t e n

"I'm so sorry," Elliot manages to blurt out.

He clasps a hand over Susie's shoulder, doing it more so to hold himself steady rather than keep the girl in place.

"We were just about to leave, um, we didn't mean..." His words slow down as the girl continues to stare at him.

He tries again. "Um, I mean to say that we didn't mean to intrude."

She doesn't say anything but instead continues to stare at him. He feels exposed and vunerable, completely unsure of how to handle the entire situation.

She tries to shakily sit up.

"Wait no be careful-"

He takes a quick step forward, but the girl raises her arm up to stop him with a determined look on her face as she directs her gaze down to her lap.

She then manages to sit up, not even showing a flinch or sign of discomfort or pain.

It perhaps worries him more so that if this girl actually were feeling some pain, she was an expert at concealing it.

He is about to open his mouth to say something but is interupted by a loud and giddy gasp.

"Oh my gosh! She's even pwetter now that she's awake!"

Pushing past her brother, she swiftly hops on the end of the mattress, her landing causing him to flinch slightly.

The girl does not seem bothered however, even when Susie situates herself to directly face her on the mattress.

"Hi I'm Susie and I'm six!" She puts up her right hand and one finger on her left. "What's your name?"

The girl is facing Susie, but Elliot notices how her eyes flicker to him.

And they stay on him, with not even a glimmer of movement. Just unwavering blue pinning him in.

Elliot notices that they appear slightly dimmed, as if someone had stolen away the light that had once been there before.

The girl opens her mouth.

"Grace."

"Well, nice to meet you Grace! You're just like Sleeping Beauty like in the movie and in my picture books! But you're even pwettier than in the books and movie! Ewiot reads me those books at bedtime because I can't read properly yet! But I'm learning to because I can read words like the, and, cat, apple and even house which is a hard word-" Susie speaks rapidly and Elliot begins to tune her out.

He doesn't realise she has stopped until he notices the little girl looking at him expectantly and for the fact the room is now quiet aside the thrums and beeps of machines.

"Um... pardon?"

Susie giggles and... he swore he saw the faintest glimmer of amusement in Grace's face but it vanishes as quick as it had appeared.

Maybe it was imagination.

"I said," Susie sighs, "Don't you think she's really pwetty?"

"Oh... uh, yes she is," he answers, feeling his face warm up.

Now that she is awake, he notices the way the strange girl holds herself up gently, her movements slow, and how her hair falls over and past her ears slowly as well.

He also begins to see how her eyes are more like muted ocean pools that he only wants to clear up and make bright again.

She really is beautiful, he decides. Beautiful in the way light seeps through a curtain and the way leaves float on the water.

But then he recalls reading somewhere where people were not like rain or snow or even leaves, because people were not beautiful when they fell.

He thinks that maybe... most unfortunately, that maybe this girl has already fallen. Maybe falling over too many times to count.

Susie continues to talk speedily to Grace, who only listens patiently and seemingly holding onto every single word.

And to think she literally just woke up, it is utterly bizzare.

Everything is bizzare.

Seeing as though there is nothing else he could to do to stop Susie from her blabbering, he sighs and allows himself to sit down on a nearby plastic chair in the room.

Their eyes continue to meet every so often, drifting back and forth like tidal waves.

There was something so utterly compelling about her.

Her expression seemed to hide a haunting sadness that she so cleverly was able to hide away from little Susie.

But it wasn't enough to fool him.

Her eyes lock his again and Elliot feels a sensation spread in his stomach.

Was this... flirting?

Elliot immediately pushes the ridiculous thought and any other strange thoughts lurking of that kind deep down. He looks down at his hands instead.

Susie's babbling is interupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat and Elliot looks towards the door way to see a doctor, peeringly closely at the three of them.

Oh boy.

[a/n: this chapter has been revised/edited as of 26/01/17]