Dark Nights

Elliots Garden

You usually sat on a bench near a couple of trees, but this time you took a different route. You rounded the curve and found a nice spot of grass. You took a seat there and smiled contently, the grass was warm and soft, greatly taken care of.

once you were seated comfortably you scanned your eyes around the smaller courtyard, searching for the person in mind. A couple of patients you did not know were spotted here and there. Jack and Joshua were busy trying to tear a tree down. An activity that was quickly stopped by the Guards.

You moved your eyes to the end of the yard and finally saw him. Elliot was on his knees, looking to be doing something with the plants. He was the one you were going to try and be friendly with. You just had to work up the courage first. You sat in the sunny spot of grass for an hour, working up the strength to say hello.

When you first arrived Elliot was the one you were most afraid of, for his size. That changed when Willy screwed with your mind in the cafeteria. Jack was next for his predator stare. Then there was Elliot and Joshua who were about the same in terms of scaring you now. They just left you alone.

Not to get you wrong, just being near them made you want to pass out, but as said before, your loneliness was outweighing your fear. It looked like maybe, just maybe he could use a friend too.

You remembered what Dr. Valeski said about his childhood. How he was constantly abused, verbally and physically, by his family. He never had a friend growing up.

You finally worked up the courage, got up from your spot, and headed over to him. As you got closer, the scent of soil grew strongly. His Bull breathing got louder with each step.

You noticed with great surprise that he was tending a small garden. There were different kinds of flowers and even what seemed to be some fruit and vegetable plants! He was doing his best at least. His hands were big, and from what you could see of it so far, these were tender flowers.

He was trying to pick the weeds out from the roots, But would quite frequently pick out actual roots. Causing the plants to start withering. You stopped a few lengths behind him, out of range if he whirled around and tried to grab you. You watched him struggle for a moment or two.

" E...Elliot?" You barely managed to whisper out. You feared you would have to say his name louder. He stopped though, he didn't look back at you, he just froze. You almost wished he had not heard you. You swallowed the lump in your throat, ignoring how sweaty you had gotten all of a sudden.

" Would... would you like some... help?" You managed to say over your fear. He still did not move. You gulped again and started to make your way closer, moving to his right, but still keeping a little distance. You saw from the corner of your eyes that the Guards were watching you.

That relieved you a little, knowing that if he snapped then they would come to help you. You were pretty certain that you would be dead before they got to you though. You shook that thought out of your head before it made you turn around and run. You had already started this, you could not stop now. If you did, this would never work if you tried it again.

So you held your breath and continued forward. Concentrating on putting one leg in front of the other and not one leg behind the other.

You slowly walked around his right, keeping some distance of course. As you rounded him you got a better image of his posture. He was down on his knees, and he was sort of hunched into himself again. His head was tilted slightly in your direction.

You remembered the first day in group when he did the same thing. It looked like he always tried to make himself look smaller when he was with other people. Or maybe it was just a reflex from a childhood of abuse. Once you got close enough you got on your hands and knees just like him. However, you did not make a move yet.

You tried not to think of how close you were to such a big man. Even kneeling he was a good height off the ground, now that you were kneeling too you felt like a mouse next to a Bull.

He turned his head and met his eyes with yours. His glittering dark brown hues meeting your E/C ones. His eyes were wide and terribly bloodshot, with strands of his long, curly, black hair curling around them.

Now that you were close enough, you were finally able to get a good look at his face. His skin was a mix of tan and palish but looked like it was slowly getting paler from the time in the institute.

Pale scars were littered all over his lips and jaw, some even reaching up his cheeks and nose. Puckering his flesh and bringing up the top left of his lip in a permanent grimace. His lips were a deep purple, and his bottom lip was actually bleeding, a dark red drop dribbling down his chin.

He gave out a mighty huff of hair, and you realized you were staring a little. Fear struck through your body, thinking for a second that he might attack, so to distract him from that you quickly started talking.

" I-I just noticed that you were having a little bit of trouble! So I... I-I thought you might want some help?" You said, getting quieter and higher pitched toward the end of your sentence. You found that you had curled into yourself too, just like he was doing.

He said nothing, made no move. He just kept staring at you, breathing heavily. It was one of those " Whos going to make the first move?" moments.

" It's going to be me." You thought to yourself. Giving him a small, fear-filled smile and cautiously reaching your hand toward the plants.

His eyes flicked from your face and down to your hands. From the corner of your eye, you saw him bite on to his bottom lip. Your hand reached the plants, and you starting picking out the small weeds from the roots of the flowers. Being careful of course to not harm the flowers themselves.

You did this for a moment. Focusing only on the soil on your hands and the snapping of weeds as you pulled them from the ground. You glanced at him for a brief second and saw he was still staring at you.

" I thought that this way I can get the small roots for you so your beautiful flowers aren't damaged." You said quietly to him as you continued to reach for and pull weeds.

You only got a small area done when the whistle blew and patients started to line up at the doors. You looked over at Elliot, giving him a smile again.

" Maybe... maybe I can help you again tomorrow." You said, but after that, you quickly stood up and made your way to the doors where Willy and the twins were already waiting for you and Elliot.

You didn't want to seem like you were running from him, but you were terrified! You had no idea how you managed the courage to go up to him like that. Also somehow surviving that stare for a couple of moments.

As you were chained to Willy and Jack you looked over your shoulder at Elliot who was behind Joshua. He was already looking at you, instead of the ground like he usually did.

His eyes staring into your form, probably trying to find out if you were playing some sort of cruel game with him. You just gave him a small smile before turning forward again. Walking behind Willy as the group was led into the building.

A/N: Oh my gosh I had trouble with this chapter XD but I'm glad I finally got it done! Updates might be a little slow for a bit because of school problems, but I will try to update as soon as possible. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will see you in the next one. As always, thanks for reading!