Chapter Three-Hundred and Thirty-Three
The woman cop wrapped John in an anti-shock blanket, kneeling on the concrete beside him and allowing him to lean against her. "Do you want some water?" She asked, turning his hands over and picking a few pieces of pebble out of his palms.
John stared numbly at the pavement in front of his knees, still able to feel the muzzle on his face, Ben's hands teasing him between the legs, the feeling of the Icy-Hot still burning on the back of his neck. "Sweets…" He croaked, closing his eyes as the cop touched the cut across his nose. "Sweets."
She looked up as her partner stepped toward them, holding the teen close as he tensed. "Well?"
"Turns out, that he was kidnapped from the show today." He paused as John pressed against Lara's chest. "I spoke to Clarissa Standish, she said that he's probably suffering from a PTSD flashback. That's what she guessed from the behavior I described to her."
Lara nodded, wrapping John's wrists in soft cotton before she lifted him to his feet and helped him into the squad car. "Are we taking him to the venue? Or are we going to the station?"
Nick slid into the driver's seat, starting the car up as Lara settled into the back seat with the boy. "We're taking him to the station. Clarissa said she would pick him up there." He glanced in the back mirror, swallowing at the rough shape the kid was in.
Clarissa marched into the police station, pausing at the counter. "I'm here to see my son, Johnathan Bender." She bit her lip as the woman nodded, and disappeared to find him.
"You can follow me. He's being kept in Captain Simkins office." She turned to Clarissa, hesitating at the door. "He's really deep in shock. We haven't been able to get a complete sentence out of him in the better part of an hour, and he just keeps repeating one word… Sweets… over and over." She shook her head, confusion clear on her face. "We can't figure out what it means."
Clarissa swallowed, ringing her hands as John's frantic muttering reached her ears. "That's his nickname for my daughter."
The woman nodded, opening the office door to let Clarissa see him. "Let us know if you need anything."
Clarissa smiled, stepping inside to see John shivering in the corner with a police jacket covering his shoulders and a thin bandage stuck to his nose. "Johnny?" She knelt next to him, looking into his eyes only to see that they were completely zoned out and glassy with fear. The yellow terror in them wasn't even a tint anymore, instead, they were pure gold. "Johnny, you're safe now. You're at the police station with me, Clarissa. We're gonna take you back to the hotel and get you home tomorrow." She tucked her legs underneath herself, noticing the bandages on his hands and the scent of Icy-Hot on his skin. "Can I touch you?" She asked, fully aware that John was unpredictable right now. There were a number of reactions that he could choose if she touched him. Violence, screams of fear, or even completely shutting down to the point where he could stop breathing and pass out; it was a horrible guessing game. "Johnny, I'm going to touch your shoulder. Okay?" She sighed as he relaxed into her touch, wrapping her arms around his torso as he heaved a shaky breath into her jacket. "There you go… let it out, Baby. You're safe."