The Loving Silence

Chapter 29

The three men gently grabbed hold of Rue to lift him into the wheelchair. He was quite dazed, and frankly, he was a little out of it. They had decided to exaggerate his pain levels so that the nurse would almost overdo it with the pain meds. In fact, it was Rue's suggestion that they'd do that. They had called on the nurse a good while before they would have to leave. While they did humour him, they were only pretending to do it to follow along with his plan. One look at Rue was all it it took. They were certain that they would not need to lie to fulfill his request. The reason they felt so sure of this was because, to everyone but the person himself, it was obvious that Rue was deeply affected by his more than serious injuries. His pain was clearly much more debilitating than he let on.

In the end they decided to just be truthful with the nurse, and the patient was none the wiser, still convinced no one had seen through his one
man act.

As soon as the nurse had disposed of the empty packaging, she turned to her patient. Said patient  had planned to pretend to fall asleep to make sure that the nurses would not be checking in on him for a good while. But as soon as he shut his eyes shut, he was out like a light. So by the time the nurse turned back to check how he felt, he was deeply asleep. She left and they all looked at each other. Now what? Their plan had worked, but now they had a new problem. No one had foreseen that that would be all it took for Rue to fall asleep for real. And they really ought to have expected it. After all, he was exhausted in every way. His injuries were serious enough on their own, and the relief from being pain-free must have made him relax completely. Which was great, for him, but not so much for them. They would have to wake him up, but none of them felt right about that.

They hadn't known him long. There was no way for them to know just how long he had been forcing it. How long he had been struggling. Perhaps this somewhat invasive way of helping him to relax and get some sleep might be the helping him more ways than one.  Not even the young man himself knew how long it had been since he last relaxed fully. Since he last felt completely at peace. And the kidnappning... it was the last straw.

Mica watched non-committally as they did rock paper scissors to see who would have to be the one to wake up the patient. He was somewhat amused by their behaviour, but after the fourth round ended in yet another tie, he decided to intervene. His own injuries were nowhere near as bad but he was barely keeping it together. He just wanted all of this to be over. He wanted to go home, give James a cuddle and then rest until he had truly regained his strengths. Right now he was just pretending to be okay. He knew it was what he had to do to be what others need him to be at this moment. And he was fine with that. Because if it is within Mica's power to help someone, he always will. No matter the consequences.

"I'll do it. But first I think its best if I go talk to the nursing staff. Otherwise it is likely they will just end their shifts and go home. I mean, without speaking to their replacements about letting Rue sleep."

They agreed and felt relieved that they would not have to go through another round of the wretched game. They hoped that it would take a while for Mica to find the nursing staff so that Rue might get to sleep for a bit. They had no idea what they would have to face that evening, or who, and he would need all his strengths for that.

"Then it's settled." Mica nodded and stopped with his hand on the door post, "I must say you boys surprised me, in a good way. Being so apprehensive about interrupting his rest..." he smiled and shook his head, "That was very sweet of you."

"Come on, stop it. That was just—"

"No, I meant what I said. You can't fool me. You may give people the impression that you are inapproachable and dangerous, but after tonight, I am certain that that is nothing more than a survival technique you boys have had to develop over time." He swallowed and tried to compose himself. There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn't want to make them uncomfortable. He decided he'd try his best to keep the conversation light — or as light as he could muster. "I feel most fortunate to have been able to catch a glimpse of what you four are truly like. Your gentle and kind inner nature that has somehow remained, untainted by everything the world has done to you boys. I admire all four of you and I am in your dept." He sighed and opened the door. Holding on to it, almost like an anchor, he continued, "You may not believe me, but I swear I will do whatever I can to help you all once all of this is over."