About Today

Opening his eyes, Riley closed them back in fright. Of all the places to be, a dark room was the last place Riley wanted to be in.

He had gotten so used to the comfort of seeing a very bright room whenever he woke up from his unconsciousness, plus the fact that the last memories he had were not good ones.

Not having a single idea of where he was, only made him much more frightened. He curled up in fear of the unknown. He did his best at comforting himself, telling himself that he was safe. Afterall, the seniors made it clear that they were done with him.

Now, thinking back to what they had done to him, tears came rushing out of his eyes. He had no idea what they intended to do with the video and images they took, all he knew was that, if released to the public, it was bound to ruin his reputation.

He heard the door open, and he looked in the direction, but could see nothing.

"Just where am I?" he said to no one else but himself.

For a moment, he believed that the door which got opened was not that of the room he was in, but upon hearing some footsteps, which seemed as though they were approaching him, he got panicked and hugged his knees.

He could feel the presence of a person. He shivered, as crazy imaginations of what the person might do to him in a very dark room played in his head. He felt the person move closer, he tried to move, but he could not, no matter how hard he tried.

"Riley."

He heard the person say. It was a soft feminine voice. He thought for a second that it was a familiar voice, but then came back to face reality.

ʼI must be in so much pain that I'm beginning to hallucinate. Or am I dreaming?'

"Riley."

The voice called out again.

'This definitely is just my imagination.'

He couldn't tell if he spoke out loud or he thought of it in his mind, he could no longer tell the difference between reality and his imagination. That was until he felt a grip, a hard grip on his left leg.

"Riley, are you alright? It's me, Natasha."

He wanted to believe it was real, but at the same time, he did not want to put in too much trust and then end up being disappointed.

"He definitely must still be asleep."

He heard that familiar voice sy again.

'Even if it could all just be a dream, I really want to see Natasha. Who cares if it's nothing but a dream.'

Now, determined to try his luck, he still could not sit up, as he felt weak. But that was not gonna stop him.

"Is that really you Natasha?"

*****

Natasha was in her room, looking very worried and concerned about a certain fella in the room opposite hers.

"I can't believe those bastards would go as far as drugging him." she cursed out loud.

Her face soon became remorseful, and a drop of tear fell from her left eye.

"What if I had gotten there a minute late? He might be in a worse condition than he is in right now. Well, thank goodness I got there the time I did. If only I could have gotten there earlier, things would be different right now. All I can just do is hope this trauma does not affect him too much."

She closed her eyes as she took a deep sigh. Opening them, the once dimly lighted room was completely dark.

"What the hell is going on?"

She got up from the bed and walked towards the window. A room she had occupied for some months, a room she was familiar with, so she had no problem finding her way around the room.

Opening apart the curtains, all she could see was darkness, well, if you do not add the light from the moon.

"Why on earth will a blackout happen at this time?"

She walked out of her room as gently and as silently as she could. She approached the door in front of hers and went into the room. Closing the door, she stood still for a second or so,she walked towards the bed as silently as she could, but no matter how hard she tried not to make a sound, she herself could hear her footsteps.

Calling out to him and not getting any response, she believed he probably was still asleep. She turned back as she decided to return to her room.

'Wait.' said her inner thoughts.

'What if he is not in the room?'

She moved back to the bed, and placed her hands on it, as she searched for a part of a human body.

While searching, her hand touched something firm, just to be sure it was not some folded clothes, she gripped it hard.

She could feel it, even though it was under a blanket, she could tell it was his leg.

She heard a soft groan, and she went back to being a worried mother hen.

"Riley are you alright? It's me, Natasha."

Still not hearing any response, she didn't need anyone telling her, he still was asleep.

She proceeded to leave. And just as she got to the door, she heard a weak voice.

"Is that really you Natasha?"

Hearing his voice, she looked at him and chuckled

"You are finally awake."

*****

"Here, eat something." said Natasha, as she placed a plate of fruits on the table in front of him.

Riley blinked his eyes multiple times as he looked around the place he was in.

