. Maybe I woke up in the middle of the night and climbed in?
"That's good." He noted, setting the food down on the nightstand before suddenly asking, "Miss Jackie...would it be too much to ask for you to reconsider staying here?"
"Yes." I huffed. I don't want to be a stupid baby sitter for Nightmare.
"That's not very nice...," Nightmare's pale face intervened peering in while hiding behind the door. Oh gosh that's creepy...
"It's the truth." I noted watching as he lifelessly came in. Is he alright?
"No...," he huffed flopping over like a deflated balloon.
"Ah, Master Nightmare -!" Gray cried catching him.
"Hey...you don't look too good." I noted. He's paler than usual and actually has a sheet of sweat over his face. How...gross.
"Master Nightmare was up all night mooning over whatever thoughts you had...he was quite shocked you see." Gray explained. Ah; I guess he is the type to over think things.
"Urk -!" Nightmare gasped as he coughed away.
"Master Nightmare please don't cough blood on the carpet." Gray ushered pulling out a hankey. Wow...this kind of reminds me of a mother hen. Without warning Nightmare erupted into a fight of laughter.
"M-M-MOTHER HEN -!" He cried laughing hysterically before hunching over in agony, hacking up his bloody lungs.
"Ah, here, cough into here. And then go see a doctor." Gray coolly and efficiently said as if going through a scripted play.
"No." He immediately rejected.
"Why not?" I interjected.
"I don't like hospitals." He huskily stated.
"Seriously? That's your reasoning?"
"Of course! Hospitals are evil -!" He started before sputtering out a bit of blood. I heavily sighed. Maybe I should work here; it's a nice place and I'm sure there's something I could do here. "Really?!" Nightmare shouted, excited.
"Yeah...," I moaned as if sealing my fate.
"Yay~ you can start work right away! Gray, show her around the building~," Nightmare sang as he llithely pranced out of the office.
"...Was I just tricked?" I asked aloud. I can't believe it...duped by stupid Nightmare...what an embarrassment to be fooled by such an idiot.
"Gah -!"
"Master Nightmare?!" A timid voice trilled outside the door. I chuckled. Ha; now I can torture him a little more for making me participate here in Wonderland. Gray sighed with a smile.
"Ah~ it would appear so. I apologize for his rudeness." Gray sheepishly smiled as his bright yellow eyes gave away his guilt.
"...Were you also a part of it?" I asked suspiciously. Gray simpered as if already asking for forgiveness.
"I'm sorry. I merely thought that this would be the safest place for you." A faint blush touched my cheeks.
"I'm not weak." I sourly pouted strutting past him. How embarrassing...he's thinking that I'm weak?
"Are you?" He so quietly muttered under his breath I barely caught it.
"Huh?" I asked, looking for confirmation of what he said.
"Ah, it's nothing. Come; I'll show you around." He hummed, leading the way.
‡
"Over there is the office where all of the paperwork is sorted and there are the offices and blah blah blah...," Everything he explained went right over my head as I zoned out; a problem that occurs when my stimulation is not being met. I blindly passed my eyes over the interior of the Clover Tower amazed at the intricacy and complex architecture of the place. How in the world is that ledge being led up with nothing but thin wire? Were metal bars used to help reinforce the base?
My curious eyes fell over Gray's broad back. Gray...how tall is he? 6'1 or something? I subtly measured off our height. Hm...I'm about up to his chin. Or shoulder? I can't tell because he's walking right now. My eyes narrowed in on a gecko tattoo on his neck. Hm? I gazed evenly at the flat design watching as it looked like it was crawling up his neck, frozen in time. Huh...that's looks pretty cool. His eyes too...they look like the purest form of yellow diamond. Or is that Topaz? I -
THUMP.
I stumbled back, stunned by the sudden blow against my entire left side. My foot twisted awkwardly as I stared at the wall in a daze. I hit the wall -?
"Jackie?" Gray's voice asked as he turned back. Without warning my other leg buckled, dropping my entire body over the inwardly twisted ankle. Ouch -! I quickly scurried back to my feet as my right foot went completely numb. Ah...oh, ow... I - I think I just twisted my ankle... I jumped as Gray was instantly by my side, fluttering over me as if I was a baby who had just broken her arm.
