Cold Lonely Nights

Hypnosis

Shane is relieved when he wakes up, looking around to see that he is in the nurse's office. He tries to move his arms but a pang of pain rushes through him, getting him to stop and look down with a whimper.

His arm has been wrapped up in white bandages with a small red stain. This immediately reminds Shane of what he did so he starts to panic.

Luke enters the room to calm Shane down. "Are you okay?" He checks in his usual warm way.

Shane nods before bursting into tears. Luke pulls him into a hug, gently stroking the blond boy's hair and whispering reassurances.

When Shane's sobbing becomes occasional sniffs, Luke decides to talk to him.

"Shane, I understand that you miss Drew but please don't do anything like that again." Luke tries.

Shane nods with a small whimper. "I know, I'm sorry Luke."

Luke ruffles the boy's hair with a sympathetic smile. "Shane, there's a technique that we can use to help you, just so that you can think about Drew without crying. Are you okay with that?" He checks.

Shane looks a little worried but nods.

"Okay then, I'll send in the experts." Luke tells him.

Soon the orphanage's therapist comes in with a few more unfamiliar people. Shane gives Luke a nervous look but receives a gentle nod to know that he's doing fine.

"How is it going to work?" Luke asks them on Shane's behalf.

"We're not going to dive straight into it today, we're just going to help him to relax." The therapist answers. "Are you okay with that Shane?" She checks.

Shane looks around nervously. When he sees the look on Luke's face he nods.

"Okay then, let me put these headphones on." The therapist offers.

Shane trembles a little at how cold her hands are. "It's not playing anything." He tells her.

"Nothing's playing yet dear." She smiles. "I'm going to ask you to close your eyes, is that alright?" She asks.

He nods.

"Perfect dear." She replies.

After explaining what's going to happen to the young orphan, the therapist starts the procedure.

At first it seems perfectly fine, with Shane in a calm sleep like state. Since their aim for the session was to get Shane to completely relax, they let him have free reign on where his mind takes him.

The sight of him smiling to himself makes them all pleased, apart from Luke who begins to suspect that Shane's thinking of the one thing that made him happy. Sure enough, Shane's smile trembles a little before he starts crying quietly.

"Stop it now!" Luke demands.

The therapist nods and lets Shane wake up. Shane looks around with blurry eyes from tears before hugging tightly onto Luke.

"I tried! I t-tried to think of happy things, I p-promise!" He sobs in Luke's shoulder.

Luke gently strokes his hair. "It's okay Shane, I know. You're being so brave." He reassures.

"I want him to come back!" The young orphan squeaks.

"I know, Shane. It's not the same without the woolly Timid." Luke tries to cheer him up.

Shane only chokes up more sobs. "He was s-so scared..." He can only croak. "Why c-can't he come back?"

"If you're patient, maybe he will." The therapist tells Shane hopefully.

Luke gives her a serious look, knowing that isn't the right thing to tell him when he's in this state.

Shane immediately gets a false sense of hope. "Really?" He gasps.

"Maybe." Luke sighs to keep him from being more disappointed and heartbroken later on.

"When is he coming back?" Shane immediately checks, too eager to see Drew again to listen to Luke.

"He'll be here before you know it." She winks at him before leaving the room to be on time for an appointment with one of the other children.

"Luke, did you hear that?" Shane asks eagerly. "He's coming back! She said that he's coming back!" He grins with such genuine happiness that Luke has to cover his mouth and blink back his emotions.

Seeing Shane this happy hurts Luke to know that his feelings are misplaced. When he manages to get his feelings under control, he can only nod at Shane, opening his mouth to say something but nothing comes out and his lower lip trembles. Fortunately for Luke, Shane's excitement from hearing about Drew's return makes him completely unable to notice the complexity of his posture. Luke nods again, forcing himself to smile at Shane. "Get well soon."

"I'll be out of bed by the time Drew comes back!" Shane grins in reply.

Luke's smile trembles so he leaves the room to spare Shane from seeing him cry.