Moonhaven

Chapter 25: A Midnight Stranger

Not long after Julia had left, three security officers, two nurses, and a doctor stormed into the room. Ridley and Kaia took center stage together, prepared with a persuasive speech on why they should all be granted an extended visit. Martin joined them on the front-line this time, adding unbelievable legal implications for both the hospital and the police department, should they not let them all stay longer.

Mere minutes after victoriously securing more visiting time, and the security, nurses and doctor had departed, Silas unhooked a backpack he had brought along from his shoulder and set it on the floor. Alex hadn't realized that he'd been wearing it the entire time, and he wondered if anyone else had.

From the backpack, Silas first produced a lavender cake carrier that held more of the blueberry lavender cake Alex had previously tasted inside of it. Aoife took it from him, bringing it over to a small table in a corner. Silas then pulled out a king-sized thermos filled with warm milk. Emilio retrieved it, placing it next to the cake carrier. Afterwards, he removed a stack of blue solo cups and a sealed plastic bag of eggplant-painted plastic forks and knives. Iker grabbed and organized them alongside the carrier and the thermos. Finally, Silas extracted a thin stack of plastic lavender plates with a beefy stack of white napkins perched atop, and he took them to the table as well.

Wherever it was possible to sit in the room, they all sat. Lev and Carsyn sat with Alex on the bed. Emilo, Iker and Aoife sat opposite of Evan, Jeremi and Tate in the middle of the room. Nyne had reverted back to Six, and she and Arthur occupied the only two chairs in the room. Silas and Martin sat on the floor next to them. Ziro sat with one leg folded up on the window ledge. And Ridley, Grayson, and Kaia sat on the floor next to him. As they all sat, they each chowed down a slice of cake. While they did, they listened as Alex revealed the reason for his detainment in the hospital.

Alex didn't know much about Pyromania disorder, in fact he only knew what he had seen in movies. It made it difficult for Alex to believe the doctor when she had told him they would have to keep him there for a few days to be sure of his diagnosis. But it didn't take long for him to start realizing, though, that it might be possible after all. In more vivid detail, he again recounted the first time he had ever 'played with fire'. Watching the bow that his uncle Wylliam had spent hours crafting for him, be slowly reduced to ashes, had left him feeling inexplicably idyllic that day, and he had felt something similar during the incident with Turtleneck.

Though hesitant, he ultimately revealed that the recent situation wasn't his second time crossing a dangerous path with fire. All the countless times he had traversed into the woods back home to practice archery, he had also been using some of that time to set a few of his old toys on fire. Back then he had thought nothing of it, that it was just residual frustration from the fallout of the Prior family ruination. But now he was realizing just how bizarre his actions have been lately.

Grayson uttered a moody sigh, but a lazy smile was creeping into view too. He shuffled over to the end of the bed and hoisted himself onto the foot-board to get a look at Alex. He wanted to say something, anything really, but words were failing him. So, he settled for an ordinary smile, though it was an ungraceful display, it was enough for Alex to understand.

Alex returned it, his own a bit more refined, and said to him, "you shouldn't be home alone. Stay with a friend."

Grayson nodded, another slothful action, then clumsily pointed to Ridley, wordlessly informing everyone that she was going to be his sleepover buddy. Ridley knowingly aimed a finger back at him, looking pleased as she did.

"아이구 (Aigoo)," Ziro whispered to himself. He glanced between Grayson and his mother, his face giving a mild warning. "No nonsense after midnight."