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 Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:09 pm
Anthony Darrow was recovering well, considering everything. Since he had been admitted with a head wound, and had experienced not one but two comas, including the much longer one that seemed to have taken out most of the city, he was required to stay a bit longer in the hospital to recover his strength.
He had a leg injury to work with, as well. It had been recovering while he had been asleep, but the surgeries and damage required some physical therapy before he could go home and tend to himself. He was given a crutch, which he would have to replace with a cane, but for now it worked for him.
Sitting in his bed, feeling like it was the very last place he wanted to be, he remembered what had happened the last time he had snuck out of the hospital. Carol had taken him out for a picnic, to give him some fresh air and to escape the stir craziness that had been settling in, but then they had argued and that was the last thing he knew before waking up in, or perhaps vividly dreaming, that world.
He didn't talk to anyone about it, instead just being his normal, kind, charming self. The nurses liked him well enough, and even the male ones brought him extra desserts or spent time talking to him. They noted that he didn't seem to have any family, and the young man who had been visiting had stopped.
Having been awake for two days now, Tony was quickly getting tired of the hospital again. He wondered where Elke or Edward, his usual visitors, were, and he hoped nothing had happened to them as it had to him.
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Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 10:15 pm
There was a bounce in Yvette's step. She couldn't help but feel absolutely happier than any day from the past many weeks.
Daddy had told her two days ago that the coma patients had all miraculously woken up. Yvette did not need to see the newspaper he had been holding out for her to read for herself. She trusted Daddy with all of her heart. However, her work schedule did not want to cooperate with her until two days later. Now that she had the time, she had a list of people she wanted to visit. There was Tara and her brother, then Eva Coral, Topher's mom, and then there was Mr. Darrow.
As was customary for any visit to the hospital, the girl had stopped by a nearby patch of wildflowers by her home and picked several bunches. Now with several bundles all being held together by aluminum foil, she entered the hospital building. Having visited so many times while a majority of the hospital population was asleep, the girl knew her way. She had a set routine that she had done many times before.
First stop was Mr. Darrow's room.
Without thinking of the fact he was probably awake for once, she simply walked in without knocking. It was only when her eyes happened to see Mr. Darrow, awake and sitting in his bed that she realized her mistake.
"OhmygoshIamsosorryIdidn'tknock!!" Typical Yvette Weaver, pushing all her words into one, tone absolutely flustered.
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Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 5:29 pm
Tony looked up, expecting a nurse or a doctor to be coming to check on his medicine, or something of the sort, and instead finding Yvette entering the room. She seemed rather comfortable which, admittedly, was not how he was used to seeing her. Normally she was awkward and embarrassed, or just being shy, so watching her walk in so casually was-
Ah. There she was.
He smiled, glad to see her. A rush of familiarity and relief hit him. Life was still normal, it seemed, if something so simple as this could happen. Just watching her look at him in panic, like a deer in headlights, and start babbling everything at once made it seem like, despite what had happened in his dreams, and how long he had been here, things were still normal. There was a chance everything would just be okay.
He liked that chance.
"It's okay!" he said at last, laughing heartily. He almost wanted to get up and hug her, just for being Yvette, but he imagined she would either pass out or run away, so he stayed in his bed where he belonged. He looked at her, though, eyes welcoming and his smile warm.
"Come in, please! You don't have to knock. I'm very glad to have visitors! How are you doing?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:32 pm
When told to come in, the girl merely squeaked out "...k-kay..." She shuffled forward, holding the flowers in her arms. Her eyes for a moment managed to see Mr. Darrow's, but even making contact for a moment seemed to be too much for her to handle. Instead of staying locked upon his, the purple orb darted to find something else to look at.
There was a small vase of water that had some relatively fresh flowers in them. They were probably a few days old. In fact, they looked very similar to the ones the girl had in her arms. "Oh, good... they didn't dry up" she quietly squeaked. Walking up to the table, she carefully began to try and organize things. Two bundles of flowers were put down gently, and one remained in her arms. As she attempted to continue distracting herself with putting the new flowers into the vase, but the short girl had manners enough to at least continue the conversation.
"...w-well... work has been keeping me busy. Not nearly as busy as it had been when school was up and running... but it still kept me busy. I... I guess it was nice having something to do while school was out though..." She sighed.
"I... I'm just glad Mommy was right and not that boy who was visiting you."
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Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:22 pm
Tony watched her, shaking his head. He wondered how she got through her days at work, being so timid. But he could see that she managed, which was good. Maybe it would help her more than she knew, in becoming less awkward. Or maybe not. As Tony aged, he just seemed to get more so, which wasn't hopeful.
"Oh!" he said, as if suddenly struck by a realization, "you brought those? They've very pretty, thank you. I woke up and saw them, and had to wonder who they were from."