"Are you hurt?!" He demanded as he panicked scanning my body with a precis eye.
"Ah, yeah I'm fine." I said trying to lighten my embarrassment. Ugh...I just took a spill in front of him. Jeez...
"How in the world did you hit the wall?" He asked looking over me with concern deeply imbedded with each word that poured out of his lips, "did you hurt your eyes earlier or something?"
"Ah, well, no. I'm blind in my left eye; I was looking somewhere else and then I hit the wall." I sheepishly explained. His eyes grew wide as he took my cheeks in his hands, tilting my head up for closer inspection.
"How did that happen?" He asked breathing his warm, minty air over my face. A faint flush traveled to my cheeks as I removed his hands.
"I was born with it." Sort of. If mom hadn't smoked such funky stuff and drank while she was pregnant with me I probably would have been just fine. I should be lucky nothing else it wrong with me though.
"Liar." He pressed dissecting the deepest parts of my words with his daffodil yellow eyes. Huh...the outer edge of his iris is darker then the center. I carefully analyzed the canary yellow center which faded into a more brown towards the outer edge.
"Are your eyes natural?" I asked barely touching his cheek. Are they color contacts? He blinked, startled as I suddenly derailed his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, yes, they are natural. What else would they be?" He asked in a puzzled tone.
"Well, they're really cool looking. I've never seen someone with eyes like that so I was wondering if they were your actual eyes."
"Who's else eyes could they have been?" He asked, suddenly flustered. I snickered at his reaction. He's funny.
"Ah, never mind then. Hey, where's the kitchen?" Gray's eyes suddenly got very wide.
"Ah, you haven't eaten yet!" He noted as my thoughts went to the soup in my room. Oh yeah. I forgot about that.
"That's alright. I'll just go eat what you brought me in the room." I said standing to my feet. My jaw grew taunt as my ankle began to burn. I slyly shifted to my left foot letting it bare the full brunt of my weight. Oh gosh I've twisted it bad...
"No, don't bother. It won't taste good cold." He commented pulling me towards the kitchen. I stiffly followed behind struggling to hide my limp. My ankle was too stiff to even bend and burned at every step. I held my tongue silently following Gray. I won't let him treat me like a baby. He freaked out when I just fell! What will he think when he sees my foot? Even I cringe to even think of what it looks like.
Each twist and turn made my foot scream in anguish. Oh gosh...this sucks...I continued to remain silent as he entered the kitchen which, surprisingly, was empty. Now that I think about it I haven't seen a lot of the employees around.
"Hey Gray, where is everyone?"
"They are on vacation for the most part." He answered, "Here, come sit here."
"Ah- ," I started as he gripped my hips, easily lifting me up and setting me on the granite counter. I squirmed as he leaned forward with an eager expression.
"What do you want to eat?" He purred looking up to me with impossible to say no to eyes. I swear I'm such a sucker for pretty eyes.
"Ah, eggs would be fine." I said trying to hide my right foot behind my left.
"All right then." He said rolling up his sleeves. His face turned from playful to pure concentration as he analyzed the tools before him with a calculating and critical eye. He flipped the pan in his hand and gently placed it over the grill turning on the wide hot surface. Huh?
"Hey, Gray shouldn't you use a stove?"
"Huh? But this has more surface area for the pan." He said as he opened the fridge. Ah...well, yeah but it doesn't work like that. The pan is designed to stay over a flame not just a hot surface really. He took out a carton of eggs pulling out two and stuck them in a bowl. Huh? He grabbed a whisk and cracked the eyes mixing the shell with the gooey yoke and all.
"Gray, what are doing?" I asked in shock. Is this how everyone in Wonderland make their eggs?
"Isn't it obvious? I'm whisking the eggs."
"But there's going to be egg shells in it."
"Not if I grind them to dust there won't be." He smiled as he continued to madly break down the eggs with monstrous strength. My heart sunk as my stomach churned just watching him prepare my poison. Oh my gosh...is that even safe to eat? With the eggs grinded up like that? He then proceeded to stick two pieces of bread in the microwave.
"Uh...," I started catching his attention.
"Oh, I thought it would be nice to have some toast too."
