8 Don't Let Me Sleep Here

When I woke I was lying on a large bed, the ceiling was a familiar mahogany...for a second I thought I was back home.

But these black and red plaid sheets told me I was still at the academy.

"You're awake?" Donald entered the room with a tray in his hand. His sleeves were rolled up and his slicked back hair looked disheveled.

"Donny? Where am I?"

"Still out of it, I see..." he froze for a second when I called him this. Perhaps cringing.

"You're in my room."

"HUH?!" I sat up in bed. "What time is it?"

Donald watched me before slowly leaning to place the tray on the night stand. His calmness agitated me. Answer me already!

"I let the nurse know, you already should have been excused from your classes." He took a seat next to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?"

"My room..."

A big bed, with enough space for a fireplace, bathroom and kitchen judging from the direction he came from.

And just like that the seven year old jealousy I had felt ever since then came back crashing into me like a tidal wave.

My voice trembled as I tried to suppress it, "What were you thinking, bringing me here?"

"Well, I brought you to your dorm but... I thought it'd be better if I brought you here."

"How could bringing me to a male's dorm possibly be a solution?!"

Donald opened and closed his mouth. His cheeks turning pink.

"It's not like that-

"Then why would you bring me here?!"

"Because you're sick you... dummy!" He suddenly went from being embarrassed to angry. "Don't you know people like us have to be careful?"

Careful~ Yes, this room exuded that. Care.

It's not as if my family didn't love me, I honestly didn't care less about how much better his room was compared to mine and the rest of the campus.

A custom room just for him, either his family pooled a lot of money into this place or the school prepared a lot for him. In the end, since Donald's route ended early I never got to figure out his purpose for coming here.

"Don't make me laugh!" I spat. "If we never happened to run into each other you wouldn't be talking to me like this! Stop acting as if you care!"

That was unfair, I knew it was because his family went out of his way to help him, he wasn't in a position to help me. And I knew it, yet but was as if my young and old feelings were overlapping. Logically I could understand but the hurt was still there.

"W-what makes you think that way?"

"You didn't respond to my letters at all!" People with our condition rarely recovered.

Most families who had kids like us normally prepared for their child to die. I understood that so why was I saying this?

"L-letters...?" Donald seemed confused and that frustrated me further.

Our families had been on such good terms with each other but I felt as if they turned their backs on my existence... that still traumatized me.

"Anyway I can't stay here. It's inappropriate!" I flung off the sheets.

Donald sat there with furrowed brows until I said this.

He pushed me back down, a flicker of anger burning in his honey brown irises.

His voice was a firm command. "Stay there... or I'll spank you!"

Eh?!

He held me down for ten seconds until I finally gave up. The air felt weird here.

"The teachers already know you're staying here, if you leave now, you'll only aggravate your condition. Don't be a baby and stop complainining, we're not kids any more! S-so... Take care of yourself!" His voice cracked at the end.

I had a lot more I wanted to say but he turned to leave.

"T-t-there's porridge on the tray."

It's been a while since I heard him stutter. For a moment he seemed familiar. I held out a hand towards his back.

Must be nice being a male. Must be nice to always be safe. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Since this was the male dorms Amelie wouldn't come here would she? Ah, she's not like the other spirits so she should be able to come.

I heard the door crack open as I drifted off too sleep.

Eeeeeeeeee.

I tightly gripped onto the sheets, "Amelie, please don't come. I'll look for the clues so don't come here... I beg...of...you..."

*

Donald returned to the room in that moment with knitted brows. What was she on about? What clues?

"Ame...lie..." A name that was familiar yet at the same time not. "Who is that?"

"Maaaan, that was awkward!" Aaron finally spoke.

Donald blushed and looked to his roommate.

"I-If you tell anyone about this...I'll kill you."

"Isn't it fine? You said you got permission from a teacher."

"I lied. What teacher would allow a female student to sleep here?"

Aaron's jaw dropped.

"Did you forget what that guy said about the fairies here?"

Aaron clamped his mouth shut, the miscief in his eyes dimming, he nodded. "Eurus? Yeah...why?"

"When I took her back to her room...it was freezing. It's not even facing the ocean, and when I checked the rooms next to hers the temperature was perfectly normal."

"Ah...." Disturbance registered on Aaron's face but it was quickly followed by confusion. "Wait... the girls let you in to check?"

"Of course not. I used magic to unlock the door."

Aaron stared at him. Unnerved, Donald glared.

"What?!"

"You're on the student council right? You're breaking all the rules for your lady now huh? How romantic!"

Donald reddened.

"Wha- she'snotmylady!"

He spoke so fast he was almost unintelligible but somehow Aaron still understood him.

"Oh, she's not?"

"She'slikemysisterorsomething!"

"I see!"

Donald, having had enough with the smile on his face.