Chapter Two

The next morning he woke up to a blinding light. Shielding his eyes he struggled to sit up. The alley was still dark despite the brightness of the morning sun. Shrugging off the blankets that gave him little shelter of the bitter night he stood shakily to his feet. Squinting to the far side he saw an old man and a girl watching him. Scowling rudely at them he hastened to straighten up. This resulted in his legs giving way and he sank back to the floor. Mentally he cursed himself for appearing weak. Suddenly he felt hands on his arms. Shocked he looked up, straight into the face of the old man. "Hold it together there soldier." The man smiled and strained to get the boy onto his back. Eventually he got him up and over his shoulder. The boy tried to take some of the weight off the man, as he looked weak, but to no avail. He was tapped sharply on the head and told to be still.

He hated being treated like an invalid but felt too weak to fight too much. Besides, he'd probably need his strength to get out of…wherever he was going, faster! He closed his eyes as they were stepping out of the alley. His eyes had become so accustomed to the dark it hurt to see the light. Without realising, he sank into a deep sleep, this time with little torment.

He awoke a few hours later to find himself in a clean, white, shining room. Squinting he looked over to the side. To his right side, looking at him, sat the little girl. She smiled at him. He sat up and felt a sharp rush of pain. Looking up he growled. He was attached to at least three machines. One was monitoring his heart pattern; another was testing for any traces of infections. A plaster held a patch of numbing cream and a wire. What that was for he didn't know. Hearing the door open he glanced over, a bit too quickly, as they could hear a cracking sound as he cricked his neck. A nurse came through the door and massaged his neck until it was back in its original position. He felt quite stupid as the little girl was watching this over grown woman do something to his neck.

She giggled and ran outside. Once she had left he turned to the nurse. "Where the hell am I?" He asked croakily. His voice was so used to not having to do anything it seemed like it had given up. The nurse simply stared at him and motioned for him to be quiet. "Rest. You're not well." That was what she said. This was it. Some old guy, being too weak to do anything about it, had manhandled him. Forced him to come to this place of sterilised cleanliness. It made him sick.

"I KNOW I'M NOT WELL! I CAN FEEL IT EVERY TIME I BREATHE!" He yelled feeling stupid. Damn antibiotics. They must be the cause of his stupidity! The nurse grabbed his hand and held it up. Nurses. Weren't they supposed to help get rid of pain…not cause it! What the hell was she doing? Taking his pulse? Then what the bloody hell was the machine for? Stupid woman!

Sighing he lay back and watched the stupid mare fumble with a clock thing on her pocket before she turned and did something on the machine. Looking towards the window he watched the birds outside "How long until I can go?" He asked trying to appear uninterested. Hearing nothing he looked over at the nurse. What? Was she deaf or something? To his embarrassment he found he was talking to himself. Stupid woman! This was why he had been trained to avoid situations like this. Overcome with a bout of weariness he slumped down and closed his eyes.

Later he opened his eyes. He was so tired and warm and felt really stupid. As he cleared his blurred vision he noted he was in a different room. He also realised he couldn't move his arms or legs or any part of his body for that matter. What scared him…yes scared! One who should never be scared WAS SCARED! Anyway, what scared him was his eyes were wet with a salty liquid. He thought his tear ducts had been removed at a younger age by those lame excuses for scientists. He could feel himself being moved but he didn't register that fact in his mind.

He closed his eyes and slept again. Again he woke up in a new place. He wasn't as stupid as he was to start with. Seeing the old man and the girl again he asked, with much hesitation, what they'd done to him. The old man rested his old and withered hand on his soft young hand. "They found traces of something in your body. It had to be removed. They thought it was something that could provoke cancerous cells." The man started before he was interrupted.

"They…they performed a…um…an…uh…operation…on me?" The boy stuttered. Trying not to look bothered, while wondering, 'what the hell did they find?'

"Yes son. They did." The man spoke softly. "You're ok now. They want to keep you in for a while and check you over." He put his hand on the boy's arm as he leaped up panicked. "It's all right!" He hastened to finish his tale. "I said that from what I knew of you, you wouldn't like to remain here." The boy raised his eyes at the man. "They gave permission for me to take you in."

"Why? Why would you do that…for me?" The boy asked aggressively. "And damn you! Why couldn't you just leave me alone?" All the pent up anger he had was coming out full force. He tried to get out of bed but his arms and legs were restrained. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE THINGS ON ME FOR?" He screamed alerting many doctors and nurses to his condition. They would have run in but the man closed and locked the door leaving them angry and protesting outside.

"During the operation you had a seizure. They had to stop you from thrashing about too much otherwise they'd have lost you." He said sadly. "And my little girl likes you. She has these feelings about some people. She believes they are here for a reason. To do some good in the world." He paused yet again before continuing. "Finally. I can see you've been hurt. I just have to look in your eyes when looking at me. You're scared. You don't want to admit it. But…" he tried to go on

"STOP PATRONISING ME! IT WON'T WORK!" He screeched. Trying to get free he managed to rip one belt off the bed and then struggled to release himself from the other. Giving up the man went to the door and unlocked it. The doctors and nurses rushed in, giving the old man scathing looks, and administered serum that calmed the boy down sending him into waves of sleep. Fighting to stay awake but losing he sank. The last thing he saw was the young girl crying.

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Possibly the longest chapter I have EVER written in my life! R&R PLEASE! I know you are reading this. BUT ONE REVIEW FOR THE TOTAL OF 31 HITS? Though I do thank Lunar Fire for being kind enough to review.

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE SWEARING! IT KILLED ME TO PUT THAT! I have this rule to never swear…but I couldn't think what else to put. If I put 'hell' again it wouldn't seem so powerful. Not much stress shown.

To:

Lunar Fire

If you have read some of my other stories you will realise that I don't put a name to my characters for a reason. That reason is…I don't think about it! I write my stories and the more I write I examine what I've written…then I decide who it is from what I've summed up. Lame huh? Thanks for your review…and as you asked…I updated Please Review again!