Chapter 3

"Christian." Somebody is shaking me from my deep sleep. I open my eyes to look at Anastasia, who has the same tray and bowl in her hand as a few minutes ago, only this time with a small plate on it, which is holding a few tablets for me, I think.

"I'm sorry. Did I fell asleep?" I murmur, my voice still sleepy.

"Yep. But no need to apologize. I think it's because of the painkiller you took earlier. They have this type of effect." She says as she sits down on the side of my bed, dipping the spoon in the chicken soup. "Would you like some water first?" She asks suddenly looking up at me.

"Yeah." My throat still doesn't feel good. Maybe a glass of water can help.

She put the tray on the nearby chair and fill my glass of water which is same I have drunk earlier from. Fuck, don't they wash their glasses? I mean, it has been here since I woke up.

"Here." She gives me the filled glass. I look at it as if it's some type of poison. Should I drink it?

"What happen?" She asks me, as I am just looking at the glass, not drinking it.

"Hmm.. Have you changed the water in the jug recently? I mean I want some fresh water." I say to her.

"Oh. Don't worry. I have changed your water in every two hours. Even I washed your glass, a few hour ago. So, everything is fresh." She smiles at me. Thank god, she is not offended by this.

As I drink the water, the coolness of it gives a relief to my sore throat. After finishing it I put the glass in its original space, on the bedside table and Anastasia starts feeding me her mouth-watering chicken soup.

"So, tell me something about you Christian." She asks me as she feeds me some broth of the soup.

That is strange that she didn't know anything about me. Maybe I'm not so famous in these areas. I can't even jog peacefully in Seattle, without attracting a crowd. I have been on the covers of every magazine, business and fashion magazine, mostly. I can understand business magazines, as that is the area of my work. But, I can't understand my face on the fashion magazine.

Anastasia is still gazing at me, expecting an answer. She genuinely didn't recognize me. Then, I'm not going to answer her so easily. Let the game begin, baby.

"Well, you know my name. What else you want to know?" I ask her with a straight face.

"Hmm.. there is so much to know. Where do you live, where do you work, who are there in your family." She shrugs.

"I will answer your questions, but you have to answer the same questions for me also. How is that?" I say.

"Deal. But you have to go first." Her eyes are looking into mine.

"I live in Seattle." I start but, she interrupts me.

"I know, but more specific than that."

"It's an apartment building, near downtown." I think that was quite specific. "Your turn."

"I live in this house, which is in Graceland."

"I know, but more specific than that." I throw her words back at her. She giggles.

"Hmm.. let me think. We don't have any name for this area. It's just Graceland."

"What is Graceland?" I can't understand it. I have never heard of this place before.

"It is a small village. It's not that big and doesn't have much population. So, we haven't divided it in the area. I mean there are hardly 50 houses in our village and everyone know each other by their names. So, can't be more specific than that."

Is she serious? 50 houses. Really.

"What is the population here?" I ask next, completely forgetting our deal.

"Hey, it was my chance to ask a question?" She says somewhat in high pitched voice.

"I know, but you want to know the population of Seattle. I think it's less than 1 million. I don't have much stronger data. Now, your turn." My tone is irritated now. I really want to know where I am. Because the way they all are saying it looks like Graceland isn't even a town.

"I think the population here is around 250, maybe. I'm not sure." She says softly looking down at the bowl. "I know this is all confusing, you just have been in an accident and you are at a place you know nothing about, surrounded by unknown people. But, remember we are only trying to help you."

I know my tone was harsh but, fuck, I think I'm really in a village. Shit, I don't even know about any type of village. I have never ever visited one. I look at Anastasia, she is still looking down, avoiding eye contact. Fuck, she is right, they are helping and I'm not even behaving thankful.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound harsh. I'm sorry."

She takes a big breath and looks up at me, gives me a small smile.

"It's okay. I think you should finish it, then you also have to take your medicines." She is still not in her previous mood.

"So, whose turn is this to ask the question?" I ask to lighten her mood. I really want to know more about this place, and her. It is just so confusing.

"No more question for tonight." She says as I finish the soup. She gives me my meds and water. I finish taking my meds as Anastasia stands to leave me. I want to stop her and make her stay. But nothing is coming out of my mouth.

"Goodnight Christian." Anastasia is at the door.

"Goodnight Anastasia." I sigh.

"Christian, help me." I see to my right, Ros is screaming. We are again in the Charlie Tango, going down.

I have no control over this. Fuck, how did this happened?

"Ros, I'm trying to control it sit tight." I shout at Ros.

