A Spine-Tingling Story - TDG Fanfic

Three Days

So ... it's been a while. Turns out, exams and mental health issues aren't exactly a great combination fit for writing, but thank God exams are over. Hey, on the bright side, my revision experience as a hermit in my room gave me plenty of inspiration for this chapter!

Everything was irritating.

Not terribly irritating. Just mildly so. The worst was definitely the insistent stinging in his back, crackling steadily like a wood fire, but adding to that were the pallid colours, the sound of footsteps everywhere going everywhere but him, as if he and his room really were contaminated and contagious.

The room was about as basic a private hospital room as you could get. A bed with a tray attached from which one could eat off of, a sink attached to the wall and a monitor to check if he was getting worse.

Just when he was getting used to not being treated like a freak, this happened.

And it was only 10 in the morning!

What he wouldn't give for Finley's company right now. He had his laptop and phone with him so he could still function somewhat in a confined hospital room, but he couldn't message the other boy right now when he was likely to either be at school or having chemo. Come to think of it, he wouldn't mind Rosemary's company either, it was never a dull moment with her. Or any of the dumping ground residents. Hell, even having Mischief here would be more bearable than this!

It was maddening to say the least. Ryan very badly wanted to punch a wall, to at least feel something other than chronic back pain, to receive some kind of stimulation, but he had a feeling if he did, he'd end up in a padded cell with even less outside contact.

The only thing Ryan had to occupy himself with was the schoolwork that was being emailed to him lesson by lesson to ensure he didn't fall behind even more, but as time dragged on, no more information could penetrate the smog of boredom numbing his brain. By three o'clock that afternoon, with his only human contact being the nurse who had arrived (very) briefly to serve his lunch a few hours earlier, time and space felt like thick, dark molasses - part of him yearning to move, to get out, the larger part finding it to be too much effort to try and shift in any direction.

Maybe it was the less-than-palatable hospital food. Maybe it was a side effect of the radiation. Maybe he was just going mad from what was essentially solitary confinement, but now his stomach was somersaulting and crumpling in on itself. The front of his face felt achy and heavy, especially behind his eyes.

It hurt to look at the daylight. It hurt more to look at the harsh lights from the room and his computer screen. It even hurt to look at his bright white note pages with their colourful highlighters. It was just as well he couldn't go anywhere, as now he could hardly sit up properly, let alone stand, with or without the cane.

When the door opened, Ryan instinctively pressed a hand to his aching forehead, the sound stabbing at his ears in the most obnoxious manner. Great, he'd spent all day yearning for a break in the monotony and now it had come, his body was protesting.

"Hi, Ryan," came Mike's voice, obviously trying to sound cheery, before noticing the boy's less-than-optimal state. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his tone changing to that of concern.

Ryan reluctantly forced his eyes open and turned his head to face Mike. The man was standing in the doorway, a good three metres away from the bed Ryan was lying on. "You came?"

"Of course," the man said. "I couldn't leave you here on your own for three days. You still need someone to tell you to spend less than 4 hours online."

Ryan let out a laugh before regretting it. "Ugh, don't make me laugh, I feel like crap."

"You don't look so good either," Mike said, taking a couple of steps towards him before being held back by the nurse standing at the doorway and overseeing the visit. "I'm sorry, Mr Milligan, but it's best you keep some distance, for your own safety," she said regretfully.