Beautiful Ruin

Chapter 2

"Hi," a breathless voice says beside me.

I twist my body to the side and look at her.

"Hi," she says again.

I sign hello to her.

Her blank stare makes my heart drop. Of course, she had no clue what I intended to say. She doesn't understand sign language like almost everyone in this place. Why should they know it when they had no use for it? They could use their voices to talk, unlike me.

"She said hello."

We all look at the guy who spoke.

"How did you know that?" the girl asked.

His brown eyes twinkle when they meet mine.

"You said hello. Right?"

I nod.

"Told ya," he smirked at the girl.

"What? You know sign language," the girl spluttered.

He winks. "There is plenty you don't know about me, Lola."

He turns to me.

"Hello. My name is Aavin. Yours?"

I sign. Nice to meet you, I'm Azalea.

He smiles, revealing pearly white teeth and a dimple on one cheek.

"Okay, I'm lost." This comes from a girl with blue hair. She has on a blue colored shirt perfectly matching her hair.

"This is Monica, and the one with the terrifying glare is Zayn. Oh, I almost forgot the tiny one. She is Lola. Don't look at me like that. Anyone will have missed you sitting there like an ant surrounded by wolves."

Lola growls. The sound was shockingly loud coming from someone her size. She is small. Her body was slim, and her height was short. I think she was shorter than me, which is saying a lot because I was not considered tall.

"Woah, woah there. You don't get to growl at me. Remember, I am the wolf, and you the ant."

"Let me shock you with my ant venom," Lola shrieks. She reaches across the tables and grabs his hand. Her movement was so fast he barely had time to move away before she bit his wrist.

"Ow! You savage!" Aavin yells.

"Keep your voices down before the nurses take you both away," Monica warns.

"They won't," Lola chimes.

Zayn pushes away his tray and stands up. He swipes a hand through his dark hair and glares at us. I shiver at the coldness behind his black colored eyes. They were so cold, his eyes were so cold they almost looked lifeless.

"I won't be here when that happens. I'm already pumped with enough meds. Fools." He gives us one more terrifying glare before walking away.

Lola nudges my side. "Don't worry. He's not all that scary. This is his way of dealing."

I didn't ask what he was dealing with. I didn't need to ask because we were all dealing with something. It was why we were here.

"So how come we don't see you around often? How long have you been here," Monica asks. She aggressively bites a twizzler and begins chewing. Her mouth moved frantically with each chew.

When I don't speak, she turns to Aavin.

"Sign, and he will interpret," she says.

I've been here for five months.

We wait for Aavin to interpret. But his brows were furrowed in confusion.

So, I sign again, this time doing it slowly.