Tony smiled, not surprised, really, to learn they were from her. She had always been sweet, and her mom always seemed to be giving her good advice on how to treat people.
At her comment, though, he seemed a bit baffled.
"Boy? What boy?" Yes, he knew a few school kids from the library, but he wasn't sure any of them would visit him in the hospital. But then, he had no idea who had come and gone during the time he had been sleeping.
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Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:27 pm
When he so kindly thanked her for the flowers, her cheeks grew a bit rosy, but otherwise, she continued up with the task at hand. She could have been lazy and just put the flowers in without any consideration for the arrangement, but no. That little artistic portion of her brain wouldn't allow for something so sloppy. So after replacing the older flowers with fresh flowers, she began to fuss slightly with the new wildflowers.
"I-i'm glad. That's just like what Mommy said too. She said the best thing I could do was bring flowers as often as I could so that when everyone I knew woke up, that they'd see the flowers and know somebody cared for them."
The only reason she had even been remotely able to say something so sweet without too many problems was simply because she her fingers and eyes were paying attention to the task of flower arranging. It wasn't anything professional, and it looked strange for a flower arrangement, but again, this was Yvette. She had strange tastes in art.
Yet, the prompt about the boy caused her fingers to stop working. Her little lips frowned. At first, she turned away, as if trying to decide how she was going to tell the librarian what she had encountered. Should she even be telling him? That boy hadn't been very nice. He even tried to hurt Mr. Darrow while he was sleeping.
She eventually turned back to face her Mommy's friend with only one thing to say.
"He said he was your family..."
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 2:17 pm
Tony watched Yvette, glad to see her getting a bit more comfortable. Maybe? She blushed, at least, so that indicated she was hearing him, and not completely absorbed in her busy work of arranging flowers. He knew she was just shy, and he didn't want to make things awkward for her, so he let her work as she pleased.
"That's very sweet of you and your mom to think to do. It is nice. The flowers kept me company when I woke up," he smiled, glad for the kind gesture, simply because no one had been there to see him when he had been freed from that dream world. His nurse hadn't taken long to come in, but it wasn't quite a leisurely visit.
Wondering who had brought flowers had kept his mind from idling, at least.
Eyes moving to the flowers themselves, he tilted his head at the arrangement. Not quite was he was expecting, though he was not quite an expert on the area. He watched her, though, and she seemed rather content with how things were coming out, so he didn't tell her to stop or change it. What did he knew about arranging flowers, anyway?
Her words caught him off guard. He knew Elke was pretending to be his niece, but he had no idea of a boy doing the same thing, pretending to be his family to visit him more often. Who could it have been?
"My family? I don't have any family. That's rather odd. I wonder who it could have been? Did you get his name?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 7:57 pm
It was hard to hear Mr. Darrow now. She could hear her heart pounding. It wasn't in the right place though right now. The sound was pulsing through her head as her face seemed to grow even redder.
Oh god, what do I say?! OhgodohgodohgodwhatshouldIdo?!!!!
Her fingers stopped with the flowers, because if she continued any further, she'd probably destroy the pretty arrangement due to her current state. Her fingers pulled back, hesitantly before knitting themselves together behind her back. She swayed her body to face the adult in the room (well, the real adult in the room), but her eyes still remained heavy, looking to the floor rather than to his face. She almost looked like a guilty child who was just telling her parents about the lamp in the other room she just broke.
She didn't look up, but eventually she managed to say "...h-he didn't tell me his name... b-but... he told me he was your s-son..."
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 8:32 pm
Tony stared at her blankly.
"My... son?"
Now he was very curious as to who this boy was. After all, he had no idea who it could be, and he was still thinking it was someone he knew, just visiting him like Elke had been doing. Lying to get in. Why would they say son, though? It wasn't like he looked like anyone here, and most of the time niece or nephew was the lie of choice, wasn't it?
He would have to look into it.
He noticed she was looking very pale and panicked. Offering her a very warm smile. "Don't worry too much about it. Hey, why so upset? I'll look into who it was, it's no matter." He thought she was upset because she hadn't gotten the name.
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:02 pm
How did one tell a man that a boy claiming to be his son came in and attempted to beat him up? How did one tell a man that his son only felt anger towards him? How did a girl forget the terrifying look in the boy's eyes?
She looked at the librarian's kind smile. How could someone hate Mr. Darrow so much without even knowing him? Yvette was trying her damnedest to not cry. Today was supposed to be a happy day. It was supposed to be a happy visit! No, she wasn't supposed to be shedding tears. It would only make everyone feel bad. She already ruined everything, just by mentioning that boy who had visited.
You are so stupid! she mentally scolded herself. As if all of the strength had been sucked out of her body, the girl weakly sat herself down on the edge of Mr. Darrow's bed. She was still careful to not take up much space, since hospital beds weren't exactly all that big or comfortable to begin with.
