therapy | luke hemmings a.u

:: Nineteen

:: N I N E T E E N ::

"And, and," Luke said excitedly as he wiped the tears away from the corners of his eyes. "when they were planning on how to bust out of the prison, the raccoon, Rocket, said that they had to steal the battery - which was in the middle of the prison where everyone could see - last so that it would be easier to escape. But you know what Groot did? He, ignoring what the raccoon was saying, went and climbed the machine and started removing the battery and the rest of them had no idea! And finally the alarm started blaring and they all ran."

He looked expectantly at Ellie to see whether there were any changes. There were none. She was still not moving. He gulped down the lump in his throat that kept growing.

"You know what my favorite part was? It was when Rocket asked Peter to go ask the old man for his prosthetic leg for his 'master plan', but when the guy brought the leg, after a long chat and giving away some of his money, Rocket started laughing and making fun of him saying it was for a joke." Luke laughed as he threw his head back. "You should watch it with me, El." He looked intently at her face, his smile vanishing slowly.

Silence.

So quiet, he could hear the footsteps and voices of everyone passing by not only the door of the ICU, but on the floors above and below as well. The spine-chilling silence that made him feel as if something was crawling up his back.

The low whirring of the machines sounded so eerie to his ears, so haunting. And then he heard it, the voice he had tried so hard to forget. The scream that sent chills up and down his back. Mom, he thought.

"No, no, no," he whispered as he covered his ears. He had been feeling better the past few months than he had ever been in his life.

"You're being haunted by the demons in you and there's nothing you can do about it," said one of the harsh, cold voices and Luke could picture a dark, sinister thing to which the voice belonged to. A dark, sinister thing with a malicious smirk on its face.

"No, you won't take over me again," Luke stammered as he tried to drown out the voice. But that was hard because his demons knew how to swim.

How long he spent there whispering 'no' over and over again, he didn't have the slightest clue but what brought him out of it was when Dr. Claire walked into the room and shook his shoulder before spraying some water onto his face and trying to calm him with soothing words.

Luke's face was buried in the doctor's chest as she rubbed his back and his trembling hands were wrapped around her neck. Dr. Claire kept uttering soothing words and when Luke seemed to calm down a bit, she smiled and tried saying a few jokes to lighten up the mood.

She then asked one of the few nurses who were gathered outside watching the scene unfold to bring Luke a glass of water and Luke chugged it down once he received it. Dr. Claire handed the glass back to the nurse and asked them all to get back to their respective places.

"Luke, seeing as you have recovered fully, we decided that you can go home." She said once the room was cleared.

"Oh," Luke said quietly. "Then what about El?"

Dr. Claire stood up and motioned for Luke to follow her outside.

"She'll have to be here until her condition is stable and," the doctor hesitated. She looked at Luke's confused face before continuing, "I'm not supposed to be saying this since it might get your hopes up, but Elaine has made such a lot of progress and I - I think she's fighting hard to come back."

Luke gasped, tears forming in his eyes.

"It's like, whenever you come in here, talk to her and leave, her condition improves. I've been monitoring everything and day by day her condition has improved significantly." Before the doctor could continue on she was interrupted by Luke's tight hug.