(no subject)
Title: The Colours of Pain caused by a Comic book, chapter 5
Word Count: 1,857
Rating: PG-13
Beta: erynnbeth Thank you so much for your help :)
Summary: Well, I felt like writing some hurt/comfort and it involves Ryan, Seth, worried Sandy and Kirsten, the rover and a cliff!
Oh and this obviously isn't the violent one that I mentioned a little while ago. I'm currently writing chapter 6 of that one but am way too nervous to post it just yet.
Previous chapters are here
Chapter 5
Four days passed with nothing. Ryan’s cuts and bruises were healing nicely but he was still not waking up. The doctors had told them that he was responding to the pain, but he hadn’t so much as twitched in their presence.
The repeated CT scans were showing nothing and that just added to Sandy’s frustration. No one could give him a reasonable explanation as to why Ryan still lay so quiet and unmoving. All they said was that Ryan was “exhausted” and “would wake up when he was ready.”
Well, it had been long enough, and his worry for Ryan grew every time he saw him.
The room was littered with audio tapes and books from home. They’d been told that talking and physical contact was supposed to help a comatose patient wake up. So every day, after filling Ryan in on the day’s activities, they’d read to him or play him a tape. Anything that would make them feel like they were doing something to help.
He lifted a hand and ran his fingers tenderly over Ryan’s forehead.
A movement caught his eye and he turned his head sharply to look. He could have sworn he’d seen Ryan’s hand twitch.
Suddenly he didn’t know what to do. Should he call a nurse? What if it was nothing? Just a false alarm? Just his imagination after so long with nothing? He felt his pulse quickening. He’d been waiting for this for such a long time.
“Come on, please, kid.” He felt his voice crackling as he released the words and stood up.
He leaned over Ryan’s head and kept his hand over Ryan’s hand. He watched intently as a frown settled on Ryan’s face.
Sandy blindly slapped at the call button, excitement bubbling through him. “That’s it Ryan; you can do it.”
He stood poised over his son’s head. He froze when he saw a tear slip down Ryan’s face, which was twisted in a grimace. Just as quickly as the excitement had come, it was torn from him.
Ryan’s hand moved towards the tube, forced down his throat.
Sandy pushed the call button again. He began whispering to Ryan, holding his hand away from the tube. He felt Ryan squeezing his hand slightly and tried in vain to stop the sob that was welling in his throat.
Hands either side of him, pulled him away. He resisted half heartedly but didn’t have the strength to fight them.
He felt himself being turned away from the sight of Ryan’s writhing body and a nurse’s face replaced it. She was saying something but he couldn’t understand anything she was saying. His heart was beating too loudly in his ears and the sight of Ryan struggling was frozen in his mind.
The next few minutes passed in a blur. There was a choking noise and a man’s voice, commanding. Sandy felt the nurse rubbing his back and whispering something in his ear. She didn’t seem to understand that she might as well have been speaking a different language and he’d understand just as much. Everything was happening too quickly and he didn’t have time to focus on what she was saying.
Then, there was silence and time seemed to slow right down. After what felt like hours he heard her whisper “turn around.” Sandy slowly, hesitantly turned around. He was almost afraid to see in case Ryan was still hurting, was still straining against the machines that were supposed to be helping him. When he eventually forced himself to look at his adopted son, he again almost burst into tears at the sight he saw, but this time from relief.
Two dazed blue eyes looked back at him and he hurried over to Ryan’s bedside. The tube that had been protruding from Ryan’s mouth was now gone.
The nurse held out a bowl of ice chips, a smile on her lips. She slipped an ice chip onto a spoon and fed it to Ryan carefully. Sandy breathed in through his nose deeply, trying to keep his emotions under control.
“I’ll leave these here,” She said, putting them on the table beside his bed before getting up to stand behind the lingering doctor.
Sandy nodded and settled himself down on the chair next to Ryan’s bedside. The blue eyes watched his every move, and Sandy rubbed his arm gently.
