Chapter 3: Out of Reality

I approached quickly and leaned on the sill. The window overlooked a garden with a fence several feet from the hospital. It was so easy to escape from here; it was not a jail or a mental hospital after all, and the poor young man must have been desperate to look for his family. They should have let him go instead of imprisoning him with the silly suspicion that he could be one of those monsters...

"Hi..."

I let out a short scream and jumped in fright. I turned right away and ran into those intriguing eyes and a funny smile; he started laughing. Wow, I was still amazed. What a beautiful and elegant laugh.

"Sorry I scared you," he said.

"No, no... Well, a little. I thought you... Where have you been?"

"Behind you, waiting to see what you will do." He shrugged, smiled, and raised an eyebrow. "Did you want to escape?"

"Of course not."

"Are you sure? You almost jumped outside."

I laughed and closed the window—what a shame. A strange sensation made me react. He was behind me and gently took a lock of my hair.

"It smells good," he commented naturally as his eyes met mine in the reflection of the glass.

This young man made me nervous in a good way. I turned to face him and smiled kindly.

"Thank you; my perfume got spilled on my hairbrush." He smiled, making me suddenly more nervous. "Oh. I came to let you know you can eat something in the dining room..." I frowned. "Well, of course, it is the dining room and not the lab," I murmured, shaking my head at my awkwardness when speaking.

"I'm not hungry, but I can accompany you if you haven't had dinner yet."

"Won't you eat anything?"

He approached his desk and grabbed a bottle, making me smile.

"I took this," he said, showing it to me.

"You really liked milk," I commented, intrigued. What kind of person didn't remember trying it in his life? "Come on, follow me."

We left his room and headed to the cafeteria. I knew he couldn't be satisfied with just milk.

"Oh, there wasn't all this food when I came earlier," he murmured when we arrived.

"I thought you weren't hungry," I said, smiling.

"Well, I had decided to ignore it."

I chuckled.

"Serve what you like. I already ate, but I'll accompany you."

He got bread pudding, ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit salad, waffles, and oatmeal. I was already craving it.

"You were hungry," I commented, looking at his tray once we sat down.

He smiled with a guilty grimace, and a thought crossed my mind. Maybe he had just been avoiding us, that was why he didn't show up around here, and worst, perhaps he was uncomfortable with me also, and obviously, he wasn't going to tell me.

"You know? When I entered your room, I thought you had run away."

He let out a short laugh.

"Now I understand why you almost threw yourself outside." And then, he arched an eyebrow. "Were you going to chase me?"

"No, of course not. I would agree with your escape."

Anthony looked at me for a few seconds with some surprise. He was handsome and kind of different, so I understood why Rosy was interested in him. His gaze caught me; it was penetrating but pure and crystalline; it didn't seem to hide malice or evil intentions. I was overwhelmed. That hair and those dark eyebrows made the beautiful color of his eyes stand out. I wondered briefly if his parents were looking for him, or maybe... a girlfriend.

"I could do it," he said after meditating. "But I already said that I have nothing. There are things I don't remember, and maybe I will find it out being here, I don't know."

"Tell me, what things do you not remember?"

He blinked for a few seconds.

"I don't know... How do I know what I don't remember if I don't remember it?"

I wanted to bang my forehead against the table because of my stupid question. Of course. I usually didn't behave so distracted, but he undoubtedly overwhelmed me.

"Sure," I said, smiling, embarrassed, and then remembered my previous thoughts. Maybe he would want to be alone.

Or maybe he just wanted to avoid Rosy and Marcus since he asked him weird questions and tried to get some information that could give away something suspicious. Meanwhile, Rosy tried to ask about musical tastes and nonsense, but he didn't answer. While every time they weren't distracting him... he was looking at me.

"Is everything fine?" Anthony asked after seeing me meditate so much.

"Yes, don't worry." I agreed to try some pudding. "Tell me... I think you didn't show up at lunch today because Rosy and Marcus bothered you?"

To my surprise, he let out a short, slight laugh. Wow, had I been right?

He raised an eyebrow with fun. "Maybe..."

This time, I laughed.

"Well, that's the way they are. I thought about retiring briefly because maybe I bothered you too." I stopped smiling. Maybe I did. "Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"Of course not," he replied without hesitation for a second. "Your friend, he hates me, right?"

"It's not like that. He just thinks you are hiding something. Ignore him."

"I thought he had studied Evolved people enough to know they cannot camouflage themselves like octopuses."

I chuckled.

"That's true."

The news started on the television, hanging from a wall. The attack fatalities had not yet been fully counted, but ten had already been identified. I sighed, and the tranquility left. How many more had just lost a loved one, and we were here delaying the investigation.

