Mind Games

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Hailey hadn't noticed the glass of water, or the ibuprofen, before he handed it over to her. It felt good that he had prepared that, as he knew more about these things that she did, but she couldn't help but to feel slightly annoyed that Drejan always seemed to be one step ahead of her. The annoyance didn't last long though, as she was a bit tired, and after all, happy that he knew what he was doing. He knew how things worked. Hearing Drejan telling her how she had done, she was surprised by the result. Was it that good? Well, at least he thought it was good, for her first time, that was.

She watched him as he leaned back against the couch, noticing a proud look in his eyes. Was it, really? She smiled slightly and looked away, not being used to that sort of things - someone telling her, or in any other way, making her feel good about something she had done - but she had to admit, that even though the feeling was unfamiliar, she liked it. Hearing that the headache was normal made her feel calmer, and remembering the ibuprofen, she looked at it in her palm. She didn't really like taking pills as it reminded her of bad things, but she quickly pushed away the memories as she swallowed it with some water, then reached towards the coffee table and put the glass on it.

Looking toward a spot in the couch fairly distant from Drejan, she made her way over there and leaned back against the couch, glancing at him. She yawned slightly as she curled up a bit, looking out the window. "You said I wouldn't drive you off no matter what I did", she said thoughtfully, glancing at him. "You really mean everything?" she asked, grinning slightly. "I'm not planning on killing you or anything, it's just... that I thought of it just now. What you said before, if you... really mean it", she said, shrugging, although she had a serious tone in her voice.
 
Drejan didn't interfere when she moved away, pretty much resigned to the fact that she didn't want to be near him by this point. He rested his forearms on his upturned knees and didn't answer her question right away, his gray eyes distant as they trailed over the paintings in the room with something bittersweet in his expression. Memories lapped at his mind and he let them, eventually heaving a quiet sigh and blinking, focusing as he brought his attention back to Hailey.

"I was broken when my mentor found me. He didn't give up on me, never quit even when I was horrible to him. He was there for me, ready for anything and everything I threw at him. He led me away from the darkness that had swallowed me, away from the ledge I was ready to fall over and he never faltered. He was there when I needed a friend, someone who wouldn't leave no matter what I did or how bad I got. It was that loyalty and friendship that saved me."

Drejan smiled a little as he rose gracefully from the couch and went around the back. He looked down at Hailey and gently brushed her hair away from her eyes in a fond way. "So yes, Hailey, I meant what I said. I won't leave you and nothing you do will make me give up on you. I meant it. Now take a nap, little sunbeam. Nothing will harm you while you sleep." Even as he spoke, he took the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over her legs.

The male stepped away then, giving her space as he slowly made his way over to the window and leaned against the wall, looking out thoughtfully, watching the world go by below.
 
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Hailey listened to what Drejan had to say, about what his mentor had done for him. It was hard for her to understand, in a way, how that could have happened. Why had that person cared about Drejan, a stranger? She realized that in that case, she should ask herself the same question - why did Drejan care about her, from the start? She had been a stranger to him. She couldn't fully understand how someone would help a stranger, someone they didn't know. She was pretty sure that she wouldn't help someone, at least not the way things had been before - at this time, when so much had changed, she wasn't sure anymore, not about anything, really. Just the fact that she had started to think about Drejan and how things was for him, his feelings, felt weird to her, as she hadn't cared for anyone but herself, up until now. What Drejan told her about his mentor, sounded like a good thing, yet scary and unfamiliar to her. Thinking about how Drejan had helped her even though they didn't know each other all that well made her a bit confused, and as she felt that she would be too caught up in her own, confused thoughts, if she continued thinking, she turned her attention towards Drejan again.

His words made her feel rather calm, knowing that - at least judging by his words - he wouldn't give up on her or leave her no matter what she did. She found it hard trusting him though, trusting anyone really, but it wasn't like he had asked her to trust him. Knowing that she had the option to leave whenever she wanted to, also made her feel better, as she didn't feel as much responsibility about it all. At his last words - "Nothing will harm you while you sleep" - she looked at him, thoughtfully, maybe even slightly worried. She immediately thought the opposite of what he had said - did he mean that something was going to harm her while she was asleep? She pushed away those thoughts as she knew that he wouldn't harm her, but still she was annoyed that those thoughts got to her all the time.

After a few minutes she was able to relax somewhat and close her eyes, feeling that she was pretty tired, after all. At least, she felt that she needed to rest some. And so, she did her best not to think of what horrible things Drejan could be doing to her as she was asleep, feeling annoyed since she knew that he wouldn't do such things, but that her mind was still stubbornly making up new possible scenarios to watch out for. After some time, she was able to fall asleep, having pushed the thoughts away, trying to replace them with good and safe ones, instead.
 
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Two weeks saw subtle changes in the interactions between Drejan and Hailey. The small blond seemed less skittish around him and her thoughts didn't always take a turn for the worse every time he reassured her. It was encouraging. It also seemed that stability in the form of a less stressful environment and mental exercises helped keep Hailey's visions from overwhelming her and Drey was grateful for that fact as he could focus on helping Hailey and not on the side-effects of trying to contain her attacks.

They'd fallen into a routine and while it wasn't an exciting one, it was growing familiar and they were both comfortable with it.

So it was that when night came with it's recognizable noises and routines, Drejan was almost instantly awake at hearing something that should not have been in his ears at this time of darkness. He got out of bed on silent, bare feet and grabbed his black shirt, slipping it on to join his gray sleep pants. He moved to the dresser by the door and carefully pulled out a gun, holding it toward the ground and at his side as he crept out into the hallway. His piercing gray eyes took in every part of the room that he could see and when he found nothing concerning, he glanced to the windows. The hair on his arms and the nape of his neck stood on end, a warning of danger even as his Reader skills detected minds he could not penetrate.

That was the biggest warning.....and the sound of glass breaking as a canister of gas was thrown into the apartment was a clear threat.

Drejan cursed and whirled, racing back down the hallway and to Hailey's room. She'd stopped locking it about three days ago and Drejan couldn't have been more grateful for that as he opened the door and closed it softly as he could behind him, trying to remain undetectable for as long as they could. His heart raced under his skin as he went to the bed and shook Hailey, his hand ready to descend on her mouth should she scream or make any other loud noise. He didn't want to scare her, but they didn't have a great deal of time.

"Hailey! Hailey, we need to go." he whispered, glancing at the door again.
 
As she felt hands grabbing her, shaking her, she immediately opened her eyes, opening her mouth to let out a scream, convinced that it whoever it was who had grabbed her was going to hurt her. She wasn't able to make a sound though, as Drejan put his hand on her mouth. Hearing his voice made her calmer, although her heart was still racing from the terrifying awakening.

Realizing what he had said, she tried to pull herself together and swallowed, trying to figure out what was going on. She guessed that there were people in the apartment as she saw Drejan glancing towards the door, and she felt her heart racing again, with only one thought in her head - they were going to die. Realizing that whoever were in the apartment probably wouldn't kill them but capturing them, made her want to hide under the bed and cry, not having to deal with anything.

Hailey sat up in the bed, looking at the window. Jumping didn't seem like a good idea, but what else could they do? If there were people in the apartment, she figured it wouldn't take long until they would find them. She went to the window and looked down but couldn't see much as it was very dark, and she hesitantly climbed up there, carefully starting to climb downwards. She didn't want to lose Drejan in the darkness as she began to run once she had hit the ground, but thought that he'd probably catch up on her - maybe he was right behind her, she didn't know. She wiped away tears that made it hard for her to see as she ran, having no idea where to go or what to do, just hoping that Drejan was more able to think than herself at the moment.
 
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