Author's Note: Chapter Eleven: My Laughter is Unrelenting, (and so is yours.) A little late this week, due to the fact that this has been a crazy hectic past few days for me. Exams, video projects, other things of the like. But, never fear! For, it is a long weekend for me this weekend, (thank god for Victoria Day!) so all will be back on track. I'm not any good at hyping up my chapters, so I'll just leave you to reading! Enjoy!
She was trying very hard to not yelp out in pain as the thick needle passed through her skin. Each stitch was a painstakingly long process, the little wiry string binding the two sides of flesh together. Usually, she did not mind stitches all that much, and it was not as if she had never had them before (living with Alfred, you have to expect to be sent to the emergency room sooner or later.) However, the nerve endings that occupied the bottom of her foot would beg to differ.
Three, wince, watering eyes.
Besides being particularly painful to have an injury residing on the sole of her foot, she knew it would be rather painful to get around as well. Technically speaking, when one has a body part filled with stitches, they tend to avoid all movement of that part, but Maddie could not. She still had to deal with walking on it.
Four, contorted face, a rolling tear of pain.
Beside her lay a stained pile of bandages and a split piece of once-white fabric, blood drying to a revolting brownish red colour. She supposed that the socks were garbage now, and reminded herself to throw out the other that was still on her right foot. She always hated only finding one sock of a pair. She reached out her newly-bandaged hand and removed it from her foot while the doctor continued on with his work.
Five, gasp, red-rimmed eyes.
When she had hopped in to the lounge in search of the calm doctor, she had almost tripped over the leg of the same muscular Dutch man from earlier in the day. She apologized for her clumsiness and steadied back on her one foot. He introduced himself as Nikolaas, and asked her where she was going in such a condition. She told him she had split her foot open, and was looking for a rather serene-looking Chinese doctor. He said he had seen him not too long ago and put an arm around her thin shoulders to help direct her to him. She knew Alfred would have probably killed her on the spot if her had seen her at that moment, but who was she to refuse someones help?
Six, wince, gasp, watering eyes.
Together, they had found the doctor in a remote corner of the lodge - what he was doing there, she wasn't so sure. She explained to the doctor the situation while awkwardly outstretching her leg to show him her wrapped and bloated injury. He nodded serenely and directed them back towards his room. Again, she had to be piggy-backed through the stairwell, but Nikolaas did not careen wildly around the corners as Ivan had. The three of them quietly slipped in to the doctor's room and she gently fell on the sofa, settling herself on the middle cushion. The doctor and the Dutch man both took an end.
Snip, knot, one last rolling tear of pain.
He had re-wrapped her hand first, to get one task out of the way right from the beginning. Again, she stretched and moved her fingers in strange circles, appreciative of the soft cloth against her raw skin. As she did so, the bloodied bandages were removed from her assaulted foot, and her injury was exposed to the stale air of the building once more. Next came the cleansing of the wound, which was rather uncomfortable as always, then he began to stitch, slowly, as she had nothing to numb it from imminent pain.
Another snip, the beginnings of binding, a sigh of relief.
Through the entire process of having her wound stitched, Maddie's mind was rather hazy with pain. She faintly remembered a few mutterings of conversation between the two men, and at some point, she had heard a female voice join them. For a moment, she thought it had been her own, mumbling incoherent phrases through her haziness. However, as the doctor began to wrap her foot once more, she recognized the warm feminine voice as that of Katyusha. As she came out of her pain-induced daze, Maddie lifted her glazed eyes to meet the woman's own.
Stretch, clip, the smoothing of the bandages.
"Oh, dear," Katyusha muttered. Maddie tilted her head in confusion. "I'm so sorry about your foot Maddie! We tried to clean up as much glass as we could, but I guess we missed a piece." She was shaking her head regretfully. Maddie shook her own to stop her.
"It's fine. It's my own fault, really, for hiding from my brother." Maddie wished she had had the courage to apologize to Alfred when she had the chance in the hallway. If she would have, she would not have been hiding in Ivan's room, and therefore would not have stepped on the malicious piece of glass that pierced her.
"But, now your poor foot," Katyusha's eyes began to water at the corners. "How long will it take to heal?"
"There is no knowing exactly how long it will take, as it is a rather strange placement," the doctor began thoughtfully, cleaning up assorted medical equipment as he did so. "The best advice I can give you is to keep as much weight off of it as possible, as you would not want the stitches to burst." Maddie wondered if that was even possible, seeing how she did have to walk to get around effectively.
