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Here is chapter 3.
Chapter 3
It felt like he'd never stopped screaming. When he awoke, he kicked out at the hands that held him down, the hands that wouldn't stop touching him.
He saw his mom's swollen face whenever his eyes were closed, making his stomach twist and turn at the sight.
The hands still tried to hold him down and he tried to bite at them, anything to get them to stop hurting him.
He felt material encircling his wrists and ankles and struggled all the more.
"Ryan, come on sweetie. Try and calm down for us,"
The voice was s kind and sweet that it took Ryan by surprise.
He peered up at the people before him and noticed a dark haired woman standing over him.
She smiled down at him and his big blue eyes watched her nervously.
"That's it," She gently ran her fingers through his hair. At first he flinched away from the contact, but the softness of the touch made him feel calmer. He'd never felt such a soft touch from an adult before.
She took his hand in hers and began explaining softly what was going on.
He moaned slightly when a big burly man moved closer to him and began moving his hospital gown aside to mess with the wires that were attached to his chest.
The woman still stayed with him though, and she continued to caress his hair and whisper reassurances to him.
He heard a beeping noise coming from above him, and he looked up sharply.
She patiently explained that the beeping was just showing his heart beat and that it was nothing to worry about.
Her gentleness with him made him relax more and he began looking around the room more carefully. He surveyed the many doctors around him and they began carefully explaining everything that was going on.
When finally the doctors all left, Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. He hated being touched by people he didn't know.
He suddenly noticed another woman stood to the side, watching him intently.
Unlike the nice lady next to him, she wasn't wearing a nurse uniform. She sponsored a suit and her blonde hair was clasped tightly in a bun.
She held a clipboard in her hand and was jotting down notes, glancing up at him through her half moon glasses.
"I'm Nancy, honey." the brown haired nurse told him, returning his gaze back to her.
"Do you want something to drink? You must be really thirsty."
Her brown eyes looked kind and he shrugged. He didn't want to show a weakness, just in case she turned out like the others. He hadn't yet met a nice adult and half of him was sure that she was just putting on an act. And yet the other half still hoped that maybe this one was different.
Nancy turned to the side and filled a glass with water from the pitcher, waiting for him beside his bed. She pressed a couple of buttons and Ryan felt the odd sensation of his whole body being moved into a sitting position.
He began squirming again and Nancy shushed him quietly. "It's okay; I'm just getting you into an easier position for you to drink."
She put her hand over his and squeezed gently. "You're safe now." she smiled kindly at him, moving so that he had to focus on her.
He began trying to raise his hand to accept the glass but realised his hands were still tied down.
She must have noticed his distress because she began talking to him again in a calming voice.
"The doctors just need to keep you still so that they can help you get better. She said as a means of explanation and began raising the glass to his lips. "Here, I'll help you."
He'd never been treated like this before and it was beginning to scare him a little.
He flinched backwards and she gave him a patient smile.
He looked around the room again and saw the blonde haired woman again. Her lips were pursed together and it made her look like she'd been sucking on a lemon. Her bright red lipstick, stood out in sharp contrast to her pale skin.
She sent shivers down his spine and he wanted to ask who she was, but he was too afraid of her. After all, his mom had always taught him not to speak to strangers.
The thought of his mom brought back the memories from the day before. He felt his breath quickening and Nancy's hand returned, combing through his hair.
"Hey, what is it?" she asked worriedly. She set down the glass of water and sat down beside him, in the waiting recliner.
She must have noticed that he was looking at the other woman as she was finally prompted to introduce the woman.
"Oh, this is Miss Forster. She's here to talk to you in a little while about what happened."
She continued quickly when she saw Ryan's eyes widen. "Hey, it's okay. Her bark is a lot worse than her bite. Or at least I think it is." she joked.
Miss Forster merely frowned for a minute at Nancy before fixing her eyes on Ryan once again.
He knew that he was never going to tell her anything.
xxx
"Frank Atwood! Your lawyer's here to speak with you." The guard banged on his cell door and Frank glared at him
He couldn't believe the weekend he'd had.
He'd been caught so quickly.
He'd had it all planned out. He'd skip town, leave the snivelling little brat with the body, get a job somewhere, and start afresh with a new name. With no wife or kids to hold him back, he would have been able to actually start afresh with his life.
It had sounded so easy but Atwoods really did not have any good luck.
He'd been pulled over by the cops for fucking speeding. Come on, when did 30 miles an hour over the speed limit count as going way too fast? However, the cop hadn't listened to his protests and he'd been carted off to the police station.
He'd tried to explain to his lawyer that he hadn't meant to punch the cop, it just sort of happened.
Unfortunately, he'd been held in custody. His record really wasn't working for him. But none of that stuff was his fault; it was just the Atwood luck, live and biting back at him again.
I mean, who hadn't tried to hold up a liqueur store when they were in their teens? All teens rebelled. He was just unlucky enough to have been punished for it. He'd actually forgotten about it till his snot nosed lawyer had begun reeling off all of his little 'incidents.'
