Paper Folds | On Hold

Slate

8. Slate

Ray was sitting on the floor. Her chin rested on her knees, her arms around her legs. She could hear every bit of the conversation happening in the living room, even though she made no effort to strain her ears. Not like they were making an effort to be anything but loud.

"We've seen what happened with those pills. Don't you think we should move on from silly experiments and let the doctor do her job? I know she's uncomfortable with people right now. But, she's got to start some day. There's nothing better than what I'm suggesting.-"

"Blue-"

"-You know I heard you and refrained from giving my own opinion on your idea. We even executed it! But there's a limit. This is not how things are done. She didn't want to talk at home, we fed her 'soup' and chucked her in a cab along with you, so that she could go to my office. The whole ordeal was outrageous, and I still don't understand why I said yes to that."

A pause.

"And it's even been a long while after that. You're a kid right now, and this is my job. I hate to say this, but it'd be better if you do not come up with anymore ideas. Today, right now, I'm going to go talk to her. And before you give me that expression, remember, this is what I do."

"Fine."

"A glass of something cool will be great."

"Fine."

Silence.

Ray rocked back and forth. They were going to make her talk. 

Three knocks sounded. She looked up at her door. 

A short moment of silence.

The door opened, and Blue came running inside...there wasn't much running anyway, her bed wasn't a hundred meters away from the door.

"Happy Birthday darling!"

Ray tried to stretch her facial muscles, to bring herself to smile, and gave up. The smile on Blue's face dropped for a second or so, but then it was back.

"What are you doing on the floor?"

Ray looked down at the floor for a moment then at the bed she was sitting against. 

Blue kept her things on the edge of her bed and sat down on the floor opposite her.

"Hey, I'm sorry for being a week late. Had a lot of appointments, you know how it is."

Ray gave a nod, and looked away.

"I got you a present."

Ray turned to look at her, as Blue reached for a box she'd kept on the bed, and settled back down. Blue handed her the box.

"Open it, come on."

Ray wiped her hands on her pants and took the box in her hands. 

After tearing off the wrapping paper around the small box, she opened the box to find a sleek bracelet. It had three silver letters woven together in a silver leaf. Her name looked beautiful.

Her fingers traced the pattern again and again, till a hand stilled her fingers from moving.

"You like it?"

Ray removed her hand from Blue's hold and kept the bracelet back in the box.

A nod.

A pause.

"Ray? I had to tell you something. I don't know how you are going to take it, and it's not like you have to do what I'm asking right this moment. Ugh, no use stalling, here's the thing. You are not really ready to talk to me. Either you just don't want to, or for some reason you think you can't. But what about an alternative? What if you talk to somebody else? Trust me when I say you need it. You need  to talk to somebody. Do you see, how long you've been holed up in your room? Quiet, shutting out everyone? You need this, more than anything. But I'm not going to force you. It's something I want you to think about. You hear me?"