"So, you're basically saying I need crutches or something?"
"Crutches would be helpful." Her eyes brightened at his words, but would lose their shine as he continued. "Unfortunately, I really doubt we will find any available for your leisure, as we do have limited access to material items at the moment." He gestured out the window.
The snow was falling in heavy clusters, and it seemed as though the heavens had an endless supply of the crystallized flakes to fuel its downfall. Unlike before, the wind had stilled, leaving only the constant blanket of snow to build upon everything in sight. Technically, it was no longer a blizzard, though the power lines were down and the roads closed. They were effectively trapped inside, still.
"So, how am I supposed to get around?" The doctor looked around the room at length, then replied calmly.
"It seems as though you have a lot of friends here, perhaps they can help you for the time being." Maddie thought back through a list of people she knew at the lodge. Alfred, Dad, Katyusha, Ivan, Natalya, a shudder, Roderich, Vash, and now Nikolaas. She agreed with his statement with a slow nod, though she did not know exactly which would be helping her, she guessed it would be Alfred.
If he forgives me, she sighed internally. She felt the strong urge to apologize to him right then, though her immobility hindered her actions.
"Maddie, I will help you get around, if I can," Katyusha smiled. Maddie chuckled gratefully, but her laugh was interrupted.
"Such pretty girls shouldn't be put through so much trouble," his accent was thick, but still comprehensible. "I will offer to help you around, Maddie." She tensed slightly at Nikolaas' offer. It was not that he was a bad person, it was just that Alfred would absolutely flip shit if he saw her with him. Just look at how much good it did me last time. She began to shake her head vigorously.
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly trouble you like that," she started in true, Canadian fashion. She would politely decline his offer and hope he understood. "You're here on vacation, and I have plenty of people to help me, like my brother or my dad." His lip twitched at the mention of her brother, and she smiled genuinely. "I'm sure you have much better things to do anyway, but thank you for the offer."
He straightened where he sat, an unimpressed look reflecting in his soft amber eyes, but he did not say anything about the matter. Instead, he nodded, got up from his seat, and made his way to the door. Both Katyusha and Maddie watched him carefully as he went. At the door, he turned his head back to them and spoke in a sort of hushed, hoarse growl.
"I'll see you around, then." He tipped his head and shut the door behind himself. As it clicked shut, a shiver ran the length of Maddie's spine. For reasons unknown to her, she was immensely relieved that he was gone. Something about the last words he uttered as he left did not sit well with her. They had a certain wolf-like quality to them, as if the speaker were searching for something to settle their inside feelings, like a hunter, if you will.
And I thought Ivan was frightening.
She shook off the feeling and returned to pawing at the soft fabric wrapped around her injury. An awkward, tense aura hung in the air, and no one said a word. Silently, the doctor, (who Maddie had come to calling by his title, Dr. Wang,) collected the last of the scattered medical equipment and closed it all up in a small metal case, after sterilizing it of course. The tense atmosphere was broken after a few moments by a heavy knock at the door. Dr. Wang was busy at the sink, washing his hands among other things, so Katyusha saved Maddie the trouble of getting up by answering it herself.
"Oh, brother," she exclaimed with true surprise. Speak of the devil. Maddie stopped fiddling with the clean white bandage in favour of listening, without turning around. "What are you - oh!" She stopped mid-sentence.
"You forgot these when you ran off. I've been searching for you for some time, you know." His voice was a low, hushed whisper, though it lacked the distinct wolf-like quality that had earlier caused her spine to shiver. It was more comparable to the protective growl of a bear, though Maddie could not tell why he would sound that way.
"You're right, I did. Maddie!" Katyusha beamed at her. She jerked around to face them, as though she had not been listening the entire time. "Ivan brought your shoes." Maddie was confused for a second, and it showed on her face. "You must have left them in our room," Katyusha added helpfully. Oh, yes, Maddie remembered slipping her shoes off her feet beneath the wide coffee table, and must have left them when she limped out in search of stitches.
"Thank you," she laughed, "but I don't think it will fit on my foot now." She raised her foot on the back of the couch to show its sheer size with all the bandages. Katyusha began to laugh, but Ivan's eyes only narrowed in thought. After a while, she retracted her leg from the height of the sofa and dropped it back to the ground. "I'll take them back to my room." She hobbled up to her feet and hopped around the length of the couch towards the two. In the background, the doctor was watching her disapprovingly.
