Bee
I heard them as they moved outside .
It was two pair of footsteps , one large with a lazy scrape on the floor as if the person was walking in their sleep . The other footsteps were small and soft .
It was Gus and Yuree's mother .
They had gone to shower , I had heard Gus signing loudly too .
They hadn't called me out yet . I was still in the small room from yesterday .
I had found nothing interesting to do all night except think .
About Olibia , my reason for coming back , the ghosts at the hospital , my ghoulish form and the nymph .
I mostly thought about the nymph because today I was going to visit him at the hospital .
I felt a bubbly sensation in my chest that made me smile at the thought of seeing his beautiful face and lively smile .
But first I had to wait for his family to call me down .
I could have left on my own , I knew . The window was big enough for me to go out of , and the house had a flat roof . I could have gone out and jumped onto the backyard and then out to the street before walking to the hospital by myself .
I could have done that but I didn't .
I wanted to go with the nymph's family because I liked the look in his eyes as he looked at his mother with warmth and care . And when he had glared at Gus with a funny look in his eyes yesterday . It had felt nice to see that side of him .
I wanted to see it again .
I wanted to see HIM again .
I sighed wearily , humans took a long time to prepare, I thought cynically .
Knock ! Knock !
I turned to the door .
" Bee ? " Yuree's mother said and I moved to open the door.
Yuree's mother stood behind it wearing a grey skirt and blue white shirt . She had small black pumps and a bottle of beer in her hand .
I knew it was beer because I had seen it on a television set .
I had been curious about it at the time but then I had started watching something else and it quickly left my mind .
I looked at the beer bottle now with a frown of thought , was it good ? I wondered but I remembered I couldn't taste anything or eat anything infront of humans .
" Oh , this ?" Yuree's mother said lifting the bottle with a small smile ," It's just a little pick me up . I have one every morning but usually after Yuree goes to school . He doesn't like me drinking too much but knows it makes me feel better. So he doesn't say anything about it ... most of the time , that is ."
" How are you ... Mrs Yuree ? " I asked her respectfully using sign language aswell as my voice , but she laughed and waved her hand .
" I'm Mrs Rosi not Yuree . Only my husband ever called me that and it always made me laugh . " She smiled softly at me and gave me strange look ," Thank you for that . Now come on let's have breakfast . It's almost seven thirty and we gotta be at the hospital by eight . "
She turned and waved her hand for me to follow . I complied and followed her down stairs .
" This way to the dinning room . " She said turning at the bottom of the steps and I followed suit.
I took a small glance at the room we passed though .
I hadn't thought about it last night but now I saw that the room with the sofa had a television on the far wall and a round table on a green blue top carpet .
I wondered if the nymph watched movies on the television set .
" Finally , your here . Can we eat now ? " A rough voice said in the dining room .
It was a small space with a big round table that was more circular than the oval one in the room with the sofa . There was a kitchen set next to the table that took up a whole wall . I could see cups and plates inside .
On the table were five chairs .
On one chair was Gus , he sat glaring at Mrs Rosi but she smiled at him softly whilst putting the beer bottle she had carried onto the table .
Gus has sat on one chair facing us . He looked grumpy and upset .
Why was he upset ? I thought .
" We're here now . You happy ? " Mrs Rosi said taking a seat and I sat down too .
Gus turned to me and gave me a hard look . His eyes were furrowed and his lip was in a thin line .
Did I do something wrong ? I thought .
" Who's this kid again ? " He asked looking at Mrs Rosi and she frowned .
" This is Bee , the boy who saved Yuree yesterday and carried him to the hospital . " She said angrily but with a soft voice .
" Really ? " Gus said and looked to me , " How'd you do it ? Mmm , you a fighter or something ? "
" No , I just wanted to protect the nymph ." I answered and both of them chuckled .
" Whuwee , I can't wait to tell the other guys about this . Yuree the nymph ! Hahaha!" Gus laughed uproariously but Mrs Rosi slapped his head and pointed to the food on the table .
" You wanted to eat , so eat . No more talking , we gotta hurry it up . " She said and lifted up her fork to eat .
Gus rubbed the back of his head and gave her a sad look . She smiled softly at him but pointed at his food with the fork .
Gus sighed and started to eat , soon he smiled as he took more and more bites .
Both of them had beer bottles next to their plates and took some sips of it after a few bites .
I watched all of with curiosity . I wasn't hungry and I couldn't eat because then I would have to take off my mask . I instead sat and waited for them to finish whilst ignoring the plate of food that was infront of me .
" What's wrong Bee ? " Mrs Rosi said looking at me , she pointed at my plate ," You don't like mashed potatoes and toast ? Or is it the sausage ? "
I shook my head ," I am not hungry. " I said slowly and she gave a confused look .
" Really ? What did you eat ? " She asked and I shook my head again .
" Nothing . I just don't want to eat . " I answered , I couldn't talk about the rats in the bin . I didn't think people ate that .
" Can't you tell Amanda ? He just wants to hurry on up and get to ... the nymph ." Gus said and laughed again causing some food to slurp out of the corner of his mouth .
Mrs Rosi pinched his cheeks again and he quickly stopped laughing .
" Okay , I won't force you to eat ," she said looking at me ," But just remember eating is important . It's one of the best things of life , that's what my mama used to tell me . "
I nodded my head and I thought about this . I didn't know if I could eat normal food actually . I hadn't ever tried eating anything , only when the hunger had come did I feel the burning urge to eat . And I are rats not food . Besides that , I had had no money and so I couldn't buy food when I came to town .
But what would be the point ? I had thought , if I can't taste , how can I enjoy it ? So I had just not thought about it .
But now I wondered what it would be like to eat food , I wouldn't taste anything but it would be something to do .
I would have to do it when everyone was asleep though .
" Well , I'm stuffed ." Gus said contently and gave a belch , Mrs Rosi slapped him on the head again and took a sip of beer before getting up .
" Okay , let's go . I'll take care of the plates when we get back . " She said and looked up at a clock on the wall .
She smiled again and looked down at us ," Well , what are you waiting for ? Let's go see ... the nymph . " She chuckled looking at me .
I rose up and followed her and Gus as they went outside through the room with a sofa .
The sun was was bright outside and I looked around .
The nymph's house was one of many , all around the houses looked almost the same but others were different .
The houses formed a circle before falling in a straight line as the road went down the hill .
It was quiet but I could here birds in the trees of other people's yards . A green car drove out of the driveway of one the houses and went down the road .
" Hop in , Bee . " Mrs Rosi said and I saw they had both gotten into the yellow car .
Gus was driving and Mrs Rosi sat next to him . I went into the back seat as before .
" Let's go . " She said and the car started to move .
I looked out of the window at the shinning grass with droplets of water . There was a light mist on the ground.
This made me frown as I thought about the ghost from yesterday .
Misty , I thought , I hoped she had kept her words and watched the nymph .