Runaway
chapter 11
I will... if he ever lets me. How can he stay this way?
It's tomorrow now...or yesterday's tomorrow or... now I've gone and confused myself. Great job, Sora!
We went to sleep shortly after the sun set so we could get an early rise today. I'd say it sort of worked.
Riku nearly had to drag me to get me up and moving... I don't know what time it is now. The sun just rose maybe an hour ago. It's so hot outside. How could it have been nearly a hurricane the other night and so hot now? I'm really thirsty...at least I won't be hungry, because for some reason the heat makes me lose my appetite. I guess it's a good thing. Less stress for Riku, he won't have to go get us much food... Come to think of it, he never eats. The few times we do get a meal, he ends up giving most of it to me. I wonder why...? I won't bother asking. He won't answer. He never answers...
"Riku?"
"What do you want?" his tone is sharp and angry-- maybe he didn't get enough sleep last night or something. I'll ask later then... whatever I was going to ask anyway.
"Nevermind. It was nothing." This happens a lot. I think Riku thinks that now I'm just trying to annoy him... but that's not it.
If I were trying to annoy him I'd ask how he is feeling today.
"Riku?" I ask again. "That kiss...a few days ago... did it mean anything to you?"... ... ...What? Where'd that come from?
He doesn't answer, and it's probably better that way.
We don't talk for the rest of the day. I wonder what's wrong with Riku now?
The sun's setting already. The day went by so fast, I can only hope that tomorrow goes fast , too. I'm getting so tired of all of this. I'm hungry and tired and it's hot and muggy. I think I'd rather have it be cold than hot and stuffy like this... It's completely miserable out. No one in their right mind is outside. Riku doesn't seem to care at all. He's just like some robot programmed to keep doing the same thing every. Single. Day.
It's really dark now. It's pretty late.
"Come on, let's get some sleep."
Right on cue, Riku.
I woke up kind of early today; it's cool, so the sun must have just risen. I dig through my pocket for my watch...it's 6:15. Really? It is cool, but hot for this early. Riku's still sleeping, but how? Usually he's trying to get me up by now!
"Riku?" I whisper. Nothing, so I try again. "Riku? Riiiku? Riku?" I rub his back (he, of course, isn't facing me) "Riku!" Nothing. God, I'm getting worried now. "Riku! Riku! GET UP!" Nothing. "RIKU!"
I grab on to his shoulders and get him to face me, he's sound asleep. "Riku...?" His hair is in his face and he's clutching onto his arm. Oh God, what if he's really hurt? But how would he be? No one did anything to him...he's not diseased...than what...? I tug on his jacket and completely tug it off.
Once it's off I set it aside and look at Riku's arm. ...It's bleeding really badly. Oh no...should I get him to a hospital? But what if we get caught? But what if Riku's really hurt?
There's a hospital up ahead.
Before I know what's happening I bolt off running and plow through the doors. Everyone's staring at me now. Great. I explain what happening and we eventually get Riku some help.
...
I'm in a waiting room now; the nurses won't let me in to see Riku. Oh man, it so hard waiting. I want to know what's happening! Riku... God, what happened? I want you to be okay, I really like you...
"Your friend's ready to see you..."
"Sora." I fill in for her. "Is Riku okay?"
"He's fine." She smiles. "Do you want to see him?"
I nod rapidly and she giggles softly. She leads me in to Riku's room and says "I think he's sleeping now. He needs a lot of rest."
"Okay, okay."
I walk in and she leaves us alone.
"Riku?" I ask quietly. He's sleeping. He's propped up on pillows and his chin is kind of resting on his shoulder. His hair is all over and his lips are slightly parted. He's still clutching his arm. He looks really peaceful. (And cute!) I don't want to wake him up, so I pull up a chair next to the bed and just watch him sleep. His fingers twitch a little and he frowns. I wonder what he's dreaming about?
I sigh and push some hair behind his ear, and that wakes him up.
"Huh?" He sits up and rubs his eyes. He has one of those hospital gowns on, but I can tell he still has his jeans on underneath. His jacket is on the table next to him and he has bandages on his arm.
"Riku?" He's picking at the bandage.
"Hmm...?""...What happened?" He doesn't say anything. "I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't get up.. and you were bleeding...so..." He rests his chin in his hands and thinks for a minute. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again. He doesn't say anything.
Damn.
"Riku, please, tell me what happened. I want to know!" Nothing. "You don't have to right now, because you need your rest and all, but I really do want to know." Complete silence.
"I did it." He speaks suddenly, and it startles me.
"...Um... what?" He points to the scar under the bandage.
"I did that."
"On purpose?" He nods. He did that on purpose...? Why...? Why would he hurt himself like that!
"So? Why would you care?" He sounds again.
"Because I like you. You know that." He doesn't respond to that. "Why did you do it..?"
"Why do you have to know?" I fiddle with my fingers for a moment.
"I was just wondering. That's all. Have you done it before...?"
