Genesis [malexmale]

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-One

The gardner was back.

He stood across the garden, clipping at some bushes, occasionally sprinkling things with water, and he had come back with bird seed this time. As he stood by the rose bush, dressed once more in his khakis, blue polo, and matching hat, he held his palm out and the bird from the bush immediately flew to his hand, landing on the tip of his finger and stooping over to snatch up seeds. The fae smiled sweetly at the thing, reaching up with his free hand to stroke the soft feathers of the creature, who didn't appear to mind at all. In fact, he seemed to bask in the attention he paused his feast to throw his head back and twitter.

The fae laughed and rubbed the thing's tiny head before it went back to eating and the fae was content to watch it with a delighted smile.

The door to the room opened with a quiet breeze, and I immediately recognized the nurse coming in with the equipment to give me my first meal of the day. I wasn't looking forward to it, but the entire time she hooked things up, shoved that damn tube down my throat until it felt like the thing was going to puncture my colon, I focused on the gardner outside.

After he finished feeding the bird, he dropped the extra seeds to the ground and went back to tending the plants. He stroked the leaves of every bush, every flower, and even the small apple tree, and seemed to be murmuring gentle words of encouragement. He moved slowly, took his time, did his job with great care and satisfaction. He took out his phone after a while, typed something, smiled big, and typed something else. Then he appeared to be calling someone and held the phone to his ear.

His husband, I knew instantly. That smile said it all, and the way he did a little spin, like he was super excited, made my heart swell, if even a little.

He hung up and packed up his things, heading out through the side door and disappearing from sight. A few moments later, the nurse was hauling the tube back out of my throat, my stomach full to the point of feeling uncomfortable, and I watched out the corner of my eye as the nurse began to hook things back up, a frown creasing her features.

She didn't look as free as she had last night. Her dark hair was coiled back up into that tight bun, her dark eyes narrowed, lips pressed tight as she wrapped the tube up and tossed it in a biohazard container. She wasn't wearing a lacy bra today, not that she was walking around naked, I just knew by looking at her. Probably something beige and plain.

The way she felt.

Did you not have fun last night? I projected to her. She froze in mid-grab, her eyes going wide before she snapped her head around to look at me. She stared and I stared back, watching the color drain from her face, her hands trembling as she took them away from the machine.

"E-Excuse me?" She asked. They told me you couldn't talk, she thought with immediate panic. Her thoughts immediately erupted with all sorts of ways to kill me, from injecting something in my IV to smothering me with a pillow. She wasn't going to lose her job over someone like me, no way. She'd just left her husband last night after returning home, and because she'd moved in with him, he'd kicked her out and she was currently staying at a nearby hotel. She needed money if she was going to survive on her own, and she'd be damned if I was the one who ruined it all for her.

You can't kill me, I responded to her thoughts, and she stiffened, besides, you don't need to. I'm not going to tell anyone. I know why you did what you did. She swallowed hard, her brows screwing up in confusion as she stepped closer to the bed.

"What? Why?" She asked, her voice cracking. I could smell the pain and guilt beginning to waft off her, like pungent fumes permeating the air, and her stomach was sinking low as she relived last night over and over again in her head. Her decision had been last minute. She'd been in the room to clean up and she'd gotten so close to the bed. She apparently stood there for a full minute, admiring me like something in a display case, and she stood there thinking about how angry she was at the world, how angry she was at me for making her feel something she'd never felt with her husband, angry that she wasn't who her husband wanted her to be.