To top it all off, Ryan had responded worse to the body than he'd thought and the snivelling brat had been found, quicker than Frank had intended. Personally, he'd hoped the kid would have rotted as well before he was found, but like he said; Atwoods really did not have any good luck.
Now he was being held in suspicion of murder and holding someone captive against their will blah blah blah. Well, it wasn't like the little brat would sell him out. He was smarter than that.
He followed the guard begrudgingly down the corridor to the meeting room.
His snotty nosed, rich prat of a lawyer was waiting for him. Frank hated rich people more than anything.
He grunted at the man before sitting down, refusing to meet his eyes. He wanted the guy to know, that he meant business.
The man hand out his hand for a shake but Frank just snarled at him.
"Well, Mr Atwood. Let's get to it."
He glared up at the man. He'd never listened to anyone and he sure as hell was not going to listen to this man.
xxx
"Now, I'm going to be recording this. I mean, if it's alright with you of course?"
Turns out the blonde? Her bite was really not as bad as her bark.
She was still freakishly manicured and Ryan couldn't draw his eyes off her nails which looked to be about five centimetres long at least with bright pink nail polish on them.
He shrugged his shoulders and her bright red lips gave him a tight smile.
Even though, she seemed nicer than he originally thought she was, he still was so not going to say anything.
He knew that if he did, his dad would actually kill him.
She began asking questions about the day before but all she got out of him were some panicked breathing and an increase in the beeping on his heart monitor.
Eventually, she turned off the recording device and sighed.
Ryan looked at her worriedly. He still didn't properly trust her and he knew that any moment she could turn nasty.
"Okay Ryan, how about I let you rest a little while and we'll go back to the interview later."
Nancy, who was standing by the side, stepped forward and nodded at Miss Forster.
"I think that's a good idea." He watched as the other woman walked out the door before turning back to Nancy.
He was beginning to feel the ache in his body that had been plaguing him for so long. He knew that the medicine was beginning to ware off.
He leaned back against the blankets.
"Ryan, I'm going to give you something that will help you go to sleep, alright?"
He nodded slightly and closed his eyes as she picked up a syringe from a steel tray that was in the corner of the room.
He felt something cold swipe his bicep and tried not to flinch away as it was followed by something sharp.
He opened his eyes slightly as he felt the nurse begin her gentle caress of his hair again. For once in his life he didn't have to pretend someone was caring for him. He had the real thing.
He drifted off into the darkness wondering what would happen when he was let out.
He was dreading the day when his dad would walk in. He'd never allowed Ryan to go into hospital, claiming that it was too expensive.
He was allowed to go to the ER for casts or sometimes burns but the minute someone mentioned the words "admitting him into hospital," Ryan would wake up to find himself, barely lucid, in the family's run down car being driven back home.
xxx
Ryan awoke to find another nurse in the room, sitting with him.
"Hi Ryan," she didn't have as nice a smile as Nancy but she still had a calming charm about her.
"How are you feeling?"
He looked down, embarrassed by the attention.
"There's someone here to talk to you, if you're feeling up to it." She gestured towards the door where a man was standing.
Ryan shifted nervously in his bed. He found himself wishing that Nancy was there with him.
"Hi Ryan, my name is Mark. I've been appointed as your social worker."
Ryan felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on him, when he'd heard those words.
Mark came further into the room.
"Now, obviously it's a little early for us to have found a foster home for you yet. However, we have plenty of room at the group home I work at."
Ryan felt his breathing escalate and for the first time he realised that the electrodes had been taken off of his chest.
Sensing his fear, Mark moved closer and continued.
"You'll have your own room and I know that you're going through a stressful time right now. But we're a family for each other at our little home. We only have a select amount of residents at a time and my wife and I are very good at finding homes for you guys."
Ryan looked down at his shaking hands.
He knew he had no choice in the matter and he merely shrugged.
"The doctors say that you should be out of here by tonight. My wife is preparing your new bedroom for you. I know that entering a group home can be scary but just relax. We're all here for you. All of you guys are going through the exact same thing, you just have to remember that."
Mark was definitely a smooth talker but Ryan still didn't trust him. He knew there was something off. He'd never met such a perky social worker before.
He switched off as Mark babbled on about something else.
Was his life really going to start being like this? Was he really about to be carted off to one foster home after another?
He'd always hated the idea of foster care and it had been his mom's way of making him behave.
She'd always tell him that if he didn't behave, she'd send him off to live with a new family.
She'd tell him how she should have followed her instincts and left him on the doorstep of some group home when his father had told her to when he was a baby. It had earned her a beating, returning home with him. She loved reminding him of that fact.
She had always loved rubbing his face in it.
He wondered if she could see him right now. Whether she could see how lost he felt.
He wondered it she cared and in all honesty, he suspected that if she could see him. She'd be laughing at him right now.
tbc…
Thanks for reading :)