The Patient

Five

32 closed his eyes for a second before opening them back up to continue staring at me. He seemed just slightly, barely noticeably, more relaxed and I took that as my cue to continue.

"I'm Opal... Is there anything you want to say? or... Do you speak English?" 

32 just licked his lips and continued staring at me, his face unchanging. 

I nodded my head. Yep, I have no idea what to do now.

I looked at Shawl for help who seemed slightly disappointed but still excited nonetheless. 

"Coffee?" He asked to which I nodded frantically. 

I could really use the caffeine boost right now. 

I decided to sit on the ground, directly in front of the glass to which he thankfully followed, sitting as close as possible, his knees touching the window. 

I tilted my head at him, trying to figure him out and I swear he almost smiled at me. His features seemed to lighten just slightly even though his face didn't move. I don't know how I could tell, but I could. 

Suddenly his whole body tensed up and he started to growl. GROWL! AGAIN! So I definitely didn't mishear the first time. 

At this point I'm starting to doubt how human he really way, I've never heard that kind of animalistic sound coming from a human body, I'm still not convinced its possible. 

I looked behind me to see a very very tense Dr. Shawl, frozen in his place holding two mugs of coffee. 

He tried to take another step towards me and 32 growled louder. 

I stood up, thinking maybe Dr. Shawl coming closer to 32 is why he was acting up but this just seemed to make him growl louder. 

I looked around in complete confusion as we stood there frozen. I really need this caffeine. 

I decided to hell with it. I walked to Dr. Shawl and grabbed the coffee. As soon as I did 32 was snarling, baring his teeth and slamming his fists on the glass. When I heard it crack slightly I started to panic a little. 

I looked to Shawl for help but he was just frozen in his place. 

Some tranquilizer darts shot out from the walls. He should have passed out immediately but it didn't seem to slow him down even a little. 

CRACK! 

I flinched when I saw the damage he was doing to the window. If someone didn't do something soon he would break it. 

I don't know why I did it and it was probably going to be one of the stupider things I've done but instead of running away from the wild beast man I ran to him. 

Dr. Shawl called out to me and I saw Dylan step forward out of the corner of my eye but I ignored them. 

As soon as I did 32 calmed down and stopped his assault on the window. He just went quiet again, back to staring me down intensely. 

I saw Shawl hold Dylan back once he saw 32 calming. 

Thirty-two looked behind me one last time, snarling lowly before sitting back down on the ground like a happy little puppy. 

I sighed, rubbing my face and chugging my coffee before deciding to close the curtains. 

As soon as I did 32 started whining and whimpering, he looked almost betrayed as I closed them, turning the window back into a mirror before walking back to Shawl and Dylan. 

They both looked at me with wide eyes and I just shrugged. 

"You're the doctor, I don't know!" I said, putting up my hands. 

Shawl nodded, running a hand through his hair and puffing a little. 

"I think that's enough for today, its almost 3:00, you two head home early." 

I smiled at him, thanking him before leaving Shawl to his research. 

I felt that same urge to break into his cell and hold him when I heard him whimper a little again but somehow managed to fight it. 

The whole walk out of the building Dylan was completely tense, wrapping a protecting arm around my shoulder and practically ignoring everyone we walked by. 

One we got outside he spun me around, shocking me a little as I stumbled, glaring at him. 

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" 

"What?" I reponded dumbly, cringing as he threw his arms up in the air. 

"WHAT WAS THAT!" He mocked making me give him a sheepish smile. 

"I don't know..." I said honestly but he didn't seem happy.

"Maybe you shouldn't be helping if you're going to be so reckless!!!" 

I held in my anger as I looked at my feet. 

"You better not do anything like that ever again! If you do I'll get you kicked off this case!" He screamed, "I mean, are you stupid?! That man was trying to break down the window like a rabid animal and what do you do? YOU RUN AT HIM?!" 

I sighed, clenching and unclenching my fists, closing my eyes and trying to take deep breaths. 

I know he's just worried about me. I will not snap at him. I repeated this over and over in my head as he continued to rant. 

Once he was quiet for a solid 10 seconds I looked up to see him frowning down at me. 

He shook his head before walking off, leaving me standing here, embarrassed. 

I know I should've stood up for myself but I just couldn't get myself to go through with it. 

I can be such a coward sometimes. 

I huffed in frustration, kicking the pavement before making my way home. 

I told Kate about my whole day and she was just weirdly excited about the whole thing. 

"THAT'S OS CUTE!!! HE ONLY LIKES YOU! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE FOR HIM! FUCKING ADORABLE!" 

I laughed, shaking my head as she jumped up and down happily. 

Tonight Kate insisted on cooking everything herself without any help. 

Lets just say its a good thing I'm not hungry. 

She sat down the weird looking piece of chicken in front of me and I gave her my most convincing smile, while obviously wasn't convincing enough. 

I cut into it and cringed a little. 

The middle was still a little frozen and completely raw whereas the outside was rubbery and burnt. 

She leaned in, crying out in frustration when she took in the state of the chicken. 

"URGHHH! HOW! I DID EVERYTHING THE STUPID RECIPE ASKED FOR!" 

I inspected the kitchen to try and help her when I saw the oven turned up to the maximum heat. 

"Hey, Katey, how come you turned the oven so high?" 

She shrugged, "It said to heat it to 425 but our oven doesn't go that high so I did the best I could." 

I laughed a little, trying to not make her feel bad. 

"It's 425 Fahrenheit hun, our oven is in Celsius..." 

A look of realization crashed on her face. 

Shr groaned, hiding her face in her hands. 

"Oh my god, I'm so stupid!" 

I sighed, shaking my head and trying to hold in my laughter, "Want to order in some pizza and watch a movie?" 

She pouted but nodded a little before walking over to the couch and sulking. 

The rest of the night went by easily although Kate was pouting for most of it.