I'm moving the console of the Charlie Tango, but it is having no effect on it.

"You bastard, you did this to us. You did this to me." I turn around to look at Ros, but instead of Ros, she is there, the crack whore. Fuck.

"You did this to me. You destroyed me. I fucking hate you." She is still shouting at me and I'm staring down at her.

Suddenly, everything explodes around me. Every noise, every pain is evaporated.

"Shhh… Everything is going to be alright." I hear a voice say to me.

I open my eyes and I feel Deja-vu. This happened today only. I look into bright blue eyes again, only this time I know this is Anastasia. She is stroking her hand through my forehead and hairs. Fuck, this feels good.

"Shhh…." I'm covered in sweat and still panting. She gives me a glass of fresh water. Fuck the water, I want something strong, maybe some bourbon. But, I don't say it out loud and take the water to drink it.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asks softly.

"Yeah." I respond to her. I don't want her to know about my nightmares. I always had them, but I never wanted to talk about it. They show a weak part of my life. They project me as a weak person, they make me feel a victim. So, I want to avoid talking about them. It is hard enough that Anastasia has first handed witnessed it, so I don't want to embarrass myself more.

"You want to talk about it?" She approaches me again.

"I'm fine Anastasia. You can leave now." I snap at her. I want her gone, away from me.

"But..."

"Annie. You should go back to your room, now." Raymond is at my door now.

"But, daddy. Christian is…"

"Anastasia, go to your room now. Mr. Grey is fine, here. So, leave." Ray is angry now. His tone is quite similar to mine now. Fuck, was I this harsh?

Anastasia sigh and walk out of the room, without looking back. I know I have no right to be angry at her. Fuck, I'm feeling guilty now. I shouldn't be so harsh on her, she is just trying to help me. What the fuck is my problem?

"You should try to sleep now, Mr. Grey. We will talk in the morning." Before I can say anything Raymond close the door. I sigh, I have never felt bad about behaving this way towards my subs. I have always been an angry man, always have treated my subs roughly but, never felt bad about it. The only people I don't treat roughly is my family, maybe except Elliot. But, Elliot always tries to push my buttons, so he deserves it. Then, Annie was not trying to push my buttons, she was just trying to help me. From the start she has been sweet to me but, I have treated her as an asshole. Fuck, I shouldn't do that. She is not my sub, yet. Maybe I can do some buttering and make her my sub. Hmm… I need to think about it and for this, I need to control my temper. I sigh heavily and try to sleep again.

The bright light coming out of window tells me it is morning. I think I should try to move now. All my muscles are stiff and aching. I try to sit on the bed. Fuck, it's painful. I take a few deep breaths. I leave the room to go outside for the first time. I took a shower and put on the clothes which were on the chair near my bed. I know without a doubt Anastasia put them there. I open my door to a large, I think, living room. The room has couches, a pair of chairs and a loveseat. A central large wooden table is in between them. The room is big and have off white colour on the walls. On the opposite side of my door, there is another closed door. Extended to living area, is I think dining area. There is a large dining table in the middle with ten chairs surrounding it. Raymond is drinking something in a cup and is busy doing some paper work. On one side of dining area there is an open kitchen, where Anastasia is working on the stove, cooking breakfast, I think. I clear my throat to make my presence known to them. They both look at me, Anastasia surprised, Raymond with his narrowed eyes.

"Christian, you shouldn't be moving." She leaves whatever she was doing to come beside me. "Are you in pain?"

Her concerned eyes are looking at me. How can someone be so pure? I treated her like a dirt on my shoes last night, but here she is, still worrying about me. Honestly, it is painful to walk, even stand properly, but I need to move my ass. I am restless lying in that bed, doing nothing.

"No, I am good Anastasia." I give her a small smile, to ease her worries.

"Are you sure?" She is still concerned.

"Yeah. But, I'm quite hungry." I really am. My stomach was making these weird noises while I was in the shower. I got this nostalgic feeling. The hungriness was similar what I have experienced a long time ago. It took me remembering some happy memories to come out of that place. My happy memories or my happy place consist of many family events or my own accomplishments, like Mia coming home, chasing my Grandpa in his apple farm, the first deal I made, surprising Grace with dinner in her office, giving the contract of construction of GEH to Elliot, having a drunk night with Carrick in his office where he told me how proud he was of me and many more. But, what surprised me the most was the last memory in my happy place was of someone, I don't anything about. Still, it was there, smiling softly at me, telling me that 'Everything will be alright'.

Thank you for reading. I'm really sorry for all grammatical, medical and geographical mistakes. Please ignore them.