Ryan crossed his arms. Should he have said something? Should he have defended his father? What was this guy's game?
"Are you hungry? I'm absolutely starving." Were they done with questions? Well, that was a different question. Ryan was hungry. He had been in SHU for his last four meals. If normal prison food was virtually inedible, the shit they served in SHU was literally inedible. "You like McDonalds?"
They were getting off the highway. Maybe he should get out and run at the stoplight. Maybe he should let himself get fed first. He nodded.
"What do you want?" Sandy didn't receive an answer. They pulled up to the drivethru. Sandy didn't have time to wonder what was on the kid's mind. "Cheeseburger?" Ryan looked out the window. Was he listening? "Nuggets?" He looked back towards Sandy, not at Sandy, and nodded.
Why wouldn't he just talk? Sandy stopped in the middle of ordering and looked at Ryan expectantly but not expecting an answer.
"Coke?" he quietly quipped. Sandy smiled at the small victory and ordered his son a coke.
Ryan didn't really like coke, but he thought that maybe the caffeine would wake him up a little. He hadn't found any reason to be on high alert besides the fact that he was riding in a car with a stranger, but that was enough for now. His head was pounding, his knee and entire body ached, and every time he opened his mouth he ripped open the cut on his cheek.
Ryan had never lived in a world of comfort, but he wasn't happy about all the pain and uncertainty.
They drove in silence, eating their chicken nuggets and French fries. The young boy looked exhausted. Sandy wondered if Ryan had ordered a coke to keep himself awake because he was so uncomfortable. Sandy had ordered himself a coffee just because he needed to be awake to drive.
"Why don't you try and get some sleep? We still have almost an hour before we're home."
"I'm fine."
Where the hell were they going? The prison was only one town over from Ryan's hometown. How was he supposed to get back if he was so far away? It didn't really matter since he didn't have anyone left there anyway. If his mother had wanted him, she would have picked him up from jail, wouldn't she? He wiped the blood dripping down his cheek from opening his mouth again.
Sandy was shocked that Ryan had managed to stay awake for the entire ride. His look of uncertainty and fear hadn't even begun to fade after he had finished eating. He didn't move a muscle as they pulled into the driveway and parked. Was he sleeping with his eyes open?
"We're here…"
Ryan snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. The house was huge. Was that a good or bad thing? Ryan was even too tired to ask himself these questions. He followed his new dad inside. His brain told him to look around, but he was too tired to listen to his brain. He focused all of his energy on not looking tired or in pain. And not falling over.
"Do you want anything? Food? Water? Maybe some Advil?" His entire body, ironically, perked up at the idea of a pain reliever. He looked up at his new guardian's face. It smiled. "Advil?" He nodded.
He followed him into the kitchen and watched Sandy grab a glass of water and a bottle of pills and put them both on the counter in front of him.
"There's a bathroom right through there if you want to wash up, too. I'll be right back." Ryan didn't even wait until he disappeared up the stairs before opening the bottle. He popped four in his mouth and swallowed them dry, then chugged the entire glass of water. He pocketed four more pills before closing the bottle. He was thankful to be alone.
He hobbled, slowly, into the bathroom. His face was a mess. He watched his cheeks darken as he thought about how ridiculous he looked in front of another person. He wiped the blood off his face with wet toilet paper and washed out his cuts with soap. Compared to the pain in his knee, the sting was nothing. He washed the rest of his face too. He wanted to shower prison away, but he knew he couldn't stand for much longer.
He opened the bathroom door to find Sandy waiting for him. He wished the Advil had already started working so it would be easier to pretend he wasn't hurt.
The blood was wiped off of Ryan's face, but it was still marred with nasty bruises. It made Sandy's heart sink. He couldn't imagine Seth being hurt that badly.
"I grabbed you some of my sweats to sleep in. We'll figure out what to do about clothes in the morning." He gave a slight smile, hoping to reassure his new charge.
In turn, Ryan gave the smallest, forced smile Sandy had ever seen. He decided to count it as a victory.
Ryan wished his new father hadn't lived in such a big house just for the sake of having to walk up stairs. He wasn't sure if he could follow him up without taking an hour and then passing out from pain. He tried to lift himself up the steps by using his hands on the railings, but one of his wrists was pretty fucked up. He gave in to the pain and embarrassment and slowly hobbled up the stairs one at a time. He refused to look up, though, even when he heard a quiet 'Take your time.' He didn't have a fucking choice and it angered him knowing how obviously vulnerable he was.
Sandy showed him where the bathroom was and told him that he was welcome to anything in the kitchen and showed him to his room. It was a fairly boring room, but it had a queen size bed. Probably one of many guest rooms in the giant house. He only nodded when he said goodnight.
He was in the house now. There was no turning back. He didn't look dangerous. Sandy really didn't believe he would hurt anyone. But he didn't want to go taking any chances. He opened the door to Seth's room and watched him peacefully snoring for a minute. On his way out of the room, he locked his door from the inside. Just in case. And, just in case, he went into Rosie's room and saw that she too was peacefully snoring. He wondered if Ryan snored. He picked Rosie up with her blanket and her stuffed giraffe, Lulu. She barely stirred. He closed her door on the way to his own room.
He laid her on the bed next to Kirsten, locked the door, and got into bed.