"You really shouldn't hop around like that. At some point, you will fall and it will hurt immensely." He was trying to convince her to use someone as a crutch to help her get around, but she felt bad about forcing someone to do that. "Please, find someone to help you around. As much as I enjoy your company, I think it would be safe to say that it would be unpleasant to see you back here again." Maddie could not help but laugh at his joke, and as she did so, still perched upon her good foot, she began to fall over.
Luckily for her, something caught her and prevented the very situation that Dr. Wang had just been describing.
"Like that," he sighed and looked above Maddie's crumpled form. "Perhaps you should be the one to do so, as you seem to have had quick enough reflexes to prevent me from re-stitching the poor girl's wound closed already." She suddenly became aware of a rather large pair of hands positioned below her armpits, holding her steady so she would not fall. A tinge of heat spilled across her cheeks, which she concluded was from embarrassment. At the doctor's words, she felt Ivan's arms stiffen, and promptly place her back upon her balance.
"I would do it myself, brother, but I don't think I am strong enough." She then realized just what the doctor had suggested. "Maddie here is more muscular than she looks!" From almost anyone else, Maddie would take that as a masked insult, but from Katyusha, she knew she was only being sincere.
"Oh, no," Maddie began, mildly embarrassed and shaking her head. "I don't need to put you through the trouble." Really, I have already injured him enough, the last thing he needs is a pulled back muscle on my account.
"Madeline, perhaps you should do as the doctor wishes." Maddie looked up at the tall boy, slightly surprised at his reaction. She searched for any sign of malevolence in his violet eyes, but unlike Nikolaas' had, they only reflected simple honesty. Though, something in his eyes did almost will her to defy his proposed aid. Only back to my room, she thought, heat not leaving her face, if Al forgives me, I'm sure he will be willing to do the rest.
"Thank you." Ivan nodded at the doctor's gratitude, and Maddie dreaded being careened off his back like she had been before. She could admit that it had been fun, if only in a crazy, unpredictable, adrenaline rush kind of way. "I hate to push you out, but my room is not exactly a doctor's office. Now, if you don't mind?" She did not need any more of a hint than that.
Maddie thanked the doctor endlessly for his help, while he just claimed it was his job. She noted in her mind that despite it being his job, technically he was on vacation. She continued nonetheless, and the only thing that stopped the string of gratitude was Ivan placing an arm beneath her shoulder and across her back and pulling her towards the door. Katyusha picked up the shoes he had dropped to the floor in his haste to catch Maddie from falling, and followed them as they left. From through the closed door they heard one last "Keep off that foot!" and Maddie laughed.
"Here are your shoes," Katyusha handed them to her and Maddie took them gratefully.
"Thank you for all your help," she smiled at the two siblings, and Katyusha smiled back.
"You're very welcome. I should probably go and see if any stray glass is lying around still," Katyusha began to make her way down the hall to their room. "I will see you later, Maddie!" Beside herself, Maddie could see Ivan's mouth moving, as if he were attempting to speak, but the only thing to come out was a heavy sigh. Somehow, she had expected that. She guessed she was becoming used to the way he worked.
"I really wouldn't ask you to do this for me if the doctor hadn't ordered it," she offered, hoping it would bring some kind of justification to her actions.
"I do not mind, I suppose. Better me than some twenty-something year-old." Maddie knew in an instant that he had encountered the Dutch man on his way towards the room. She was not sure why he had mentioned it, however. She fell to sarcasm.
"Oh, yeah, because a tall scary Russian is so much better than a friendly Dutch guy." She cringed internally at her own usage of the word friendly. When he left, he had hardly seemed it.
"I could easily drop you right now, you know that?" A sly smile was plastered on his face, so she decided to play along.
"I am at your mercy, big strong Ivan." She feigned a swooning faint. Puh-leeze. To her astonishment, he did not snap at her farce. Surprisingly enough to her, he actually laughed. The sound of the chuckle bouncing through his thick throat sent the hairs on the back of her neck prickling up, though not from fear. It was not laced with animosity, so to her, it seemed a genuine, hearty laugh. He began to walk them in the direction of her room, still carrying on the echoing amusement.
