Lost Inside - 12. Chapter 12

It was not a good day. Yuri rocked on the stupid paper covered table. He didn’t like the crinkle sound anymore. He didn’t like the doctors with their endless questions and their needles and wires and stupid computers with idiot questions.

He wasn’t an idiot.

Bashta was better. He’d curled up on a chair by the window. They’d talked, a lot. The sun glowed on the small cat’s brown skin. Yuri liked the circles on it. The other cat that came sometimes was all tan with no marks.

Yuri hadn’t known there were so many different kinds of cats.

Even other tigers. He liked watching his mate, seeing his muscles when he stood with his arms folded over his chest when Yuri got mad. Benny had stayed with him all day, like he said he would. He was never far away, even if they couldn’t touch. But now he was out in the hallway.

He’d bullied the doctors out of the room just before Yuri sank his claws into the cushioned table top he was perched on and then kneaded the smooth fabric. It was too hard.

Why were they all out there? Not that Yuri wasn’t happy they weren’t bugging him, but he didn’t like being in the room all alone. The big windows didn’t have curtains and the sun wasn’t shining in anymore, warming him up.

Plus it stank. The chemicals burned his nose ‘cause they’d shut the window too when Bashta left.

Ooh. It sounded like his mate was getting upset too. “Explain it to me in English, doc, not medical mumbo jumbo,” Benny growled. Yuri swiveled his ears toward the sound. They hadn’t shut the door all the way.

He jumped off the annoying table and padded over. What did Benny need explained? “We’ve some preliminary results from Yuri’s tests. He does exhibit both short and long-term memory loss issues. He’s clearly recalling some things on his own, but after a year his progress would be far more advanced if he was going to heal naturally. We have a few routes we could go for treatment. Option number one is…”

“Are you talking about me?” Yuri opened the door.

“Yuri.” Benny pushed the head doctor that kept poking Yuri out of the way to get to him. “I thought you were going to get dressed.” He pulled up the gown falling off Yuri’s shoulder.

“No one brought me my clothes,” Yuri complained. They’d been left in another room or something ‘cause they weren’t in there.

“They’re in the cabinet next to the counter.”

“Oh.” Well, he’d be glad to get the annoying gown off. He reached for the tie on the side and undid the bow. The air across his naked back and butt felt good. Yuri wanted to go roll around out in the grass naked. He snuck out of his room sometimes at night and did that when it wasn’t too cold.

“Hey, wait a sec, and I’ll shut the door for you.” Benny blocked the view of everyone in the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder then growled. “Turn around.”

“Okay.” Yuri knew he wasn’t talking to him, but… he smirked when Benny growled again.

“You did that on purpose,” Benny said.

“Yep.” Yuri snickered. He’d seen his mate’s eyes shift away from his butt every time he’d turned around. He’d craned his head around, trying to see why the first time, but there wasn’t anything there but his butt. Then he figured out his mate liked his butt. Sometimes Szorpin pinched Cleara there, and she smacked him, but she always smiled when she turned her back on him.

Yuri clapped his hands on his butt and spun. He didn’t like getting pinched.

“What?”

“Don’t pinch me.”

Benny raised one eyebrow. “I didn’t.”

“I know. Just… please don’t.” Yuri licked his lips. “I don’t like it.” He was supposed to say when he didn’t like things, but nicely.

“You never did,” Benny said softly. “Why don’t you change, and we’ll go get some burgers.”

“Okay.” Yuri headed for the cupboard, ignoring Benny’s groan, even if it did make him smile. His stomach was empty, except for all the loud growls coming from it. He needed food. The door clicked shut behind him.

***

“I like these.” Yuri took a big bite of his burger while he waited. It'd been interesting coming to Benny's place. Benny led him in through the back door of a building. It was really loud somewhere close by, but he didn’t see where the sound was coming from. The guy who came to visit him sometimes was there with a tall man who smelled funny. He’d said hi to Yuri, and he had a forked tongue! Yuri’d never seen one of those before.

Then his stomach had growled again. Some guy in a tiny kitchen made them some burgers, and then they headed up a set of stairs and down a hallway. “They smell good.”

“Two patties, bbq sauce, and onion rings. Your favorite. Here, we can eat on the couch. I’ll go get us sodas.” Yuri couldn’t resist and started eating. He looked all around him as he chewed. The walls were brown, like the couch, and the floor, and the curtains.

The TV was big though. Maybe they could watch some car shows. Yuri loved watching people fix up the old cars til they were shiny and new again. Better than new, even.

Yuri grinned. “I like how you know my favorite burger. Not my music though.” They’d listened to some loud stuff at first, but Yuri had fiddled with the knobs til the soft stuff he liked came out with all the deep instruments.

“Everyone can change their mind on some things.”

“Not burgers, though.”

Benny chuckled. “No, not burgers.” He handed Yuri a strawberry soda. “You like these, right?”

“I didn’t drink soda… before?”

“Not unless it had whiskey in it,” Benny said. He put his soda down on the table. “These are my favorite.”