Henry's story is so inspiring, so here's a collection of short stories and one shots about him.
If you have ideas and imagines you want me to develop, let me know :)
"Stop!" a voice shouts. You hold your breath, knowing it wasn't your voice saying that, not anymore. No more waves. The collar holds your head up and your burning eyes follow Brenner as he turns to the orderly who joined the macabre show. "What did you say?" Brenner say with a tone that menaces punishments. You cross the eyes of the orderly. Dreamy blue eyes. The most beautiful things you can see in that ocean of pain and agony. Those eyes leave yours to hold Brenner's gaze. "It's my fault. I challenged her to take the girl outside. I didn't expect her to actually do that". You barely registered those words and their meaning. But you notice the change of expression on the doctor's face, like he made a terrible mistake. He lowers his hands and say "Let her go". You are too exhausted to be exultant. The collar is removed from your burned neck and your head falls forward so your eyes see the fingers unlacing the belts. Strong hands pull you up, but you can't stand. You lean against someone and watch as the orderlies grabs the one who intervened. He let them drag him to the chair, taking your place. You start to understand what's going on. "You enjoy to embarass me" Brenner hisses and nods to the orderlies. They have prods in their hands and use them on him. Henry. That is the name of the orderly who replaces you. He has never been mean to you in those months and you don't understand why he is sacrificing himself. At first he doesn't scream, but you see how his muscles contract under his clothes and hear how strongly he clenches his jaw. "No!" you manage to exclaim with your weak voice. But no mercy for him as well. The prods keep teasing him until he breaks and let out shouts of agony that break your heart. The arms wrapped around you drag you out that room and at every breath you beg that the punishment ends. Henry's screams chase you for a while after you're left alone in an empty infirmary room. Not lying on the stretcher, but on the floor. You curl and cry as the awful noises go on for a while. And then silence. Only the soft sound of your sobs.
It's not true what Henry said. He never challenged you. He never teased you as the other orderlies did, when they tested your patience with their wicked pranks. He is the only angel in a building full of demons.
You hear approaching steps, then see the orderlies dropping an unconscious Henry next to you. They tortured him until he passed out. You stare at him in shock, fearing that maybe he's not waking up anymore. So you stare at his chest, depending on the weak movements that prove you that he's still breathing. He is in that state because of you. The guilt teases you and you find the strenght to pull yourself up and crawl to him. You grab his hands in yours and watch his messed up face. He is bleeding from his ears, his eyes are swollen for the tears, his bottom lip is broken and bleeding after he bit himself. You're never going to forget it. You raise a hand to brush his hair from his face. "Henry?" you call him, needing him awake, so you can stop depending on his breathing to know that he's alive. "Henry?" you shake his shoulder and squeeze his hand, eager for a reaction from him. You need to insist for a while before hearing a moan from him and his fingers squeezing your hand back. His eyes finally open, although they look so empty that it's another heartbreak for you. "You're here. You're here" you say with gratitude, bowing your head and resting your forehead against the hand you're holding. When you lift your head, his eyes are fixed on you and there's more life in them. He struggles to pull himself up so you help him to sit up. He curses softly "I hate this". "I'm sorry" you say, the sobs in your throat choking you. "Water?" he asks looking at you. You nod and he plants his hands on the floor to move his legs and stand up. If he can, you can stand up too, so you gather your little energies and pull yourself up. Once on your feet, you feel so dizzy that you almost faint. Henry lifts his hands and delicately pushes you to the stretcher. You sit down and watch him stammering to the faucet and fill a glass of water. He swallows it in one gulp, then fills it again and walks back to offer it to you. You realize how thristy you are, but swallowing is more painful than you expect. Also moving your neck is agony. But your body welcomes the water. Seeing how weak he is, you pull his arm so he sits down next to you. You look at his broken lip "Why did you do that?". He licks the blood on his lip and looks at you "They would have broken you". They wouldn't have stopped until you passed out too. "I'm used to it. You're not" he adds "You would have been irreparably broken". You hold your breath. Broken in your mind? In your body? Or simply dead? You don't mind. You don't want to know. You only know that if you're still alive it's because of him. "But they tortured you" you say weakly, the echoes of his screams risking to drive you insane. His fingers look for yours and wrap around them. "It was worthy. I didn't want it to happen again". You freeze at the idea of how many other people went through those punishments and never see another day. You don't dare to ask. You don't want to know. All that hell... only because you wanted to show a girl the sky at sunset. "I'm so sorry" you say desperately, leaning towards him. His arms welcome you and you rest your head on his shoulder, letting out the last sobs left in you. He pulls you closer and you calm down under the soft brush of his hands on your back. "You're alive now. This is all that matters now" he whispers resting his head on yours. You stay there for a while, until you feel a little better. You lift your head to see his eyes. "Thank you" you say with deeply gratitude, then wrap your arms around him to hug him. You move your head to press your lips on his cheek and linger there. He is your saviour. He sacrificed himself to save you, without you asking for anything. And you will never betray him. You feel less lonely in that hell.
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Song: Sky's Still Blue - Andrew Belle
A/N
Tuesday 13th September 2022
This turned out a little too dramatic, but I'll reprise this theme in another similar story without torturing the characters too much 😅
I felt a little inspired by a short movie with Daniel Sharman that is about sunsets too in a saddening way and it said something like "Don't look at the sunset". And damn, I love sunsets 🌅
This is an open ending. You can go on imagining how you can comfort each other. I mean, after having being punished when you didn't deserve it, you deserve some reward, right? 👀🔥
Here's the little part I've cut from it, because I don't feel comfortable in writing smut and it was going in that direction. Check it as a tease, but don't ask me to continue writing it 🙃🙈
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He moves his head and you pull back before your lips can touch his. "I don't regret it" he whispers and his breath kisses you. He leans closer until he rests his lips pn your neck, placing delicate kisses on your skin that turn the burning ache from the torture into a different kind of burning. He removes your hand from his shoulder and pull it down between you two. Your breath hitches when you touch him below his belt. He looks at you like searching for approval and you just nod that it's alright.