She had to admit that, when it was real, she rather liked the sound of his laughter. From what she had seen so far of him, he was decidedly cold and emotionless, only showing a change in mood from condescending to slightly dangerous. Even his childish giggle had unsettled her, as she could sense it was not natural. So, to see that he could indeed take amusement in something without it being from the misfortune of others, well, that was satisfying.
The chuckle did not die in his throat until they reached her door, though she could not see what was so funny about what she had said. Maddie shook off the thought in favour of thanking him for his help.
"Thank you again for helping me, but I think I can get around on my own." She dropped the arm that had been draped across his back for support and made an unsteady jump to the door. One last huff of a laugh, then his eyes narrowed. It seemed as though he was trying to regain a fraction of composure.
"Well, I suppose. But if you do need help, you know where I am." After he spoke, Maddie saw a flash of a scowl skit across his face, as if his brain had not agreed with what his mouth had just said. Again, she pushed off the notion and instead opened the door, and hopped in.
"Thanks again," she spouted happily while closing the door. She heard heavy footsteps sounding further and further away as he went, and brought a cold hand up to her face. The icy feel of her fingers cooled the flesh of her face, which she guessed was warm from hopping around so much. She stood balanced for a moment before greeting her father, who was ever-present on the couch, it seemed.
"What happened to you?" His eyes widened at the sight of the heavily bandaged foot. She made a few wobbly jumps around the couch and fell on to it.
"Oh, I, uh, cut my foot on a piece of glass," she smiled sheepishly.
"Uh-huh," he nodded hesitantly. She knew that he did not doubt her words, just that fact that she had injured herself. Usually, her injuries came from roughhousing with her brother, or the result of one of their daredevil escapades. For her to be injured of her own accord was something almost alien to him, and he never did much like alien things.
"Maddie, are you okay?" Alfred darted out of one of the bedrooms at lightning speed to check out her wrapped foot.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. It's just a few stitches, nothing big." His eyes bugged out at the word stitches. She ignored this fact and instead figured it was prime time to apologize for her earlier behaviour. "Listen, Al, I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier. It got kind of out of hand, and I'm really sorry."
"It's fine, fine. I know you didn't mean it. You're too nice to mean that kinda stuff." Maddie was relieved. For about the last hour or so, she had felt increasingly guilty about not having apologized yet, so when she did. she felt a large weight lift off her chest. "But, how did you manage to cut your foot open? I mean, there's not really much to cut a foot on in this building."
Maddie was slightly surprised at just how fast Alfred had seemed to recover from the frankly embarrassing situation she had put him in downstairs. She was grateful that her brother was so easy to forgive her for her faults, so she happily explained the sequence of events that had unfolded when she had left him to fester in his emotions at lunch.
She was careful to not give away too much detail however. For instance, she left out the fact that the reason she had joined Ivan in his room was because she had been avoiding Alfred. Though, without that vital information, Alfred was left to his own imagination to uncover just exactly why she had been in there. Unwittingly, she had led her brother's brain on a roller coaster of possible situations.
Also, she decided to leave out the fact that she had enlisted the help of Nikolaas to find the doctor, and that he had piggy-backed her upstairs. She also had not mentioned that Ivan had piggy-backed her down. The reason she neglected to mention all these details was for the fact that Alfred would have gotten all worked up, and possibly done something brash. Maddie knew he was very protective of her, like any normal older brother would be. Sometimes, she liked to keep her private affairs to herself, hence the use of the word private.
When she went on to explain that the slice in flesh had resulted from a broken piece of glass that Ivan had not properly cleaned up, Alfred's mouth began to move in strange, erratic patterns. It looked like he was about to burst out in anger. She knew that he was trying to find a proper way to place the blame for the entire situation upon Ivan's shoulders, so Maddie quickly explained that it had all been an accident. Still, the look on her brother's face was skeptical.
"But, how do you know he didn't plant it there on purpose?"
"Alfred, he's not an evil genius bent on taking over the world, chill out." Maddie rolled her eyes at his antics, he is definitely back to normal.
"But you never know!" He stayed crouched by her feet and looked up at her humorously, batting his eyes.
"Alfred, I don't know what you have against him, he's done nothing to you," she sighed, being realistic about the situation. His retort was quick.
"That's what you think!" By that point, he was just spouting useless defensive phrases. He knew he was wrong, but that did not mean he wanted to admit it. They started their usual routine of playful sarcasm, adopted from their father.