It was not uncommon for so many EH to have entered that city; It was further northeast, and security was no longer respected as much as in the towns closest to the capital. The government was not very interested in the periphery of the State. We didn't have those problems very often here.

"Do you really think all Evolved people are that cruel?" he asked, pulling me out of my mind again.

I looked at him; he was serious, with his piercing eyes fixed on me. It overwhelmed me again.

"I haven't seen the opposite so far."

"Will you continue your attempt to destroy them all?"

"Well, we are ordered to continue the investigation."

"It's a bit... extreme, isn't it?"

I sighed.

"Maybe, but they are killing people, and we don't give them reasons to do that."

He tightened his lips.

"Maybe there is something that they want to communicate. They are scared predators; they act as such, that's all."

"But they are also as intelligent as we are."

"It seems to me that the government threatened to attack them with toxins, so somehow they are already aware and want to get hold of the substances; that's why they attack us."

"Yes, the government shouldn't boast about that in public."

He handed me the bowl of fruit salad and smiled at me tenderly.

"Eat and calm down; these things happen. If all this were solved with the anguish of the people, the world would be different."

I sighed, and my lips curved into another tender smile. We finished with the salad, and I sighed again.

"Would you like to... take some air?" he asked. "Maybe you can clear your mind in the garden."

"Y-yes, please." I agreed. "I know a better place than the garden."

I guided him through some corridors, knowing he might not be allowed in. I swiped my identification card through the door lock and smiled, taking him by the arm to go there. We climbed the last stairs and reached the roof. There were helicopters and other things.

I stepped forward and spun slowly, breathing in the air that blew against my face. I liked to go there from time to time, but I was not alone this time. I turned around, and he stared at me with a slight smile. Suddenly, the blush wanted to take over my cheeks, but I didn't let it.

"Come," I called him.

"Did you come here before?" he asked.

"Well, sometimes, although usually not when I've had a good day."

"I see. Isn't today a good day?"

"Today, yes, it is," I said with a smile.

"And... Why weren't those days good ones?" He reacted. "Sorry, it doesn't concern me."

"It's fine." I approached him. "I discovered this place after my parent's accident, so..."

"Sorry," he spoke, and I nodded, smiling at him.

Noticing a bit of oatmeal stuck to his shirt, I chuckled and removed it. But soon, I reacted too. I was very close, with my other hand on one of his pectorals, while I had taken out the oats with the other. My pulse raced when I looked up into his eyes. So close, but so far at the same time. Those lips...

I put my hands down right away. What on earth was I doing?

"We can go somewhere else one day. I mean..." He scratched the back of his neck, and my cheeks were already starting to redden now for real. Was he trying to ask me out? "So that you don't have bad memories. We can go to another park, chase a butterfly, or..."

I chuckled again.

"Chasing butterflies?" I questioned. "Seriously, how much of your memory have you lost?" I said with amusement.

He smiled too and suddenly gently took my chin, triggering my heartbeat. No. I hardly knew him; we were very close, and it was inappropriate... But then I noticed that he was removing something from my hair, and when he showed it to me, I saw it was also some oatmeal.

I felt relief and deception at the same time.

"Oh... oh God, we are a mess." I laughed, walking away, taking a deep breath; I was confusing things.

I was the one who was overthinking. He probably just wanted to be my friend. Still, I felt that he was drawing me like a magnet.

We walked to the rooms while I commented on various things.

Marcus left the living room and stared at us with an arched eyebrow, annoyed. I greeted him, waving my hand with a smile of innocence. He disagreed that Anthony walked freely, but didn't he see that he was an average human?

"Yep, he hates me."

"Forgive Marcus; he is like that."

"He doesn't want anything to happen to you..."

"Yes, maybe. He's my friend, and he knows how I am: naive, distracted, sometimes a little bit sad... and, according to him, I am somewhat childish and confident..."

"Then... you trust me."

I shrugged.

"I feel that you are a good person."

He showed me a splendid smile and leaned on the wall next to a door. It was his room. How did I not realize that we had already arrived here?

"I also feel that you are a good person... And I don't think you're naive or any of those words at all."

"Thank you... Well, I let you sleep; I must go now."

"Sure." He opened his door. "Good night, miss," he said in a casual tone with that soft, deep, and elegant voice.

"Get some rest," I replied, walking away.

Anthony still lay on the wall looking at me, penetratingly but kindly. I looked away and continued to walk, blushing. Then I turned briefly to find that he kept looking at me, this time with curiosity. What a way to stare... like a predator. What caused me the chills was his resemblance to the felines' gaze.

It didn't bother me; in fact, I was attracted and caught. People said Evolved humans also possessed that kind of gaze with terrific eyes. Of course, normal humans didn't differ from many of them except for that detail, so it could be just a bad coincidence. As he had said before, Evolved humans couldn't camouflage.

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