Wednesday Briefs - Please Don't Take Him Away From Me

 Here it is again. Am I the only one who thinks Wednesdays are coming round faster these days??

I'm flashing again and these were the prompts for this week

At any rate, here we go!  The next prompt is: "Hit me with your best shot"  or use these alternate prompts:

unicorn, mandolin, some sort of plant 

or

"hit or miss"

or

"sex on the beach" 

or

"I thought I knew (fill in the blank), until he/she...."

or

bartender, math, elephant

Luke had never felt so hopeless in his life. Rio had, of course, been right. From the moment the ambulance arrived, no one had wanted to know him. He stood in the background, feeling sick, while the paramedics did what they had to do. It all looked so serious. And there was Rio, pretending to be the worried husband, pushing Luke out of the way and travelling with Rune in the ambulance, leaving him alone.

He stood in his living room for a full five minutes, un moving. Finally snapping out of it, he grabbed his things and ran to the car.

At the hospital it was a repeat of the scenes at the house. By the time he got there, Rune and Rio had both disappeared and enquiries at the desk got him nowhere. As soon as they asked if he was a relative and he said no, no one wanted to know.

Who knows what would have happened if Luke hadn’t been recognised by the nurse who’d spoken to them earlier. She was off going off duty and called to him, as he wandered up and down outside, trying to decide what to do.

When she heard what had happened, she took him by the arm and dragged him back inside, towing him through the waiting room, through some doors and into a different waiting room.

“Wait here,” she commanded. Stunned, Luke sat down on a chair which was slightly more comfortable than the ones in the main waiting room. At least there were no bananas in here. He sat, with his hands hanging between his knees and his head down, as time ticked by.

Eventually, the nurse returned with another one, a male nurse. She said goodbye and left. The man sat down, and looked at Luke for a while.

“You know I can’t overtly go against his husband’s wishes. If I let you in, there’s going to be a scene and I can’t allow that.”

Luke nodded. “I know,” he whispered.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you,” the nurse said, tightly, “but I don’t like that guy. I don’t like his attitude and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t give a damn about your friend. It’s all for show.”

Luke looked up, anxiously.  “Yes. That’s it. He doesn’t care; not at all. All he does is hurt him. He just doesn’t want me…” Luke paused, grinding his teeth. “He treats Rune like a possession. He doesn’t want him but doesn’t want anyone else to have him.”

The nurse nodded, seriously. “I understand, but I still can’t let you in when he’s there, not as long as he behaves himself and I’ve no reason to throw him out.”

“I know,” Luke said, sadly.

“But if you wait here, I’ll keep you informed.”

“Thank you,” Luke said, his voice barely making it out. The nurse squeezed is arm and disappeared. Luke realised he hadn’t told him anything. He figured no news was good news. At least Rune was… He was still…

Time dragged. There was nothing to do, nothing to mark time. Luke cursed he’d forgotten his phone, not only because he could have told the time but because he was cut off from the outside world. There was a television in the corner, but he couldn’t change channels. He quickly got tired of the children’s programmes, with their over bright images and forced humour. He turned it off when a unicorn started playing a mandolin, watched by a giant teddy, dressed as a clown and a talking pot plant in a floppy hat.

When the door opened, Luke looked up, expecting it to be the nurse. It wasn’t. It was Rio, but a Rio he’d never seen before. His purple hair was standing on end, as if he’d run his hands through it, time after time. His eyes were shadowed and his face pale. However, the one thing that really threw Luke was the look on his face. For once, he didn’t seem to be thinking about himself, about how he could get the advantage.

Rio stopped when he saw Luke. For a moment, he stared at him, then nodded and sat down.

“What’s happening?” Luke asked, scared by Rio’s broken appearance. Rio looked up, his eyes haunted.

“I’m sorry, Luke, I really am. I didn’t mean… I never meant to hurt him, not like this.”

“What do you mean?” The dull, lifelessness in Rio’s voice scared him even more.

“They’ve been doing all kinds of tests. I kept thinking they’d come back and tell me he’s fine. I was expecting to… to just… I don’t know… walk into a room and he’d be there and I’d see that look in his eyes.”

“What look? Fear?”

It said a lot that Rio ignored him, failing to take up the fight.

“When they told me, I… I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it. I… I’m still thinking… hoping it’s a dream and…”

“Rio,” Luke ground out, clutching his hands tightly between his knees to stop him putting them around Rio’s throat. “Please. Just tell me what happened. Please, just tell me.”

Rio looked up, as if he’d forgotten he was there. “I’m not exactly sure what… I don’t really understand. They’re still saying it’s a concussion but… but worse than…than they thought and… and it’s made pressure inside his head.”He faltered to a stop, biting his lip. Then his eyes snapped up and he glared at Luke, his eyes pleading. “They said he might have brain damage, that he might die. He can’t die. He can’t. I… I don’t know what I’d do if… I don’t…”

Luke didn’t hear him. His world had slowed down to a stop. ‘He might die’. “No,” he whispered, sliding off the chair onto his knees. He wasn’t a Christian and he didn’t pray, but he raised his eyes to the window and sent a plea out into the universe. “Please don’t take him away from me.”

Now, go visit the other flashers, read their wonderful stories and COMMENT so they know how wonderful they are (not as wonderful as me of course but this is my blog and I can say what I want)

Ashlynn Monroe     m/f

MA Church   m/m 

Michael Mandrake   m/m

Tali    m/m 

Nephylim     m/m

MC Houle     m/m

Victoria Blisse    m/f

Sara York     m/m

Elyzabeth VaLey     m/f

Julie Lynn Hayes  m/m