Chapter 7- A Quiet Night at the docks
Gearld sat on the old rickety dock, the moonlight reflecting on the water, reflecting Gearld's tired face back at himself. The waves are crashing against the nearby cliffs. Eillot had long since gone to bed by now. Leaving Gearld alone with his thoughts and a box of cigarettes, he stole from Philip a few days before. He took the box out of his pocket and took one out. Putting it between his lips and lighting it with a lighter he had found in one of the labs, inhaling it, the smoke instantly filled his lungs.
…before immediately coughing his lungs out, “Fuckin hell, how does Philip do this?” he wheezed before throwing the lit cigarette into the sea as he had a massive coughing fit. “How does anyone do that Goddamn-” he put the cigarettes back in his jeans.
Gearld grabbed his Journal and went to write about the day when he heard someone approach. He looked behind him, expecting Eillot. But instead, he saw a man in a long blue overcoat, smiling fondly at him.
“Oh uh, hi Philip”, Gearld coughed, trying to stop himself from coughing, but his lungs were still refusing the nicotine. “What are you- *cough* doing up”
The bearded man chuckled and sat down next to Gearld “I could say the same about you; it's almost midnight.”
“Just thinking, the sea always grounds me”, the teen panted.
“Fair nuff, say…have you seen my cigarettes? I'm pretty sure I left them in my lab,” Philip jested, smirking.
Gearld froze and looked away, “Oh- uhhhhh noooo?” he sheepishly faltered.
“Just give 'em back, kid, you could've asked, ya know?” the bearded man chortled.
Gearld felt his cheeks warm up as he gave the box back, looking away “….sorry,” he mumbled.
“I remember doing the same when I was your age. I'm guessing it didn't go well for you, considering you were just coughing your lungs out.” Philip teased as he took one out of the box and lit it with his own lighter.
“No..” the teen mumbled, “my lungs still hurt”
Philip heartily cracked up, “Looks like smoking isn't for you”
Gearld scratched his neck sheepishly and looked back at Philip, who now had an unreadable look on his face “… Say, kid. This may be an odd question, but. How strong is your sense of morality?”
Well, that definitely was an odd question. The intern paused to think about it before taking out a gold cross necklace that he wears underneath his sweater and started to mess with it as he talked, “... well, I was raised in a Catholic orphanage, I still pray sometimes, so I would say pretty strong. Why?” Gearld inquired as he looked up at Phillip’s face, who took the information in and was thinking about something. Completely unreadable, as the man looked away from Gearld before taking out a notebook and writing something down.
Gearld looked back at the sea. Philip probably had a good reason to ask that, right? Gearld put the gold necklace back under his sweater. “Before I left to work here, one of the nuns who actually liked me gave it to me as a parting gift, she told me to keep faith in my heart,” he admitted “I may not really be what many would consider Christian, but, well. I'm a sciencist,” he chuckled, “I'm not sure where I'm going with this”
Philip put the notebook away and chuckled, “Fair enough- wait, you're an orphan?” The older man blinked in surprise.
“Yeah, I was just found on the orphanage’s doorstep one day.” Gearld explains, “I snuck out to get on the boat here”
Philip looked surprised “..huh, that makes sense, I guess, I was wondering why you didn't get letters”
“No one cares enough to write to me on the mainland”, Gerald smiled, not realising how sad that sounded.
The older man frowned at the statement and looked at his watch “We should probably head to bed” Philip got up and took his hand out to help Gearld up.
Gearld took it and got up, and the two walked into the manor. A tense quiet was between the two, damnit did Gearld overshare back there?
As they walked up to the dorms, Philip suddenly spoke up, “I need to see Thomas for a moment. I'll see you tomorrow, kid”
“Good night”, Gearld waved as the two parted ways. Gearld entered his room and locked the door behind him, entering the bathroom with a groan and looking at himself in the mirror.
“Why did I say that- ugh, now Philp will only pity me now FUCK-” Gearld yelled at himself as he paced “What if he tells everyone? What if- no, no. He wouldn't do that, right? No, no, he's a good man. Ugh, why do I think like this?”
Gearld entered his bedroom, took off his sweater and threw it onto his desk in frustration. He should probably get some sleep. Thomas works him to the bone, so he'd better get enough sleep for the day waiting for him.
