The Skeleton In Me

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The room is tense, and finally, Katie does what I hope she'd do, she grabs the empty plate between us, and stands up, "I'll leave you two alone then. It seems I'm not welcome here." She gives me a sad smile, "We'll work through this, Bexley. I'll keep mom busy. Just keep that boy hidden."

"I will."

She nods, "Goodnight, I love you so much, you know that?"

I run up and hug her, "Goodnight, I love you too."

She leaves, and I lock the door behind her. When I turn back to Cousin he's staring at the door as if he wanted to burn it down. I notice that Jace's clothes are extremely big on him, being that Jace is definitely a muscular, bigger guy. I also notice that he hasn't touched the sandwich at all. I sigh, and walk over to him, sitting beside him.

"You need to eat." I tell him, "If you want to get out of here, you need strength."

He moves his head to me, and we stare at each other. The rage in his eyes evaporated like it was never there. His expression is blank, and once more, I can't tell what he's thinking.

I grab the plate of food and set it on my lap, I pick up the sand which and tear it in half. "At least eat this much." I give him half and he takes it from me.

He eats. I know he doesn't like to be watched while he eats, so I stand up, and look around the room. Everything is exactly where I had left it, and it is strange to be back.

I start pulling one of the blankets off my bed and place it on the floor beside him. I was lucky enough to already have two pillows, so I gave him one. I can't sleep on the floor with him, because if my mother knocks on the door, I don't think I can explain to her why I'm sleeping on the floor. He watches me, but I ignore him, hoping he'd eat the other half of the sandwich. He doesn't.

When I move back to my bed, in the corner of my eye I see Cousin stand up and look around my room. He's examining everything from the pictures of me and Katie when we were younger hanging on my wall, to the stuffed animals on my desk, and the bookshelf I had stowed away in the corner. He pulls out a book, and then another, and another. I'm almost positive he can't read, but I let him do what he wants.

When he's bored of the books, he moves on to the stuffed animals. I had a teddy bear, a stuffed dog, and a stuffed tiger, all from my childhood that I now display due to the nostalgic memories they give me.

He stares at the tiger, and frowns. The circus had tigers; they were part of a few acts. He grabbed the tiger and examined it. Twisting the tiger around, he looked confused at what it was. "It's a toy." I explain to him, "Just something from my childhood."

"Yes." He explains, "I know toys." He lifts the tiger and places it back on the shelf. "I don't like them."

I frown, but he doesn't elaborate, and I don't ask.

When I was finished making our beds on the floor, I turn over and see him sitting on my bed. He's touching the mattress, and when he notices me staring at him, I say, "Would you like to sleep on the bed tonight?"

His eyes narrow as if I just asked him something so absurd, "No."

"Why won't you? It's comfortable, it'll help you sleep better."

"I do not know comfortable."

"You can." I tell him, sitting beside him on the mattress, "You can try it for one night."

"No."

"What if I offer you half a night?"

He looks at me, but I notice he's not saying no so I continue, "Half a night, and I'll have a bed on the floor waiting for you when you decide you don't want to sleep on a mattress anymore."

His head turns to the bed on the floor, and then back to me, then down to the mattress. He doesn't respond, so I do for him. "The bed it is."

I prepare the blankets on the mattress for him, and beckon him to get in. He stands and stares at the opening of the blankets, and then looks back at me. He doesn't move into the bed.

"Come on, just once please try it."

He takes a step back, and I know I've lost this time. I take a deep breath and dramatically sigh, "Fine. Sleep on the floor." I point to the blankets on the ground, "It's all yours."

He moves to the floor, and I climb into my bed. I turn off the lamp on my nightstand, and the room falls dark. It's been so long since I last slept in the bed, I fall asleep almost immediately. Everything is silent, and calm, but I don't dream of anything because I don't have the time to.

There is a dip in the mattress which wakes me up because I don't expect it. My eyes adjust to the dark, and I see Cousin climb onto the bed. He is carful to never come in contact with me, as he presses himself against the wall to be sure we don't touch. The breath catches in my throat when I realize not only is he trying to sleep in a bed, but he's trying to sleep in a bed that I'm also sleeping in, and he doesn't seem to care.

I gently pull the blanket over him, and he doesn'tpush it off. This is a giant leap of progress and I don't know what he'sthinking, but I will stay silent. I say nothing. He obviously says nothing. Togetherwe lay barely two feet apart, and I am ecstatic.