"You know Daniel, you really don't need to come back every day. There isn't anything special about this place." I held a firm smile on my face while I spoke, he wouldn't listen to me, he never does.
"But there is something special."
"Oh?" I folded my arms infront of me. See? Not listening.
"There's you." He smiled, more with his innocent blue eyes than his cheshire mouth. He always thought his charm would get him through life. Poor kid.
"Whatever you say Daniel." I shook my head sadly, poor thing was older than I was and had no idea about the world.
"I like it when you're agreeable." He leaned back in his chair. He was so sure of himself.
I rolled my eyes. "So what do you want from me today?"
"I just want to talk." Only an idiot would believe that.
"Oh sure, what do you want to talk about?"
"You."
I errupted with laughter that clearly disturbed him. "Me?! Oh Daniel, you are a funny boy aren't you?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Funny? How?"
"It'll do no good for us to talk about me."
"Why is that?"
"Because you wouldn't learn anything. Don't you understand that by now? After seeing me for how long? A year? Two? You don't learn anything when we're talking about me." Maybe he'll actually listen today.
"And what do I need to learn?" He leaned in closer.
"So much." I grew solemn, I could feel it and I could see it in Daniel's face. Oh yes, he was going to listen today. There was a growing silence between us, it said so much to me, but he couldn't hear it.
"Well say-"
"Patience Daniel, patience will do you well." I locked eyes with him.
"I have a lot of patience, I have to becau-"
I held a hand up to him. "No, Daniel you have no patience. You don't listen, you don't see." I pointed to my temple. "You don't understand."
Daniel let out a harsh breath. "What am I supposed to hear? To see? To understand? You think you know so much Caroline, but how much of reality have you experienced, huh? Have you ever even lived in this world, hm? Your mind is never here, you are never here, so how can you know anything?" His brows were furrowed and his face had a pinkish tint.
"I live in reality every day. I hear people, I see them, I understand them. You have no patience, if you had patience you would hear what I hear, see what I see, and understand what I understand. Your job does not require patience. You're a cop, all your job requires is brawn and a pliable mind." I shifted my eyes to the metal door. "A pliable mind."
Daniel sighed. "What do you hear that I don't?"
"I can hear that you're not angry anymore, I can hear your determination to understand, you want to know why I did what I did. I can hear when you're interested in something I'm telling you, but more importantly I can hear when you are lying to me." I looked at him emotionlessly.
He was obviously caught off guard by what I said, but he tried to compose hiself. "What do you see that I don't see?"
"I see that you're far too cocky for your own good." I pointed to his face. "It's there in your smile, that cockiness. You feel like you're better than the people you hunt down, I can see that in your posture, your nonchalant 'I don't give a damn' lean. You think I'm just another 'crazy person' and that everyone who ever committed a crime is the same, I can see that in the way one of your eyebrows is raised and the lazy placement of your hands."
He was caught way off guard, he shifted his posture and hid his hands from my view. Slowly his eyebrows furrowed and his smile settled into a slight frown. "What do you understand that I don't understand?" Finally he looked to me for an answer, he wasn't sure if he had the answers anymore, finally he had listened!
I reached out and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "I understand that reality isn't nice."
He looked perplexed. "I understand that."
I smiled sadly. "No Daniel, you don't. Your reality has given you happiness, it's given you fame, it's given you a terribly inflated ego. Your reality has been nice, but you aren't experiencing reality until unfortunate events occur because reality isn't nice. You aren't living in reality until you can see your own faults, reflect on them, and act differently according to them." I removed my hand from his shoulder. He looked at me and I could see his brain working, he was trying to understand. After a while he nodded.
"I...understand."
I smiled.
"I understand, but I can never understand until I see my faults, and honestly, I can't see them." His eyes were somewhere else and his hand rested thoughtfully on his chin as he was mumbling to himself.
"And you won't be able to see them until something unfortunate happens. Something that will shake your foundation."
A lovely man in white walked into the room and handed me a cup, I dumped the contents into my mouth and swallowed down the lumpy mass. The nurse turned to Daniel. "I'm sorry officer, but you won't get much out of her now. You can come back tomorrow, same time."
Fuzziness began to swallow my thoughts as I watched Daniel shake his head and stand. "No, I won't be back tomorrow, there isn't anything special about this place." He looked at me. "But Caroline, you are special, thank you for helping me."
I smiled, I wasn't sure why this nice man was complimenting me, but it made me feel distantly...happy.