"Actually, I think you owe him an apology. If he's such a psycho, then it's best to get on his good side, eh?" Maddie tried to keep as straight a face as possible through her playful joking, and Alfred's eyes went wide in dramatized realization.
"You're right!" He stood from his crouching position dramatically. "If I don't get on his good side, you might not find me when you wake up in the morning." She decided to humour him.
"Then go, go! Before he makes up his mind!" She made sweeping gestures towards the door, directing him out. With a silly grin on his face, Alfred turned to leave.
"Here's hoping I come back alive!" He took an over-dramatic pause at the door handle, then rushed out in to the hall. "Goodbye cruel world!"
At Alfred's parting joke, Maddie began to laugh hysterically. Sure, the joke had been at Ivan's expense, but she was in a better mood that she had been earlier, and willing to take it with humour. Besides, this time she knew that Alfred was just playing around, and so did he. So, she continued with her frenzied laughter at their friendly banter, almost to the point where she was gasping for air and her stomach began to seize through the muscle spasms.
"You two are bonkers, I swear." She turned to her father inquisitively, amazed that he could say such a thing. She drew a sly smile across her face and moved closer to him.
"Hey, where do you think we get it from!" Maddie jabbed playfully at his shoulder, still clutching her aching stomach. He swatted at her hand as she continued to poke before realizing what she had just implied.
"Oi! What do you mean by that?" She would have taken the time to explain the intent behind her joke to him, but she was too busy clutching her stomach, and laughing, to do so. Who knew being stuck inside because of a blizzard could be so amusing? She wondered if she was going moderately crazy from being cooped up inside for so long.
Don't they call it cabin fever or something? She shook off the notion and slowed the spasms of her stomach muscles as Alfred re-entered through the door, triumphant smile sitting upon his face.
"I'm alive!" She could not help but begin to laugh again.
Her next several hours would include very little activity, mostly mindless chatter between her brother, her father and herself. She spent most of the time staring out the wide window, watching for any sign of the snow stopping. There had to be at least two feet more that there had been a few days earlier. As nightfall approached, she could have sworn that she saw a corner of darkening blue upon the horizon, in contrast to the then customary palette of greys and whites that was usually visible.
She hoped that tomorrow, she could go outside without being frozen solid.
By about six o'clock, all three of their stomachs were growling in protest, especially Maddie's. She had not had the chance to eat much at lunchtime, due to the unfortunate sequence of events that had occurred, and she realized just how famished she was feeling. The three of them quickly made their way downstairs, Maddie leading the way. They spent quite a while just sitting at one of the tables, eating and talking, just the three of them, like a real family dinner back home. The two teens would agree the food was much better than it would have been there, however.
About fifteen minutes in to their dinner, Maddie caught sight of Ivan and his two sisters settling at a table not too far away. From where she was sitting, she watched as Ivan consciously took the seat opposite the two girls, his back facing the wall. For several moments, she watched him, silently chewing on a dinner roll. His light blonde hair was tousled on his head, as if it had been scrunched out of frustration and he did not bother to smooth it. His eyes were void of all emotion as he emptily poked a fork around his plate. Where did that warm laughter go?
She felt kind of strange for watching him, so after some time, she diverted her eyes to the table. Around her, there was a soft chatter from the bustle of the tables. Even at her own table, her father and brother were speaking on a topic she did not quite care to distinguish. Something about fish? She payed no attention, instead minding a growing feeling of nervousness from inside herself. Washes of goose bumps prickled up over the skin of her arms, and on the back of her neck right down to her tailbone. She knew that feeling.
She could feel someone watching her, and she was too hesitant to lift her eyes to see who it might be. As opposed to wildly whipping her focus around the room to recognize the culprit, she slowly turned her body as if she were trying to crack a tension in her back. As she did so, she scanned for any pair of eyes watching her. What she did not realize is that there were two pairs, not one.
Her body stiffened mid-crack as she made contact with the amber, an invisible shiver running the twisted length of her spine. However, she did not see the violet, which, at that moment, would have been a much more welcome gaze.
You have no idea how confusing it was for me to distinguish between the usage of the word "pallet" "pallate" or "palette" because usually, I am pretty good with homophones, just not when my brain is fried. ANYWAYS! Poor Maddie.. I feel like I am making her super-clumsy, but I assure you all that that problem will be healed soon! Our little Maddie is going to learn how to keep herself poised!
So, did you like it, not like it? Don't forget to review, it makes my day!