olliemallory:
Her words were like a tide of relief washing over him - another one out of the woodworks. He’d been keeping track of recoveries as well, despite being denied information many times as he had no reason for asking around. Oliver was just another civilian, who should be asleep at home, not roaming the hallways of the hospital. “He wasn’t wrong.” He spoke with the tiniest of smiles, hoping it would help her relax a little. His eyes followed her hands, but he made no mention of the way she was ignoring the food in them. Most so far had done the same thing. “I can’t get official numbers. There might be some maybe tomorrow, or in a couple of days.” Her question had tightened the knot on his throat, which he did his best to hide. “I’ve heard about two. There are probably more. This doesn’t include deaths after arriving here, but I don’t know anything about that.” Oliver spoke with an unsettling amount of transparency - he wasn’t one for secrets. His hand, nevertheless, touched her shoulder with gentleness, as if trying to smooth over the damage his words could cause.
she listened carefully, her eyes glued to the floor as she nodded up and down with each new fact that he presented her. it was difficult to stomach, but what made it worse was the fact that brooke didn’t know ANY of these people. she could only I M A G I N E how it felt for others; their family, their friends. she was mourning people she’d never met and it felt disgusting, in a way. she’d never been one with soft and empathetic connections, but his touch actually D I D help her calm down. if only a little.
a noise fell from her mouth as she immediate tried to cover it up, sniffling and wiping her eyes before nodding to herself. “ crying never helped anyone, right? ” with that, she began to unwrap the sandwich he’d given her. normally she would’ve simply ripped it apart, the brilliant girl probably one of the messiest people in the world, but today she felt CLEAN. “ is everyone on your end okay?












