"You know what I find weird?" Crystal said as she sat down across from Alana at the lunch table. Alana raised her eyebrows expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"We can't go out to get our lunch," she said, mixing up the salad that she had on her plate. "We're stuck in this place for 12 hours."

"I never noticed that," Alana said, taking a bite out of her sandwich. She had made a turkey, ham, and cheese sandwich in the break room.  She didn't really care for going out to eat for her lunch break. It was only fifteen minutes and most of the food places that were around them had nasty food. Hospital food tasted better than the rubbish those restaurants served.

"How are your patients doing?" Alana asked, looking around the room. They had to be in the day room while they were on their lunch break so they could make sure the patients weren't doing anything out of the ordinary, as if it wasn't an everyday thing for them.

Crystal shrugged. "They're all right. I'm tending to this patient who has a severely case of ADHD and he can never sit still, ever, and his anger issues are crazy bad."

"How bad?"

"He got mad at me for not putting enough mashed potatoes on his tray, when I put the same amount every time. He lashed out at me and tried to hit me."

"Really?" Alana said, frowning a bit. "Damn, that's bad. Then again maybe he wants everything to be the same all the time."

"Or he's just a nut case," Crystal mumbled, eating her salad quickly.

Alana frowned, taking a few sips from her Gatorade. "You know he can't help it, Crystal."

"I know, but it's annoying."

"You do know that when you applied for this job, the first thing they said was "these patients can be a handful sometimes, but you have to learn to work with them". Does that not ring a bell?"

"It does," Crystal said, looking down at her salad. "But I don't want to work with them, I just want them to be normal."

Alana scoffed, and she shook her head, looking at Crystal angrily. "If that's the case, then maybe you shouldn't be working here."

Crystal looked up at Alana, a sigh leaving her lips. She realized what she had said wrong, remembering how sensitive Alana was about these patients. She felt for them a lot, and Crystal tends to forget that sometimes. The job gets too much for her though, and she does think about quitting, but she also needs the money to pay off college tuitions.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It just gets stressful sometimes."

Alana nodded, finishing her sandwich.

"Maybe we should go check on the patients, yeah?"

Crust nodded and she finished her salad, the both of them tossing out their trash. They walked over to the patients sitting in the chairs or walking around, eyeing them carefully.

"Alana!" Samantha said happily, running over to her and engulfing her in a big hug.

"Hey sweetheart," Alana smiled. "I didn't even know you were in here."

"I wanted to wait until you we're finished eating to say hi to you. I was watching you."

Alana frowned a little but she kept the smile in her face, pushing away the weird feeling she got.

"You were watching me?"

"Yeah," the small girl nodded. "I like watching pretty people. I want to be like them."

Alana took the girls hand and she walked over to a table that was in the middle of the room, sitting doesn't with her.

"Why do you say that, Samantha?" Alana asked.

"I'm not pretty. I know it because I have a mental issue, and you don't have one, so you're beautiful."

Samantha looked down at her hands, sad expression washing over her face.

"Thank you, Sammy, but your issue doesn't make you any less beautiful," Alana said, placing her hand over the hers. "You're still my favorite, beautiful girl."

Samantha looked up at Alana and a smile graced her face. "Do you mean it? That I'm your favorite?"

Alana smiled, nodding slowly. The girl wrapped her frail arms around Alana's shoulders, hugging her tightly. Alana hugged her back, rubbing her hand up and down her back.

"Alana," Crystal called from behind her.

"Yeah?" Alana answered, turning around face her. Crystal pointed at the entrance of the day room and Alana turned back around, her eyes landing on Laurent. He was walking into the day room slowly, his eyes looking over the patients with intensity. He observed each of them tantalizingly, as if he was picking out the weakest one. Laurent didn't care, though. He could be faced with the biggest person in this room, and he could bring them to his feet in seconds.

Alana stood slowly from her chair, her eyes flicking towards Samantha.

"Go sit next to Crystal, okay?"

Samantha nodded and she got up, walking over to where Crystal was. Crystal greeted her warmly, sitting her down next to her. Alana walked back to the table she and Crystal were at before and she took a seat facing the entire room.

Laurent saw someone moving in his peripheral vision and his head flicked in that direction, his eyes landing on Alana. She looked away from him quickly and she played with her hands nervously. Laurent made his way to a seat against the wall across the room from the table. His eyes never left her as he took his seat, and he studied her tilting his head a bit.

When Alana looked up she found his gaze on her making her feel small.

Don't show him your scared, Alana thought. She sighed and she stood up, walking around the room to check on the other patients. She noticed that Agnes wasn't in the room, so she was probably sleeping. She decided to check on her in a few minutes.

"Alana," Matthew sang, walking into the room cockily. Both Laurent's and Alana's eyes flicked to him, an annoyed look spreading across Alana's face. She moved to the other side of the room, attempting to avoid him.

"Come here, baby," Matthew smirked, beckoning for her to come to him.

"Don't call me that," Alana spat, utter disgust in her voice as he got near her.

"I want to talk to you," he whined as he leaned against the wall she was on. She rolled her eyes and she folded her arms, looking straight ahead.

Matthew huffed irately and he brought his hand up to her face, grabbing her jaw a little too hard for her liking.

"I said I want to fucking talk to you."

"Get off of me," she said, prying his fingers off of her. She glared at him angrily, pushing imaginary daggers into his eyes. "Why won't you leave me the fuck alone?"

Matthew opened his mouth to speak but he was cut off by the sound of Crystal clearing her throat.