"Right...," I exaggerated watching doubtfully as the machine pumped heat into the yeast filled substance. Alright I give up on ever eating. I'm going to go hungry but at this point I want to see just how badly he'll screw this up. This is interesting. Gray then stepped over and got some butter dropping the entire stick of butter into the pan and swished it around. My arties already began to clog just watching the fatty juices swirl around the pan as clueless Gray prepared my death.
"Gray...that's way too much butter." I noted watching with disgust at the heart stopping fat.
"You think so? I just want to make sure the eggs don't stick to the pan." He said without the slightest doubt. I sighed.
"Gray, have you eaten at all yet?"
"No I haven't why?"
"Here, just let me cook." I can't cook well either but I sure as heck know how to make something so simple like eggs and toast.
"No no, I insist." He pushed pouring the mashed eggs and all into the pan. He swished it around with the butter trying to mix the unmixable substances. I heavily sighed at his disaster. There's no use. He's a complete mess. I slipped off the counter landing on my feet.
"Ouch-!" I yelped immediately hitting the ground hard as an open cabinet rammed into my upper torso. I bit my teeth and glared viciously at the smug ankle. Dang it! Again! Why are we getting off to such a pathetic start?!
"Jackie?!" He cried, abandoning his monstrosity and knelt beside me. "Where are you hurt?" He demanded immediately spying my hand clasped over my ribs.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! I just fell that's all." I said trying to protect some of my pride at least. His eyes grew wide as he spied a little bit of blood from the sharp edge.
"You're hurt!" He gasped as he gripped my shirt and pulled it straight up. I stiffened as horror flew over my face. He just -! My mouth remained opened as my throat closed with terror, unable to get out any words. My limbs were nailed together as his finger swept across the sensitive area making me shutter with both embarrassment and pain.
"Gray, is Jackie hu...rt...?" Nightmare started as he stepped into the kitchen spying the compromising position we were in. A cheeky smile fist for Boris lit up his face as his eye sparkled, "Oh~ what a naughty subordinate." Nightmare teased.
"Urk -!" Gray cried as his face gained a touch of red. He immediately got to his feet and stomped over to the doors and slammed them in Nightmare's face. His shoulders were stiff as the back of his ears flushed madly. "M-My apologies. I-I hadn't meant for it to be taken in such a way."
"Ah i-it's fine. No harm done." I answered, shaken by his suddenly forceful side. Well, I guess every mother hen needs a side like that. From the other side of the door Nightmare was laughing up a storm as Gray latched the doors closed, hurrying off to another room.
"Don't move." He commanded as he tried to hide his flushing face by entering another room. I sighed and slumped against the side. My gosh...I'm such an embarrassment to women everywhere. First I fall and pretty much bust my ankle and now I cut my ribs to which he took the liberty of looking at first hand...Ugh. This totally sucks. I'm afraid to even look at him now. "Here."
"Huh?" I glanced up spying him crouching next to me with a first aid kit large enough to fit an entire person in, "Holy - is there an ambulance in that thing?!" without a pause in beat he touched the edge of my shirt before pausing, thinking twice. I sighed and rolled it up myself stopping just shy about the cut. "G-Go ahead. I can't really treat it as well from this angle anyway."
"Yes." Was all he stated as he gently placed a cold goo over it. I flinched back from the cold touch but strongly held through as he laid layer upon layer of cotton.
"Don't put too much on; if you do you'll suffocate it." I warned, wising up after I saw the horrors of his cooking.
"Ah, r-right, " he sheepishly said taking off the excess fifty layers. He carefully wrapped gauze around it before retreating, accidentally tapping my foot with his hand.
"Ouch-!" I yelped as my body immediately shied away from the painful contact. He jumped at my reaction as his eyes flashed to my foot. I avoided eye contact as he figured it out, peeling back my pant leg.
"I-It's so swollen -!" He cried, shocked at it's terrible black and blue state. I groaned and thumped my head against the counter.
Could this day get any worse?
‡
sorry about all the references to getting feet hurt. I recently twisted my ankle pretty bad and that's all that's on my mind lol. Alright, 30 or so reviews for the next one. Don't be shy! Give me ideas; I need them :3