Best Forgotten, Part 16

[chazper]

Tomorrow--well, Tuesday; it's not Monday here yet--I leave for my summer vacation. (I'm taking a river cruise up the Danube from Budapest to Munich, ending with the Passion Play in Oberammergau.) So even though it's not my customary last-day-of-the-month posting, I thought I'd update this endless WIP for whatever die-hard OC fic readers remain.

Comments

[beachtree]

I've probably already missed your departure, but I hope you have a safe, enjoyable field trip with only positive experiences and memories. How about at least no volcanic, scheduling or security issues? These days, take what you can get!

I was surprised to see this already- no dig at all intended- but also very happy. If I truly savored sadistic Ryan torture on the physical, psychological and emotional scales, I'd be ecstatic. Okay, maybe part of me does- if the story is told well and I can hope for an outcome that isn't horrible and just as harrowing.

You always come through and score big points with imagery and vivid, hauntingly genuine descriptions that transcend the page. Lucy's introspection upon seeing Ryan, his treatment, and her growing bond with him definitely stretches the heartstrings to their taut limits. He might not have understood just how inhuman and diabolical Caleb is and what his own dismal fate is supposed to be, but Ryan has no reason to believe he isn't utterly alone, abandoned, and left to Caleb and the butchers' devices- whatever that may be. Lucy represents the shredded tether to any semblance of hope. What her admission about Sandy/"Mr. Cohen" not coming must have meant to Ryan...

Lucy, Lucy... why you didn't listen to those numbers one of the hundreds of other times. Please, don't be as inept as the Cohens! It's all up to you. I only hope her conflicted, painful choice to harm Ryan in order to help him doesn't backfire. As long as the medications aren't counterfeit, mislabeled, or otherwise contaminated, I have faith in her knowledge to err on the side of caution. It speaks volumes, and accurately, that Ryan would suggest putting himself in greater jeopardy and endure more suffering if that would be the only form of self-preservation. There's a familiar pattern from his life rearing its head again. As for what went on while Ryan was manhandled, moved and "visited" by Caleb, that has to be its own horror story.

Thanks for updating, especially with everything on your plate.