Crawling in the Dark

"You have lice." I tell him, combing through his hair. It's not just the lice though. His hair is matted with dried blood and dirt. Prisoner's of ANBU are still treated just as poorly as when I was there, I see. "You're not going anywhere else in my house until you take a bath."

He seems unoffended by any of these statements and even lets me drag him out of the chair and into the bathroom. Here, I set him on the bathroom stool (after catching him when he nearly falls off said stool) and continue my examination. I strip him down, not really caring much if this makes him uncomfortable or not. He's lost all rights to privacy.

I make small 'tsking' sounds when I see the rest of his injuries. His rib cage is showing and covered with black and blue bruise. Nothing I can really do about that, though. The only solution for that is to feed him. He has razor cuts on his legs. Ah. Yes. I remember that torture well. I can bandage those later.

I take his hand and wrap it around the shampoo bottle.

"Shampoo." I tell him, letting him memorize the size and shape of the bottle. I purposely bought bottles of different shapes and sizes for this reason.

I squirt a quarter-sized amount onto my hands and vigorously scrub his scalp.

"Close your eyes." I say sternly. I pour water over his soapy head and repeat this process over again. I hand him the body wash. "Soap. I imagine you can do that on your own."

I watch with curiosity as he runs his hands over the bottle, his fingers 'seeing' the shape and size. I let him have the wash cloth and when he finishes, I take it back and scrub over his back, which also bares razor marks. Great. More bandages. I get out a bottle of lice solution (was prepared for this to happen) and apply it to his hair. "Leave that in, I have to find your clothes."

Crazily enough, I DO expect him to stay there. One, he's blind. Two, where else would he go? Three, well, he's naked.

But I still can't help the feeling of surprise I get when I walk back in the bathroom and see him patiently waiting where I left him.

Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.

To be continued...