Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gregory opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He searched his mind to remember the dream he had just experienced but it stood just barely out of reach. It tortured him as the memories flooded out of his head, the tips of his mind just barely able to get a few images. The only thing that he could comprehend was bright hues of red and yellow and the sky racing rapidly around him. Boredom sunk in as he realized that without his ability to move around, he had nothing to do but watch the cruddy T.V. in the room. It had thirty or fourty channels and most of them aired, news, infomercials or religious devotion.

The days proceeding the present he had managed to push the ravages of depression by convincing himself that he would be getting out soon and see Heaven again. Unfortunately loneliness had began to sink in, and it lead to self pity. For a moment he thought that he was going to cry, but quickly he forced the feeling out of his mind and blinked until the tears disappeared. A nurse entered the room and looked at Gregory to check if he was asleep. Quickly he shut his eyes to look like he was asleep.

"You don't have to pretend to be asleep. If you don't want to deal with me then just say so." the nurse said as she walked in.

"I offered you someone to talk to. Never said you had to." she added as she walked next to his bed.

"You need to take your meds' though."

"I know." Gregory responded as he opened his eyes. He held a hand out and the nurse poured a few pills out of a small paper cup into it. Gregory put them in his mouth and swallowed them dry.

"Oh my God Gregory! That's bad for you." the nurse scolded shaking her finger in a motherly way.

"I'll have you know, Maddy, I'm devoutly religious, and those words offend me greatly." he responded with a smirk.

"You are..." she said rolling her eyes. "Prove it." she continued folding her hands. Gregory recited some religious ramble he had watched on one of the channels he had been watching during his stay, then recited a short scripture which he had memorized. It was less that he had memorized the scripture and more they recited it after every point said during the show. For a moment Maddy was silent and almost believed what he was saying, but his smile gave it away.

"I know your type." she said shaking her head. "Your not religious, and drink your water. Those meds' are going to eat up your stomach if you don't." she added. Gregory stared at her for a moment and sat up. His neck still hurt, badly but he refrained from showing his discomfort. He took the glass of water and drank it his eyes narrow.

"What type am I?" he asked as he set the glass down. The fact that she 'knew' his type bugged him. He set the glass down and waited for her response. She was silent for a second then spoke.

"You act shallow... But your not. Your smart, but you don't act like it. You know how to read people, well, very well. You play people like puppets because you can do so. You don't like vulnerability and you would probably stop talking to someone just to avoid it." she said plainly and clearly. Gregory stared into her blue eyes then looked away from an expression of general disdain.

"No..." he said in an almost childish voice as he fidgeted with his fingers. Maddy pulled her medium length hair behind her ears and leaned in.

"And the fact that you couldn't hold eye contact with me means I'm right." she said as she winked. Gregory looked to her for a moment then looked away. Her gaze was penetrating, it saw right through him. Silence continued as she waited for him to respond. Very few people in his life could ever make him feel stupid or inferior, part of him almost liked it, almost. The rest of him hated it and wanted nothing more than to take control of the situation.

"So how come someone with your psych expertise is a nurse at a hospital." he responded with a faux sense of curiosity. Maddy turned her head as she thought of an answer.

"I psych on the side. Full time job of hearing people talk about the bad side of their lives is to much negativity for me." she responded.

"Didn't finish college?" he responded with a smirk, those three words put him back on top of the situation.

"It was worth a try." Maddy responded referring to the fact that she had lied. The fact that she could be unaffected by his attempt to break her surprised Gregory.

"There's quite a bit of Will in you Gregory." she continued. "A lot of po-..."

"'tential?" Gregory interrupted her finishing the word. "Yeah that's what my ex, my mom, my dad, my older brother, and my best friend said when I told them I wasn't finishing college." Gregory said bitterly. Maddy smiled and looked at him with admiration.

"You can be someone important." she said her words sounded of friendly advice. She walked to the door of the room and opened it.

"Remember. I'm here if you want to talk." she said then paused. "Or want to listen. I mean watching bible-thumpers and infomercials all day is gonna drive you crazy." she finished. Gregory began to nod but his neck voiced it's disagreement again.

"Yeah." he said his voice slightly wavering in response to the pain. The door shut and he leaned back down into his bed, flipping the channels of the T.V. in a hopeless attempt to find something interesting.