This is two days late rip
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I was angrily staring the sky through a thine sheen of red when I heard her voice again. It had been complete silence before and just me sitting there, when all of a sudden her big brown years were in front of me and everything snapped back into place.

"Tyler?" Anne Marie asked.

I blinked, letting go of her hands, which I had been hiding for...some reason. Everything was confusing and muddled and a small part of me just wanted to cry.

"Hey man. It's okay." She said again.

"What makes you say that? We just met. You don't know anything about what I've gone through." I spat, it sounded a little harsher than I intended.

She frowned. "That is true. I don't need exact details to know that this is a better place then whatever you've been through previously."

I couldn't think of anything to say to that so I just looked away. There was a pillar of cement that was holding part of the building up. There was cool breeze coming in from the sea, which was visible from the balcony.

"Can I trust you?"

I looked back at her. The sun hit the right side of her face. She was wearing a flower patterned jumper. Her eyes were brown.

"What does that mean?" I questioned back.

"I want to help you. I want to be your friend. I'm wondering if I can trust you if I start telling you about myself. To kick start our friendship." She shrugged.

"I guess so." I didn't know how to feel about this.

She sighed and leaned against the cement wall next to me. "First of all. I'm adopted. It's pretty obvious just looking at my family. My moms are angels, they've taken in a lot of kids who are unwanted, since most couples who come to the adoption agency are looking for babies. Like pet stores with puppies I guess. I don't know my biological parents."

    I nodded, this was distracting, this was good. "Oh."

    "I mean I've never met them, I was told they moved to America from Japan when my bio mom was pregnant. Only something went wrong when I was born and decided to give me up because they were kinda poor and knew someone else could give me the medical support that I needed." She continued. "This is when it gets deep okay?"

    "Okay."

    "I don't usually tell anyone this because ninety percent of the time they overreact and only make things harder for me, but I'm trusting you not to do that...okay?" Anne Marie raised an eyebrow at me.

    I frowned in confusion. "...Okay."

    "I'm deaf." She announced.

    My eyes widened. "Wh-"

    "Okay before ask anything, yes I can talk pretty well because I went to lots of speech therapy. Yes, I can not hear anything I'm saying. Yes, I can read lips. Not every deaf person can read lips so don't assume. Yes I know ASL. No, overly pronouncing your words does not make it easier to read you lips. Just talk normally like you've literally been doing since we met." She rushed out.

    I blinked. "This whole time?"

    She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. It's not something I can just turn on and off. It's why I needed you to look at me when we talk."

"Oh." I was dumbfounded. "So your parents gave you up because you're deaf?"

Anne Marie nodded. "Pretty much."

We sat there in silence for a bit. Or at least I did. I guess Anne Marie always did.

"Now do you want tell me what's bothering you so badly that you had to run away?" She asked. "Do you trust me?"

I rolled my shoulders uncomfortably, then turned towards her. "It's a mix of things."

"I've got time."

I sighed. "That man, James Worthington, he works for the company that mutated us. He's tied to a lot of bad memories, and now he's claiming to be a good guy cause he's in love or something. I don't really believe him."

I paused, then let something spill out that I usually didn't even let myself think about.

"I miss my family. I miss what I imagined my family would be like, if I had one. I uh, I never met my biological family either. I was kinda...abandoned."

My hands were shaking? I guess I had never admitted this to myself.

"I wish I knew why." I chocked out. "Why me?"

Anne Marie looked up at me, her eyes were full of sympathy and understanding. I felt really weird for telling someone that. I didn't usually...tell people things. This was weird. At the same time I didn't completely regret everything? At this point I think I just wanted sleep.

"I know how that feels, trust me." She assured.

We were really throwing around the word trust weren't we.

"Maybe someday you'll meet them." She told me gently. "Maybe they'll come looking for you. Either way, you shouldn't worry about to much."

"Oh...?" I frowned, I mean it had already consumed sixty percent of my thoughts. "Why not?"

"Cause whoever they are, they're not relevant anymore. What matters is you, right here, right now. I find the less you worry about people you've never met, or are never going to see again, the more you focus on you, and sometimes, that's really important." Anne Marie confirmed, punching my arm slightly.

    I rubbed the spot sorely. Well what was I supposed to do now? "Thanks."

    "Don't mention it. Thanks for not completely loosing it when I told you."

I nodded, looking for a way out. This was nice but it was very straining. "I think I should go back now, and check on Icie, you know."

"Yeah, I want to see if she's doing okay." Anne Maria agreed as we walked back.

On our way down the hallway, a door opened suddenly and Dylan appeared, looking disgruntled as though he'd been booted from the room. I held the door as he rolled out, looking slightly annoyed. He also looked way happier than he had all day.

"Thanks." He mumbled stiffly. "I just got to see Icie, she's doing okay, but the nurse wanted me to leave so she could sleep. She's really tired. Though the nurse was being a real jerk about it, I have a few things to say to him."

He made a few gestures I didn't understand at the door. Anne Marie eyes, however, lit up.

"You know ASL?" She blinked.

Dylan glanced up at her. "Yeah."

"Why?" I questioned, not really seeing the point.

"My mom was deaf, dummy." He rolled his eyes.

Anne Marie instantly started up a conversation with him in what I assumed was sign language. I squinted at the two of them after Dylan made Anne Maria giggle. This behind my back communication was...troubling.

"Okay what are you guys talking about." I demanded.

"It could be anything." Dylan started, returning fully to his lighthearted, sarcastic self. "We could be talking about you, how to defeat you, how cute you are, anything."

    I scoffed. "I am not cute."

    Dylan shot Anne Marie another look and signed something to her again. She snorted and doubled over, wheezing.

    "Okay okay." I laughed sarcastically, trying to hide my embarrassed blush. "I'm leaving, bye."

    I was glad to have all these friends.