“Hey, kid.” he whispered, trying to keep his emotions in check.
The doctor stood at the end of the bed and cleared his throat. “Hi Ryan, it’s nice to see you awake. My name is Doctor Foreman”
Ryan turned towards him slowly. He seemed hesitant to turn away from Sandy.
“I’m just going to check you over quickly to see if everything’s okay, alright?”
Sandy took Ryan’s hand and noticed the way Ryan clung on to him in return. The fear was raw on his face and it was clear Ryan had no idea why he was in a hospital, about to be poked.
He watched Ryan grimace as the doctor pressed down on Ryan’s ribs. “Sorry Ryan, your ribs are probably going to be a little sore for a while.”
“What happened?” Sandy winced at the rasp in Ryan’s voice and offered another ice chip, which he accepted gladly.
“You had a little accident with Seth,” Sandy said, keeping his voice calm.
“Is he okay?” He rubbed his eye, an uncomfortable look on his face.
“Try not to talk too much, Ryan,” the doctor warned as he examined Ryan’s head.
“Seth’s fine. A broken arm but he’ll be fine,” Sandy reassured him.
Ryan leaned back against the pillows tiredly when the doctor was finished.
“I’ll be in to check on you later, alright? Don’t worry if you do not remember what happened for a while. You hit your head pretty hard but I’m fairly certain you’ll remember soon. If not then, I’m sure your brother can help you.”
He shook Ryan’s hand carefully and then Sandy’s before leaving the room.
Sandy watched as Ryan fought against his closing eye lids.
“Just rest kid,” he whispered, stroking his hair back. “Seth and Kirsten will be here soon to see you and I know you’ll want to be awake for that.”
Ryan smiled softly and sunk deeper into the pillows.
Sandy waited till he was sure that Ryan was asleep before getting up to call Kirsten.
xxx
Seth looked at himself in the mirror. His hair stood in disarray and his eyes were blood shot. Every time he tried to sleep, he’d see Ryan’s face in the car as they fell. He saw Ryan’s face turning blue on the rocks as the paramedics beat down on his chest.
The yellow cast stood out brightly. Why the doctors thought a 16 year old boy would want a yellow cast was beyond him.
In the corner of the mirror, he could see his locked chest, holding all of his comic books. He couldn’t remember a day before the accident when he hadn’t read at least one comic book. But now it just felt wrong, and he couldn’t bring himself to even look at them.
His bedroom door suddenly flew open, making him jump, and his mom appeared.
“He’s awake!” she exclaimed, tears of relief in her eyes.
It took him a couple of minutes to react, and then there was the mad rush for clothes and a scurry to get out to the car before his mom drove off without him. He had been imagining Ryan’s awakening during his sleepless nights, trying to work out what to say to him.
“I’m sorry” just didn’t seem enough.
xxx
Ryan swallowed, grimacing. His throat really hurt. He opened his eyes as he heard Sandy next to him, shifting in his chair.
He gave him a slight smile, sitting up carefully. He felt stiff, but he supposed that’s what you got when you woke up from a five day coma.
“How are you feeling?” Sandy asked, and Ryan could see him watching him anxiously. He looked exhausted, and Ryan felt a pang of guilt that Sandy had had to sit with him for so long.
“Achy,” he whispered, his voice still hoarse from that ridiculous tube.
It had been so scary when he’d woken up and he hadn’t been able to breathe with the thing down his throat. He was even more scared when the doctor had begun ordering him to breathe out so they could remove it.
“Kirsten and Seth are on their way,” Sandy told him quietly. Ryan smiled. He wanted to see for himself that Seth was alright.
He stretched slightly and groaned from the sudden pain in his ribs.
He felt Sandy’s presence suddenly closer. “Ryan… kid, are you alright?”
He nodded slightly, still getting over the initial shock from the pain.
