"I SEE DARKNESS WHERE YOU SEE LIGHT"
In the depths of the Venezuelan jungle a teenage boy is found alone and terrified, clothed in nothing but a bathrobe, clutching a rusted kitchen knife in his left hand, the right one too ruined to move.
...
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DO YOU EVER WONDER, WHERE I'VE BEEN, FOR SO LONG?
• EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO •
The med tent was dark and silent, and Felix sat on a bed, deathly still. Chan observed him, sitting in the corner with his back against the wall, massaging out a crick in his neck. None of the other beds in the med tent were taken, and when the team had tried to shut off the lights and leave, Felix had gone feral.
He'd leapt off the bed and tripped over his own feet, landing square on his damaged hand, but he hadn't even seemed to feel the pain. He'd thrown whatever was closest to him and snarled like a dog until Chan entered the room again.
Felix had visibly calmed once Chan stepped back in the room, though he still wouldn't let anyone touch him. He growled if anyone got close. Still, Chan knew there was little chance that they'd get Felix to sleep unless there was someone in there with him, and he seemed to react best to Chan.
He could've slept in one of the beds, but he felt bad taking a bed from a sick person, and he wasn't sure how much sleep he'd get that night anyway. In the darkness, he heard a whimper, and Felix shifted in the bed. "Felix, are you okay? Is it your hand?" Chan could see him nod. "I'm going to turn the light on, okay?"
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden light, but immediately he could see that Felix's hand was in a bad way. Clearly broken, and it had been for a while, he would need it set and immobilised. It would have to be a priority for tomorrow, though, as Felix didn't seem able to undertake another medical prodcedure so soon.
"I know it hurts," he attempted to soothe. "I'll clean it up, okay? Is it okay if I do that?" Felix tilted his head, and Chan's breath was stolen from him as he realised just how puppy-like Felix looked. He chewed on his badly chapped bottom lip, and nodded.
Chan took a seat, gentling lifting Felix's hand from his lap. The boy winced, and Chan's stomach roiled at the sight of the hand. It was black and swollen, and incredibly bruised. Completely shattered, he thought. He'd be lucky to ever regain full function of that hand. Chan grabbed a first aid kit, and Felix looked terrified as he watched him pull things out of it.
He gently mopped up the blood from around Felix's fingernails, and from some lacerations to his skin. "How'd this happen?" Chan asked, "Can you tell me that?" Felix opened his mouth to answer, but then clamped it shut quickly, sighing. He used the fingers on his good hand to mime walking, and then stamped one finger down hard.
"Someone stamped on it?" Chan asked, as he smoothed some soothing ointment onto Felix's hand. He tried to keep his voice light, airy. It was hard though, knowing what he'd been through. Felix nodded, wincing as Chan wrapped his hand in a bandage. "There we go, that should help.."
A light flicked on somewhere in the outside corridor, and Felix gasped, scrambling backwards on the bed. "Hey, hey it's okay!" Chan attempted to comfort him. "This is a military hospital, okay? Everyone is always coming and going, there's nothing to be scared of. No one is coming to take you away.."
Felix settled a little, good hand still gripping tightly at the bedsheets. "Just relax," Chan soothed, "try and get some sleep." Felix seemed to oblige, laying back against the bed quietly. Chan, still seated on the edge of the bed, pulled out his phone. He had a few missed calls from Jamie, his girlfriend, and decided to shoot her a quick text instead.
Gotta stay with Felix tonight. Will see you early tomorrow. Kiss Noah for me x
He knew she wouldn't be happy, but he'd have to deal with that later. She'd always said that work took too much time away from their relationship, and from his relationship with Noah. But she didn't realise that he couldn't just quit. He was part of the military, he rescued people for a living. How did you just take time away from rescuing people?
Felix reached for his phone, snatching it out of his hands. Clearly, he didn't know how to work a smartphone, turning it around and around in his fingers as he tried to make sense of it. "Hey Felix, I kinda need that.." He stopped dead when Felix shook his head and gave him a mischievous grin. It had been forty eight hours since Felix was rescued, and not once had he shown a sliver of personality until now.
In fact, they were worried that something had been done to cause internal damage. He heard the doctors talking about it. Brain damage, they'd said. It could happen easily in a situation like this; a hard push down the stairs, a kick to the head... there were countless ways it could have happened. He wasn't talking, but they knew he could understand. He had trouble walking unassisted, but they knew he was mobile. But he hadn't shown any hint of his personality. No smiles, no laughs, no showing interest in anything. They were worried that the damage was irreparable.
But now...
"Cheeky," Chan tutted. "Give me that," he took the phone back gently, but instead of shoving it inside his pocket as he usually did, he opened up a kids streaming service that he used for Noah. Granted, Noah was only a few months old and Felix was nineteen, but if he was snatched at six, kids television was all he knew. He tapped on Bluey, Noah's favourite.
Felix startled when the theme song began to play, but took the phone from Chan's hands and watched it intently. "My son loves this show. I think it's quite new, maybe you haven't seen it before.." He was nervous, not quite sure why he felt the need to continue making conversation. Felix didn't respond, didn't even look up from the screen, but Chan could tell he was listening.
"Anyway, I'll give you some space. I know it's been a long two days. Just... you can keep watching. Just put it on the table when you're done." Chan shifted, readying himself to get up and return to his corner.
But Felix grabbed onto his sleeve with an iron grip. He shook his head, jabbing his pointer finger onto the bed next to where he sat. "You want... me to stay?"
Felix looked up at him, nodded, and cracked a beautiful grin.
