Whisper in the Darkness Ch13
It’s a natural reaction of human beings to feel a sense of anxiousness or apprehension before a significant event, or in a time of change or stress, this feeling keeps them alert to possible danger and gives them the adrenaline to be able to deal with any unforeseen turn of events.
Which was why on the morning the bandages were due to be taken off, when Ueda woke with a slight shiver of apprehension he put it down to nerves about suddenly being blessed with sight after four weeks of oppressive darkness.
Rising and feeling his way around his room with, he noted, far more confidence than he had when he had first come back home, he attempted to ignore the tingling feeling in his skin and the trembling, insistent way his heart was beating.
Clenching and relaxing his fists a couple of times to get rid of the weird sandpapery feel under his skin he pulled a pair of jeans a t-shirt and an old zip up hoodie out of his wardrobe and, after navigating his way into them, he went through to the kitchen.
The kitchen table was where Maru found him ten minutes later.
“Ohayou Tat-chan,” Maru said, filling the kettle. When he got no response he flicked the on switch on the kettle and turned to look at the silent figure at the table. Ueda sat slightly hunched over, one elbow propped on the table and his other hand wrapped around it as if he were afraid it might not stay put on its own. His raised hand was held close to his mouth, his fingers tapping out random rhythms on his lower lip.
“Tat-chan?”
Still no response, and even as Maru watched Ueda’s mouth opened and his teeth clamped down on his fingernails.
“Hey! Tat-chan!” Maru called again, and this time Ueda jerked out of his reverie with a start as though he had been slapped, his elbow slipping slightly from place and his fingers falling out of his mouth.
“Oh! Ohayou Yucchi,”
“Are you okay Tat-chan? You seemed pretty deep in thought there,” Ueda sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“I can’t shake this weird feeling that something is…off,” Maru blinked.
“Off? What do you mean?” Ueda shook his head.
“I’m not sure, there’s just this weird feeling like…something’s about to happen, or something’s wrong, or I’ve forgotten something. I don’t know, it’s weird, it’s like my whole body knows something I don’t,” Maru smiled fondly and sat beside his friend, resting his hand on his shoulder.
“That’s probably nerves because of the bandages coming off,”
“That’s what I thought but it won’t go away,”
“Don’t worry so much, you’ll feel a whole lot better after you can see again,” Ueda took a deep breath and smiled, nodding decisively.
“Yeah, I guess, thanks Yucchi,” then he dodged instinctively away from his friend.
“Don’t hit me again!” Maru burst out laughing.
“Come on, we’re due at the hospital in half an hour,”
~~~
“Ueda Tatsuya-san?”
Ueda flinched in his seat and gingerly pushed himself up off the blue plastic chair. Maru stood beside him and wrapped a hand around his arm. As much as he tried to tell himself this…feeling was all because his bandages were about to be taken off he couldn’t shake the apprehension that something was off.
“Ueda-san, how have you been?” Ueda smiled and relaxed a little on hearing Mizushima-sensei’s voice,”
“I’ve been okay, thanks”
“Have a seat I’ll be right back,”
Ueda sank into the chair facing the one Mizushima-sensei had just vacated and Maru took the one near the wall, out of the way. Ueda clenched and flexed his fingers on his knees and chewed on his lip. Maru found himself biting on his own lip as he watched him. Ryo had called them earlier to tell them his train had been delayed so he wouldn’t be back in time to go with them to the hospital but he’d be back as soon as he could.
Before he could say anything though Mizushima-sensei was back and, after dimming the lights, had seated himself in front of Ueda.
“Now, raise your head for me Ueda-san,” Ueda did as he was told and the doctor reached forward and carefully unwound the bandage from his head until all that was left were the two circles of gauze taped securely in place. Placing the bandage to one side Mizushima-sensei rested his hands on his knees as he regarded his patient.
“Ueda-san, since your eyes have been closed for so long they will be very used the dark and too much bright like will agitate them, there’s no real danger of further damage but the light will hurt, I’m sorry I can’t really do anything about that, it might be best to wear sunglasses for a little while when you’re outside, and try and wear your glasses as much as possible, also, I’d refrain from wearing contacts for a couple of weeks,” Ueda swallowed slowly before attempting to speak.
“Are they…are they okay now though? My eyes?” the doctor smiled.
“Yes, they should be fine, there’ll be some slight scarring, so don’t worry if you can see some tiny blurs in your vision, that’s normal and they should fade within a week or so,” Ueda nodded slowly and Mizushima-sensei gently pried the gauze circles away from his eyes.
“You can open your eyes now Ueda-san,” Ueda paused and bit his lip, his fingers curling around the edge of his stool.
“I’m kind of afraid to,” he murmured. Maru got up and stood behind him, hands firm on his shoulders.
“Open your eyes Tat-chan, it’s okay,” Ueda took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.
For a moment he said nothing, just stared straight at Mizushima-sensei and blinked slowly. Then he gave a small smile.
“How do your eyes feel Ueda-san?” the doctor asked, smiling back at him.