Even with the extra support of a bed under her rear, she still found tears bubbling up out of the corners of her eyes. Childishly, all she offered was "...H-he w-was mean..."
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:12 am
Tony watched her, growing concerned when he noticed she was beginning to tear up. Why were her eyes watering? Was she going to cry? Surely she couldn't be so upset about not getting that boy's name that it would make her cry...
She was a sensitive soul, but he didn't think it was that big a deal. Of course, he was missing a few pieces of information, and was a bit dense in not putting things together properly. He had managed to convince himself that it was someone he knew only pretending to be his son.
He had no reason to believe otherwise: as far as he knew, he had never done anything to produce a son.
"Oh, don't cry," he said, pouting a bit himself. He hated seeing people cry, especially someone as sweet as Yvette. He sat up a bit, not able to get too far, but managing to reach out and put a reassuring hand on her arm. So she was upset because the boy had been mean to her? Now it really sounded like someone he didn't know. Why would someone mean visit him?
"He's done now, at least. And I doubt you'll have to see him again, whoever he was. Okay? I'm sorry he was mean to you. I wish I could have done something about it..."
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:13 am
Her eyes were threatening to release the full waterworks at any moment, but Yvette continued to try and hold back. Though water wasn't flowing from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks yet, the moment she opened her mouth to reply, it was obvious that she was on the brink of crying. Her voice just sounded too warped for someone who wasn't crying.
"I don't want to see him again... I hope I don't see him again. He was mean to me... a-and he was mean to you..." Her face was growing red across the nose, and a tiny sniffle accompanied her confession of sorts. She rubbed her hand across her nose to try and prevent the inevitable.
No crying no crying no crying... it's supposed to be a happy day... no crying... please no crying
A few tears managed to find their way down her cheeks by now, she could feel the water rolling down her skin. She still didn't want to cry, no matter how much her body seemed to want such. Yet, she was reverting very easily back to her insecure self, offering a measly "...I-i'm sorry..." in an effort to make up for how badly she was messing up things again.
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:58 am
Tony hated seeing her so upset. She was breaking his heart! And there wasn't much he could do about, with all these damn wires and things restricting his movements. He was hooked up to unnecessary monitors and had an IV drip of something or other going, which he also didn't think he needed. He didn't want to tug anything out, though, so he had to keep put.
Maybe they were just going overboard because they knew he had a habit of breaking out of the hospital, and didn't want to lose track of him again. He had caused quite a problem when the epidemic hit and he hadn't been in his room, only to be brought in later and in a coma again to boot.
He was surprised they hadn't just strapped him to the bed.
"Well, whoever he was I'll make sure he doesn't bother you. And if he ever does, you can come find me, okay?" He didn't know what she meant by the boy being mean to him, since he had been unconscious, but he imagined he didn't want to know. Did he?
Maybe he would ask when she wasn't so close to breaking down into tears.
"Oh, don't apologize," he said warmly, able to at least reach her cheek and brush away some tears with the back of his fingers. "It's okay. I know you mean well. You're a very dear girl, you know. You shouldn't take things so hard, you don't deserve to cry all the time."
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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:25 pm
What did Mr. Darrow get in response to his gentle, warm tone telling the girl she didn't need to apologize?
"I-i'm s-sorry..."
Even though she felt the gentle touch upon her cheek, she didn't look. It would have been too embarrassing. What could she really say? He was 100% right. She did cry all the time. Well, lately she did at least. It wasn't her fault that so many people she cared for had gone into a coma.
It really was difficult to think of Yvette as a young adult.
She attempted a weak smile as she finally looked up to the librarian. "Y-you must think I am a big baby, huh?" She offered a small, half-hearted laugh, as if she was more trying to convince herself that this was something to laugh about.
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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:10 am
He smiled when she apologized for apologizing, shaking his head. He wasn't surprised, but it was still endearing and he sighed. Really, he hoped she would start having an easier time of things now that the coma epidemic had started to pass, people were waking up, and things could go back to normal. He imagined she was only crying and so stressed out because of it.
"A big baby?" he echoed, looking thoughtful for a moment, then he shook his head, "of course not. You're just caught in a very stressful time, with very stressful situations. I'd probably be crying, too."
He grinned at her, mostly teasing. Patting her on the shoulder, he leaned back again, sighing. It was easy to tire him out, despite him having just woken up from what had to be the longest nap he had ever taken.
"In any case, you'll cheer up soon, I hope? You at least deserve that, as I can imagine you've been keeping busy with many hospital visits, hm?" He smiled at her, trying to keep the conversation up and not look as tired as he felt, though he imagined it was fairly obvious on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment, which ended up with his head lulling forward slightly.
"Ah, sorry," he said, catching himself and looking up. He shook his head, rubbing his eyes.
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