A wave of nausea passed through him and he held his breath slightly, hoping to keep it at bay.
Sandy was now standing up and pressing the call button.
“Ryan… you’ve gone really pale kid. Where does it hurt?” Ryan felt Sandy’s hand resting on his shoulder and focussed on the warmth from his hand.
Ryan looked up at Sandy, pleading with his eyes for him to understand.
He leaned over to the side slightly, trying not to cry out from the pain. He felt something being placed under his chin and a hand rubbing his back.
He shuddered as the nausea reached a new level. He coughed disgustingly as the first round of vomit expelled itself.
He squeezed his eyes closed to keep back the unwanted tears spilling out of his eyes as his stomach somersaulted. The hand remained on his back, rubbing it gently.
The pain was making the nausea worse and the vomiting was making the pain worse.
He felt the blanket being removed and his hospital gown being pulled up. He wanted to escape the invasion, but another round of vomiting kept him grounded.
Finally his stomach began to feel better and his body was left feeling weirdly numb. The feeling was disconcerting but he was glad that the worst of the pain was gone.
Someone was holding something to his lips and he opened his eyes slowly. A nurse was in front of him. She gave him a sympathetic smile and he accepted the water she was offering.
She let him spit out the water and he felt the hand still rubbing circles on his back. He turned slightly and recognised Sandy next to him.
The nurse took the bowl back from him and helped manoeuvre him back onto his bed.
“Call us if there is anything else you need. You should begin to feel quite sleepy soon, Ryan.”
Ryan gave a small nod, already beginning to feel the effects of the medicine. Sandy thanked her quietly and she left the room.
“Just rest, Ryan,” Sandy murmured to him.
He felt Sandy brushing his hair back and he closed his eyes.
Sandy’s hand was cool compared to his burning throat and he leant in towards it.
He faintly heard the door opening and the sound of heels but that was the last thing he heard before embracing the comforting darkness of sleep.
tbc…
Thank you for reading and leaving such wonderful comments for the previous chapters.
Word Count: 1,857
Rating: PG-13
Beta: erynnbeth Thank you so much for your help :)
Summary: Well, I felt like writing some hurt/comfort and it involves Ryan, Seth, worried Sandy and Kirsten, the rover and a cliff!
Oh and this obviously isn't the violent one that I mentioned a little while ago. I'm currently writing chapter 6 of that one but am way too nervous to post it just yet.
Previous chapters are here
Chapter 5
Four days passed with nothing. Ryan’s cuts and bruises were healing nicely but he was still not waking up. The doctors had told them that he was responding to the pain, but he hadn’t so much as twitched in their presence.
The repeated CT scans were showing nothing and that just added to Sandy’s frustration. No one could give him a reasonable explanation as to why Ryan still lay so quiet and unmoving. All they said was that Ryan was “exhausted” and “would wake up when he was ready.”
Well, it had been long enough, and his worry for Ryan grew every time he saw him.
The room was littered with audio tapes and books from home. They’d been told that talking and physical contact was supposed to help a comatose patient wake up. So every day, after filling Ryan in on the day’s activities, they’d read to him or play him a tape. Anything that would make them feel like they were doing something to help.
He lifted a hand and ran his fingers tenderly over Ryan’s forehead.
A movement caught his eye and he turned his head sharply to look. He could have sworn he’d seen Ryan’s hand twitch.
Suddenly he didn’t know what to do. Should he call a nurse? What if it was nothing? Just a false alarm? Just his imagination after so long with nothing? He felt his pulse quickening. He’d been waiting for this for such a long time.
“Come on, please, kid.” He felt his voice crackling as he released the words and stood up.
He leaned over Ryan’s head and kept his hand over Ryan’s hand. He watched intently as a frown settled on Ryan’s face.
Sandy blindly slapped at the call button, excitement bubbling through him. “That’s it Ryan; you can do it.”