He slides down under the covers.
"Are you ever going to talk about it, Riku? I really want to know, I care about you."
"Go away."
"Whatever, Riku." Great. Now he's mad at me. Once again, great job Sora.
"I wasn't trying to kill myself." He says from under the covers, five minutes later. His voice is muffled, but I can still understand him.
"You weren't?"
"No."
"What were you doing then?"
He pulls the covers back down and slowly set his head on the pillows. He shrugs before replying.
"Relaxing." Relaxing!
"How is that relaxing?" He shrugs."I used to do it all the time..." He's really quiet. "I wanted to do it again to see how it felt. I guess I just cut myself to deep..."
"But why? Why did you want to do it at all...? When did you start...-" I'm interrupted by someone coming in, it's the nurse from before.
She looks at Riku and smiles. "Oh, you're awake." Riku eyes her suspiciously. "You were sleeping for a while, you know." Riku doesn't say anything. "You could have bled to death." She sounds a little more serious. "You were cut pretty deep. I'll have to give you a shot, too, because you--" At the mention of the word "shot" Riku turns white.
"No." He says.
"Pardon?" She sounds surprised.
"No." He's stern and stubborn. What's his problem? I can be squeamish, but what's so scary about the shot?
"Please just cooperate--" She takes his arm, about to give him that shot and he slaps her hand away and she drops it. She tries again, "Listen, it's for your own health--"
"No."
"It it'll only hurt for a momen--"
"No!" He's angry now. Gods, what's WRONG with him? She sighs.
"Fine." And walks away. Riku slides back down and buries his face in a pillow.
"What's so bad about a shot, Riku?" He doesn't say anything.
A while later the nurse (I need to find out her name or something) comes over."Sora?" She says with her voice lowered, I think Riku's sleeping again. "It's very important the your friend has that shot. Okay? You can talk him through it, or something."
"He doesn't listen to me."
"It's very important." She sighs.
"I understand that. He doesn't listen to me!" She thinks for a moment and sighs.
"You thirsty? I could get you both some drinks or something."
"Okay!" I smile and she leaves. She (insert name here) comes back in a minute with two cups of water.
"The one in the blue cup is your friend's. Okay?" Does she even know Riku's name? "We put something in there to make him less panicked when we give him the shot." She's kind of dumbing down what she really means. She's drugging him. "Please. This is imp--"
"Fine." She's nice and all, but a little annoying.
She's not wearing a name tag, either.
Pretty soon she leaves us alone again. I shake Riku to get him up.
"Hey Riku, drink this." I hand him the drink in the blue cup. He rubs his eyes and sits up.
"Hold on..." He says quietly. He stretches and runs his fingers through his hair.
"Tired?" He nods. "Thirsty?"
"Sure." I hand him the drink and he finishes it in like, 3 seconds.
"So, Riku?" I ask "Why are you afraid of getting a shot?"
"I'm not afraid." Riku snaps.
"Okay, then. Sorry."
"Whatever." Suddenly he blinks and looks confused.
"What's wrong Riku?"
"I...I don't know." He blinks again, and now looks really dizzy. What did they put in his drink! He sighs and slides down under the covers again. His face peeks out from the sheets and it's really kind of cute.
"Are you okay...?" He nods and hugs one of the pillows. Dear God. He looks drunk now."You...you're very nice." He goes under the covers again and his head peaks out the top and he's propped up by the pillows again.
"Um...thanks Riku."
"Mmm." He closes his eyes and just looks so peaceful. ...I wonder...if this would be a good time to tell him--
"Hey?" The nurse is back, with the needle. Riku's eyes widen and he knows what's coming. The drug isn't going to help at all.
"Riku?" I put my hand on his shoulder, he's real tense.
"Okay," She smiles. "Now let's try this again." She takes his arm and has the needle and inch above his skin, before he slaps her.
"No!" He shouts it now. Suddenly he has his arms around me and his face is buried in my chest. Riku...? What's wrong? He's chanting it now: 'no...no...no...' She takes hold of his arm again and sinks it into his skin...and just like that it's over. He keeps panicking until he goes completely limp in my arms; he fell asleep.
Poor Riku. Poor, poor Riku. I set him back in the bed and let him sleep.
After a few hours he wakes up. He stares at the ground and doesn't say a word. There's no emotion on his face. Poor Riku.
"Hey Riku." I say quietly. "You feeling better?"
"What do you think!"
"I'm sorry, Riku." A doctor comes in next, and hands Riku and small jar with pills inside.
"Take these twice a day, one after breakfast and one after dinner." ...What? Clearly Riku and the doctor have met before, before I was let in the room. "It's real important, so you need to make sure you take it." He turns to face me. "remind him to take these everyday." Of course. Riku won't listen. "Now, you can come back here if you ever feel the need to..." He trails off, but we all know what he means.
Poor Riku.
I could've done better on the last half, I'll probably re-write that part later.
See Gia? I told you I'd get it done this weekend.