"Is there an issue here, Alana?" She asked, eyeing Matthew up and down.

"Yeah," Alana replied. "Can you please get Matthew away from me?"

Crystal nodded and she walked over to Matthew. "Let's go."

"Move," he said, looking at Crystal with an annoyed expression.

"No," she replied. "Leave her alone. I'm surprised you didn't get the gist that she doesn't want to be around you."

"Oh no, I got it," he smirked. "I just don't care."

He grabbed Alana by her arm, yanking him towards her. Alana yelped a bit, trying not to be too loud to startle the patients. From the corner of her eye she could see Laurent shifting in his seat, preparing to get up.

"Matthew, let me go," Alana said as he dragged her to the entrance. If he didn't let her go, she knew Laurent was going to do something, which confused her. and terrified her. "You're going to startle the patients."

"I don't care about those loose minded bastards," he said, eyeing all of them. "Especially him."

His eyes landed on Laurent and that's when Laurent stood up, walking over to them slowly. Alana looked at Laurent with a pleading look, but he completely ignored it, his eyes already focused Matthew.

"Let go," Laurent said once he reached them, his gaze holding flames behind it. Matthew just looked at him, a scoff escaping his lips.

"Go sit down, you idiot. I do what the hell I want."

"You won't be able to after I rip your throat out," Laurent spat, stepping closer to him. "Now let. Go."

Matthew eyed him curiously, throwing, Alana's arm back. Alana's whimpered lightly, grabbing her arm. She kind of hid behind Laurent, and he took note of that, but he said nothing.

"What're you going to do, huh? Mr. Attempted Murder Five Times. You going to kill me? Do it," Matthew rolled up his sleeves and he folded his arms, looking up at Laurent confidently.

"Okay. I'll make it quick and painless," Laurent said. Laurent stepped forward and he lifted his arm, balling it into a fist. Before he had the chance to lay a finger on Matthew, Alana stepped in front of him, grabbing his arm tightly.

"I think it's time to go back to your room," she said quietly, looking up at him. His eyes stayed on Matthew and Alana could feel his hand begin to shake as he did.

"Come on," she urged, pushing him in the direction of the entrance. Eventually, he complied, following her out of the day room. Matthew stood still in his spot, watching as he and Alana turned the corner.

Laurent stayed emotionless on the way back to his room. The only thing he could think about were different ways to get to Matthew. To hurt him, badly. He didn't want anybody to touch Alana but him. He was the only one who could inflict pain on her. He chose her for himself.

As they got onto the elevator, he kept his eyes on her. All he could really see was the back of her head but his height allowed him to see what she was doing with her hands. Her hand was still on her arm, rubbing it gently. He could see a small mark on it from how tight Matthew was holding her, and his fists clenched at his sides, his heartbeat picking up it's pace.  He could feel his body begin to burn with anger, and his breathing began to pick up.

The elevator doors opened and Alana walked out of the elevator, Laurent following closely behind. They walked down the hall quickly, reaching his room in seconds. Alana took her ID out and she held it in front of the scanner, opening it. Laurent walked in first, Alana following after. She closed the door behind her and she exhaled loudly, running her fingers through her hair.

"You can't do that, Laurent," she sighed. "If you try to hit a nurse, they will detain you or sedate you if they have to. You need to control yourself, it could get you into a lot of trouble."

Laurent laughed at her, turning around to face her.

"You don't think other hospital has tried that? It don't work on me, chéri."

Alana rolled her eyes, walking up to him irately.

"You know what? I don't even know why the hell you care about whether or not he hurt me. Just yesterday, you damn near killed me! Now all of a sudden you fucking care? Why? What's the reason?"

Laurent looked down at her, an amused look spreading across his face.

"What's funny?" She asked, throwing her hands up. She was growing less scared of him and more irritated by the minute, and at that point she didn't care about what disorder he had. She just wanted to get it across his mind that he can't do anything he wanted to.

"You," he chuckled. "It's funny how you talk to me like that, thinking there are no consequences."

"I literally screamed at you, and you did nothing."

"Because it's kind of cute when your face is red from anger," he said. "It reminds me of when you couldn't breath. That was more fun, though."

Alana scoffed, placing his her hands in her hips.

"We're done here," she muttered, heading towards the door. She opened it quickly but it was slammed shut by something; someone. She looked up and she saw Laurent's hands pressing against the door, a shiver running down her spine.

"Turn around," he said lowly.

Slowly, she turned around, making sure her body stayed against the door. She was now facing him, a nervous look on her face. He leaned in a little bit, the space between them closing inch by inch.

"Nobody can touch you," he said, clenching his jaw. "Nobody but me."

"Why?" She asked, her voice cracking a little bit.

"Because I chose you," he chuckled. Alana frowned, blinking rapidly.

"Chose me?"

"I have a list of people that I want to make miserable, and you the second one."

"No," she said. She pushed him away from the door and he stepped back, raising his eyebrows.

"You're not going to ruin my life because of a stupid list."

"Oh don't worry, Matthew is first. After I take care of him, I take care of you."

"We'll see how that goes," she spat.

"We will," he replied, smirking.

Nervously, she turned around and she opened the door hesitantly, not sure if he would close it again.

"By the way," he called just as she was about to close it behind her. "If you push me like that again, I will hurt you. Way worse than I did before."

With that said, the door was closed in seconds, and all Alana could think about was going home.

☯

Ta daaaaa  I am finished with this chapter. I hope you guys liked it, I really enjoyed it myself. I'll update chapter five soon ❤ x Rose.