Though the place was not bright, it wasn't dark either. The candles did a good work at lighting up the place, it just wasn't as bright as Riley would have loved it to be, since the candles were not much. But whatever, it was better to have some light,than be in the dark.

He looked out through the window, but there was not much to see. His eyes darted over to Natasha who stood by the cooker, with her back facing him.

The place looked too clean, that he found it hard to believe he was actually in the kitchen.

*****

Natasha stood by the cooker, her arms crossed across her chest. She was so worried, worried that those seniors might have done the exact same thing as those who hurt Carrie. True, she was worried about that, but she was much more worried about how Riley was feeling at the moment.

She took a quick glance at him, but could not catch a glimpse of his face. Slowly, she turned to face him, still with her arms crossed, she looked at him compassionately. Looking at him, she realized his posture looked relaxed, and he really was relaxed as he looked around the kitchen with a face void of a smile.

Just this was enough to make Natasha mad at the crazy bastards who made him the way he now was. The Riley she knew loved smiling.

A sad smile came on her face and tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Hey Natasha."

Hearing his voice, she cleaned off her watery eyes with her palms.

"Hey, were you crying?"

Riley got up from his chair and approached her, giving her some tissue paper he took from the table.

"I don't need it." she said with a soft laugh. "I really don't, I'm not crying, just rubbing my eyes, I kinda feel itchy there."

Saying this, she rubbed her eyes, with her fingers.

"See, it's just an itch, not tears."

Riley just stood there in front of her, still stretching the tissue to her.

"Fine." se said and collected it. And the next moment, she threw it into the trash can.

"I really don't need it Riley."

Riley didn't say anything, nor did he react in anyway. He just turned his back at her and went back to sit.

Natasha in the other hand, turned back to the cooker, since the water she was heating was finally ready.

*****

Riley picked up the cup and stared at the content in it with a disapproving look on his face. He placed it back on the table. Raising his head up, he saw Natasha looking right at him. He laughed dryly and picked it up again after giving the content a hard look. He brought the cup closer to his nose and hurriedly dropped it in the most dignified way he could.

Natasha laughed silently, seeing how he had hurriedly placed the cup down.

"You have to drink it Riley." she said in a composed manner.

"Why?" he asked with a frown on his face "It looks so green, like, disgustingly green, and the smell, urgh, the smell is horrible

There's no way I am drinking this."

She looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"Why don't you tell that to my uncle."

"Your, your uncle?"

Now that caught him by surprise.

"Yes. He specifically told me to prepare this tea for you as soon as you wake up. He said it will help you in calming down your nerves, and just so you know, it's also good for your recovery."

He looked at her proud face with his mouth agape.

"You call this thing 'tea'"

"Yes, so, hurry. You should take the tea if you want a speedy recovery. You have to drink it before it gets cold."

Riley took a deep sigh before picking up the cup with his two hands.

Natasha watched him raise the cup to his lips, watched him part his lips so small and heard the sound of a sip, before....

Bang

"Ahh! It tastes so awful."

Se heard him say as soon as he dropped the cup on the table with next to no care if it spilled or not, and well, it did spill, but just a little.

Natasha watched him remover the berries from its branch and throw the berries into his mouth.

" Yes, better, take this awful taste from my tongue."

Watching him speak even with a mouth full of berries, Natasha smiled. Looking at him as he kept on adding more berries into his mouth full of berries, a face of Carrie with a mouth full of berries flashed through her memories, and Natasha's smile turned sad, and she now looked at Riley with a sad smile.

'What do I do now? Do I wait for him to tell me about what happened, or should I ask him myself? Even if I am to ask him, he looks a bit happy now, if I do ask him now, his mood will surely turn sour. What if I decide to wait for the right moment, but he no longer wants to speak about it again? Just what should I do? But if he speaks about it now, he might feel better. Fine, seems like I have no other option than to play the bad cop.'

"About today..."

They both said at the very same time.

They both looked at each other with soft smiles on their faces before they burst into laughter