He stood poised over his son’s head. He froze when he saw a tear slip down Ryan’s face, which was twisted in a grimace. Just as quickly as the excitement had come, it was torn from him.
Ryan’s hand moved towards the tube, forced down his throat.
Sandy pushed the call button again. He began whispering to Ryan, holding his hand away from the tube. He felt Ryan squeezing his hand slightly and tried in vain to stop the sob that was welling in his throat.
Hands either side of him, pulled him away. He resisted half heartedly but didn’t have the strength to fight them.
He felt himself being turned away from the sight of Ryan’s writhing body and a nurse’s face replaced it. She was saying something but he couldn’t understand anything she was saying. His heart was beating too loudly in his ears and the sight of Ryan struggling was frozen in his mind.
The next few minutes passed in a blur. There was a choking noise and a man’s voice, commanding. Sandy felt the nurse rubbing his back and whispering something in his ear. She didn’t seem to understand that she might as well have been speaking a different language and he’d understand just as much. Everything was happening too quickly and he didn’t have time to focus on what she was saying.
Then, there was silence and time seemed to slow right down. After what felt like hours he heard her whisper “turn around.” Sandy slowly, hesitantly turned around. He was almost afraid to see in case Ryan was still hurting, was still straining against the machines that were supposed to be helping him. When he eventually forced himself to look at his adopted son, he again almost burst into tears at the sight he saw, but this time from relief.
Two dazed blue eyes looked back at him and he hurried over to Ryan’s bedside. The tube that had been protruding from Ryan’s mouth was now gone.
The nurse held out a bowl of ice chips, a smile on her lips. She slipped an ice chip onto a spoon and fed it to Ryan carefully. Sandy breathed in through his nose deeply, trying to keep his emotions under control.
“I’ll leave these here,” She said, putting them on the table beside his bed before getting up to stand behind the lingering doctor.
Sandy nodded and settled himself down on the chair next to Ryan’s bedside. The blue eyes watched his every move, and Sandy rubbed his arm gently.
“Hey, kid.” he whispered, trying to keep his emotions in check.
The doctor stood at the end of the bed and cleared his throat. “Hi Ryan, it’s nice to see you awake. My name is Doctor Foreman”
Ryan turned towards him slowly. He seemed hesitant to turn away from Sandy.
“I’m just going to check you over quickly to see if everything’s okay, alright?”
Sandy took Ryan’s hand and noticed the way Ryan clung on to him in return. The fear was raw on his face and it was clear Ryan had no idea why he was in a hospital, about to be poked.
He watched Ryan grimace as the doctor pressed down on Ryan’s ribs. “Sorry Ryan, your ribs are probably going to be a little sore for a while.”
“What happened?” Sandy winced at the rasp in Ryan’s voice and offered another ice chip, which he accepted gladly.
“You had a little accident with Seth,” Sandy said, keeping his voice calm.
“Is he okay?” He rubbed his eye, an uncomfortable look on his face.
“Try not to talk too much, Ryan,” the doctor warned as he examined Ryan’s head.
“Seth’s fine. A broken arm but he’ll be fine,” Sandy reassured him.
Ryan leaned back against the pillows tiredly when the doctor was finished.
“I’ll be in to check on you later, alright? Don’t worry if you do not remember what happened for a while. You hit your head pretty hard but I’m fairly certain you’ll remember soon. If not then, I’m sure your brother can help you.”
He shook Ryan’s hand carefully and then Sandy’s before leaving the room.
Sandy watched as Ryan fought against his closing eye lids.
“Just rest kid,” he whispered, stroking his hair back. “Seth and Kirsten will be here soon to see you and I know you’ll want to be awake for that.”
Ryan smiled softly and sunk deeper into the pillows.
Sandy waited till he was sure that Ryan was asleep before getting up to call Kirsten.
xxx
Seth looked at himself in the mirror. His hair stood in disarray and his eyes were blood shot. Every time he tried to sleep, he’d see Ryan’s face in the car as they fell. He saw Ryan’s face turning blue on the rocks as the paramedics beat down on his chest.