“A little sore, like they do when you wake up, and my visions not all that clear,” Mizushima-sensei nodded and reached back to a drawer behind him.
“Totally normal, it’ll clear up very quickly, like you said, just like when you wake up in the morning, it’ll still be slightly less focused than usual, just for a day or two, but overall, your eyes are fine now,” Ueda smiled again and held his hands up in front of his eyes.
“I can see…wow this is so weird…I’d sort of started forget what things looked like,” he turned to look up at Maru who was smiling down at him like a protective older brother. Ueda grinned suddenly.
“Ah, your hair hasn’t grown back yet,” Maru, without missing a beat, looked back at the doctor who looked highly amused.
“Sensei, please put his bandages back on,” Mizushima-sensei and Ueda laughed, while Maru just pretended to glare down at his friend.
Reaching out Mizushima-sensei instructed Ueda to tilt his head back slightly and he squeezed two drops of some kind of solution into his eyes. Ueda blinked and frowned.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a bit like a salve for your eyes, since they’re also not used to blinking anymore, it’ll also liven up the blood vessels and muscles around your eyes, you shouldn’t need any more of it, but let me know if you think you do,” Ueda smiled brightly, maybe the brightest he had since the accident.
“Thank you sensei,” the doctor smiled back at him.
“You’re very welcome Ueda-san, now go on, go get used to seeing again, and take care of yourself, I don’t want to see you back here again, okay?”
Ueda nodded and looked up at Maru who grinned back.
“Let’s go Yucchi,”
Bidding a final farewell to the doctor they left the hospital, via the gift shop to pick up a pair of sunglasses, it was a fairly bright day and Ueda was in no mood to be blinded by the daylight.
“What do you want to do now?” Maru asked. Ueda chewed his lip in thought for a moment. Though they have left themselves in an awkward place he wished Ryo was there with him, he wanted to see him, of all the images he’d started to forget over the last month Ryo was certainly not one of them but all the same he wanted more than the picture in his head.
“Tat-chan?”
“I think I’m just gonna…walk around for a while, get used to being able to see again,” Maru nodded understandingly.
“Okay, well, I have a meeting to go to soon, so I’ll call you later okay? And don’t wear yourself out,” Ueda waved him off.
“Hai, hai~, I get it, go to your meeting before you’re even later than usual,” Maru gave him a look.
“Cheeky git, I think I liked you better an hour ago,” Ueda laughed and pushed Maru in the general direction of his car.
“Go on, get going, I’ll be fine, don’t mother me!”
After he waved Maru off Ueda set off in the direction of Shibuya, just to walk around and re-acquaint himself with the places that were supposed to be familiar to him. It was a strange feeling suddenly having his sight back after so long, like waking up from a coma with partial amnesia. It really was almost as if he didn’t recognise things when he saw them…were traffic signals always such a bright blue?…did leaves always move in the breeze like that?…were clouds always that fluffy looking?…
He’d been walking for only around an hour before, even through the sunglasses he’d bought, his eyes were beginning to ache. He was moving them so much, making them focus on so much. He’d wandered the streets of Shibuya, wandered through clothes stores, music stores, books stores, up and down in a department store and now his eyes were telling him they could handle so much so soon.
Slowing to a halt Ueda reached up and lifted his sunglasses touching the skin around his eyes, pressing at the muscles, trying to relax them as he blinked slowly and deliberately. It helped but they were still tired and the light that invaded his sight while the shades were pulled aside was, as Mizushima-sensei had said, quite painful, so he decided that for today he’d head home.
Maybe when Ryo returned from Osaka that evening they’d finally be able to talk…
Even as he thought this, from nowhere a hand gripped his collar and yanked him roughly off the street and down a side alley. Before he’d even realised completely what was happening a large, strong hand curled around his throat, lifted him off the ground and slammed him backwards into the wall.
Ueda screwed up his eyes in pain and clawed at the enormous paw around his throat, to no avail. The fingers didn’t budge and he was running out of air. Cracking open his eyes he could just about make out a large, dark face staring at him expressionlessly as he struggled for air.
Then a voice from somewhere around his left hip wound its way up to him as the edges of his vision began to go hazy. He forced his head to tilt slightly, ignoring the chafing pain as his neck shifted against the huge calloused hand. Beside his attacker stood a man much shorter but well built, in a black suit with a purple shirt, open to the chest, black shoulder length hair falling haphazardly into his eyes and a cigarette in his right hand which was raised close to his mouth as if he were about to take a drag.
Instead he grinned as he met Ueda’s eyes. Blinking furiously Ueda pressed his heels into the wall in attempt to dislodge himself from the huge mans grip, unsuccessfully. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. The shorter man took his drag and blew the smoke up into the air before locking his gaze with Ueda’s again.
“Finally, we’ve had to wait far too long for you pretty boy,”
つづく
A/N A fairly short chapter this time but I managed to write everything I initially intended to. I hope it’s okay, seeing as it ended up being so short. Anyway, this is the penultimate chapter, one more and an Epilogue to go. I’m going home tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to have this multichap wrapped up fairly soon. Enjoy~! ^_^