When he came too, his head was throbbing. The boy named Crowley looked around groggily. Why the hell was he in an all white room? Last thing he’d remembered was brick buildings of… Campus? He shook his head wincing and as he tried to sit up he grunted, rib cage felt almost as if it was broken (where the ******** did he get broken ribs?). If something knocked him in the head, it sure did take a toil on his memory. It was like he’d just awoken from a nightmare. Something he never wanted to see again.

As if the world was pulling some weird joke on him, his grandmother walked in. She had a tin of cookies and a package. Azzo looked around, What day is it anyways? He mused as he watched the lady walk her way towards him.

“Oh my… It’s really you.” She said, there were tears in her eyes and her voice was old and shaky. “I told them, I told them all along. And now look at you.” She shoved the tin to him and the package. “I wish they’d found you sooner. I made this myself.” She beamed looking at him. Her voice was sweet and she smelled of peppermint liniment and ginger spice as she always did.

He looked at her for a second, wondering if she’d gone crazy, he’d just seen her last week, hadn’t he? “found me sooner?” He finally croaked, looking puzzled at the present and tin. “What are you talking about grams? We just seen each other last week, didn’t we? What day is it anyways?”

Her smiled faded as she looked at him, “Last week? Pup, you’ve been gone for about a year.” Azzo stared at her, and blinked, she cut him off before he could say anything else. “It’s the 27th of December.” Her smile had turned to sorrow, Azzo watched her curiously. “Now then, are you going to open your presents? Or are you going to let them sit there, letting me think that you don’t love me anymore?”

Azzo knew why her smile had faded, his grandfather’s birthday was coming up. The one that had gotten him interested in thinking about studying hypnotism and how people benefit from it when used as medical treatments. Azzo sighed reminded of how he’d never learn anymore from his grandfather, that he’d be at the very least untrained, mainly because he didn’t trust others enough to go looking for a master of hypnotism. However, Azzo was snapped from his thoughts as she directed his attention back to the gifts at hand. Azzo choose to open the wrapped package first.

“Oh a Scarf” He said, half sounding thrilled, half not. It was silver and red. Something about the colors made him frown a little on the inside but he grinned none the less. “It’s just what I needed Grams.” He paused looking at again, “Wait did you hand knit this?”

Her grin grew wider, “Why, actually yes I did.”

“I didn’t know you knitted grandma!” Azzo was looking at the craftsmanship carefully pondering. “Maybe if you’re up to it you can make some things for my puppets as well. The same old outfits don’t always fit for some shows.”

Grams smiled at him, “Would you like some help putting it on pup?” Azzo shook his head as he wrapped it softly around his neck, loose enough some nurse wouldn’t come in thinking he was trying to hang himself. Afterwards he opened the cookie tin, it had ginger bread cookies in it. He stared at them for a moment before taking one to eat, it’d been so long since he’d had ginger bread, it took no guilt tripping from his grandmother to get him to eat a cookie, lucky him.

Looking at the time Grams smiled, “They said they’d let you out in a few days, I’m going to go get your room ready.”

“Hey Grams!” Azzo said looking around still, he was half expecting more of the family, “Where’s mom and dad?”

She stopped her back still to him, “They’re on a trip, they don’t believe me that you’re alive. Wait till they get home.” She said bitterly as she walked out leaving Azzo to rest and look puzzled as he tried to sort out what happened and why he was here.


((Word Count: 697 ))