Application post
Prompt: Pins and Needles
The ice is so cold; it feels like it’s burning his skin.
Greg is huddled in the bathtub, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees and his whole naked body shivering. His jaw is chattering, his fingers and toes feel numb and he’s trying not to cry, but he can’t help it. The ice hurts so much, and he knows if he gets out or begs his dad to let him out, he’ll only be made to stay there longer.
He’s only nine years old. He didn’t make his bed this morning, and he said a bad word to his dad when he was ordered to make it. Greg knows he should do as his dad tells him, but sometimes he just doesn’t want to do what his dad wants. He wants to read, or play with his toys, or experiment with the play chemistry set he got for his birthday from Aunt Sarah a few weeks ago. Sometimes his dad makes him angry, really angry, so angry it feels like his chest is a balloon that keeps getting puffed up bigger and bigger until it’s about to burst.
“You make your bed when I tell you, boy, you hear me?” Dad says. He’s standing by the bathtub with his hands on his hips. He looks angry, stern, and Greg can’t bring himself to look at his dad, because right now he hates him. He’s scared of him. He doesn’t want his dad to see him cry.
“I want to get out,” Greg says in a small voice, his words hiccupped with how he’s shivering and how his teeth are chattering.
“You’ll get out when I say you can get out.” Dad crouches down and braces his hand on the edge of the bathtub, and Greg shrinks away from him. The cubes of ice rattle around his back and ribs, sending ice cold jolts through his body which makes him flinch. “This is for your own good, son. You don’t do as I say, you get punished. Do you understand me?”
Greg quickly wipes the tear trailing down his cheek with the back of his hand. Then he nods. He feels his chest swelling up like that big balloon, with fear and anger, but he’s so cold he just wants to get out.
“You wouldn’t be punished if you just did what I tell you to,” Dad says in a stern voice. Greg hates the way his dad just watches him for a moment. Dad then stands up. “You can get out now, son.”
Greg has to be helped out of the bath because he’s shivering so much. He’s subdued and withdrawn, and refuses to look at his dad as he wrestles with the towel, desperate to try and bask whatever warmth he can out of it. Any warmth that touches his frozen skin feels like burning pain and he tries not to cry again. He’s had enough ice baths now to know he shouldn’t cry and to know how much it hurts, but that doesn’t stop him from getting upset. He hopes his mom comes home soon, because even though she doesn’t know Dad does this, she usually makes it a little better. A hug or a kiss, something his dad would never dream of giving him.
“You go and make your bed now, son, like a good boy.”
Greg doesn’t answer him as he leaves the bathroom, feeling sudden exhaustion at how cold the ice made him feel. He quietly goes to his room and makes the bed when he’s warm enough to stop shivering, just like his dad told him to.
Muse: Dr. Greg House
Fandom: House MD
Words: 632
The ice is so cold; it feels like it’s burning his skin.
Greg is huddled in the bathtub, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees and his whole naked body shivering. His jaw is chattering, his fingers and toes feel numb and he’s trying not to cry, but he can’t help it. The ice hurts so much, and he knows if he gets out or begs his dad to let him out, he’ll only be made to stay there longer.
He’s only nine years old. He didn’t make his bed this morning, and he said a bad word to his dad when he was ordered to make it. Greg knows he should do as his dad tells him, but sometimes he just doesn’t want to do what his dad wants. He wants to read, or play with his toys, or experiment with the play chemistry set he got for his birthday from Aunt Sarah a few weeks ago. Sometimes his dad makes him angry, really angry, so angry it feels like his chest is a balloon that keeps getting puffed up bigger and bigger until it’s about to burst.
“You make your bed when I tell you, boy, you hear me?” Dad says. He’s standing by the bathtub with his hands on his hips. He looks angry, stern, and Greg can’t bring himself to look at his dad, because right now he hates him. He’s scared of him. He doesn’t want his dad to see him cry.
“I want to get out,” Greg says in a small voice, his words hiccupped with how he’s shivering and how his teeth are chattering.
“You’ll get out when I say you can get out.” Dad crouches down and braces his hand on the edge of the bathtub, and Greg shrinks away from him. The cubes of ice rattle around his back and ribs, sending ice cold jolts through his body which makes him flinch. “This is for your own good, son. You don’t do as I say, you get punished. Do you understand me?”
Greg quickly wipes the tear trailing down his cheek with the back of his hand. Then he nods. He feels his chest swelling up like that big balloon, with fear and anger, but he’s so cold he just wants to get out.
“You wouldn’t be punished if you just did what I tell you to,” Dad says in a stern voice. Greg hates the way his dad just watches him for a moment. Dad then stands up. “You can get out now, son.”
Greg has to be helped out of the bath because he’s shivering so much. He’s subdued and withdrawn, and refuses to look at his dad as he wrestles with the towel, desperate to try and bask whatever warmth he can out of it. Any warmth that touches his frozen skin feels like burning pain and he tries not to cry again. He’s had enough ice baths now to know he shouldn’t cry and to know how much it hurts, but that doesn’t stop him from getting upset. He hopes his mom comes home soon, because even though she doesn’t know Dad does this, she usually makes it a little better. A hug or a kiss, something his dad would never dream of giving him.
“You go and make your bed now, son, like a good boy.”
Greg doesn’t answer him as he leaves the bathroom, feeling sudden exhaustion at how cold the ice made him feel. He quietly goes to his room and makes the bed when he’s warm enough to stop shivering, just like his dad told him to.
Muse: Dr. Greg House
Fandom: House MD
Words: 632