The yellow cast stood out brightly. Why the doctors thought a 16 year old boy would want a yellow cast was beyond him.
In the corner of the mirror, he could see his locked chest, holding all of his comic books. He couldn’t remember a day before the accident when he hadn’t read at least one comic book. But now it just felt wrong, and he couldn’t bring himself to even look at them.
His bedroom door suddenly flew open, making him jump, and his mom appeared.
“He’s awake!” she exclaimed, tears of relief in her eyes.
It took him a couple of minutes to react, and then there was the mad rush for clothes and a scurry to get out to the car before his mom drove off without him. He had been imagining Ryan’s awakening during his sleepless nights, trying to work out what to say to him.
“I’m sorry” just didn’t seem enough.
xxx
Ryan swallowed, grimacing. His throat really hurt. He opened his eyes as he heard Sandy next to him, shifting in his chair.
He gave him a slight smile, sitting up carefully. He felt stiff, but he supposed that’s what you got when you woke up from a five day coma.
“How are you feeling?” Sandy asked, and Ryan could see him watching him anxiously. He looked exhausted, and Ryan felt a pang of guilt that Sandy had had to sit with him for so long.
“Achy,” he whispered, his voice still hoarse from that ridiculous tube.
It had been so scary when he’d woken up and he hadn’t been able to breathe with the thing down his throat. He was even more scared when the doctor had begun ordering him to breathe out so they could remove it.
“Kirsten and Seth are on their way,” Sandy told him quietly. Ryan smiled. He wanted to see for himself that Seth was alright.
He stretched slightly and groaned from the sudden pain in his ribs.
He felt Sandy’s presence suddenly closer. “Ryan… kid, are you alright?”
He nodded slightly, still getting over the initial shock from the pain.
A wave of nausea passed through him and he held his breath slightly, hoping to keep it at bay.
Sandy was now standing up and pressing the call button.
“Ryan… you’ve gone really pale kid. Where does it hurt?” Ryan felt Sandy’s hand resting on his shoulder and focussed on the warmth from his hand.
Ryan looked up at Sandy, pleading with his eyes for him to understand.
He leaned over to the side slightly, trying not to cry out from the pain. He felt something being placed under his chin and a hand rubbing his back.
He shuddered as the nausea reached a new level. He coughed disgustingly as the first round of vomit expelled itself.
He squeezed his eyes closed to keep back the unwanted tears spilling out of his eyes as his stomach somersaulted. The hand remained on his back, rubbing it gently.
The pain was making the nausea worse and the vomiting was making the pain worse.
He felt the blanket being removed and his hospital gown being pulled up. He wanted to escape the invasion, but another round of vomiting kept him grounded.
Finally his stomach began to feel better and his body was left feeling weirdly numb. The feeling was disconcerting but he was glad that the worst of the pain was gone.
Someone was holding something to his lips and he opened his eyes slowly. A nurse was in front of him. She gave him a sympathetic smile and he accepted the water she was offering.
She let him spit out the water and he felt the hand still rubbing circles on his back. He turned slightly and recognised Sandy next to him.
The nurse took the bowl back from him and helped manoeuvre him back onto his bed.
“Call us if there is anything else you need. You should begin to feel quite sleepy soon, Ryan.”
Ryan gave a small nod, already beginning to feel the effects of the medicine. Sandy thanked her quietly and she left the room.
“Just rest, Ryan,” Sandy murmured to him.
He felt Sandy brushing his hair back and he closed his eyes.
Sandy’s hand was cool compared to his burning throat and he leant in towards it.
He faintly heard the door opening and the sound of heels but that was the last thing he heard before embracing the comforting darkness of sleep.
tbc…
Thank you for reading and leaving such wonderful comments for the previous chapters.