the ripper || irwin

[ 18 ] burn

[ 18 ] burn

She sucked in a breath, feeling a sharp stinging sensation on her hand.

Steeling herself, she forced her eyes to examine her burned hand. It was a bright red color and bits of her skin were starting to peel off.

From beside her, she heard shifting around and saw Ashton sit up.

His hazel eyes fell upon her hand and he let out a gasp. "Alice, your hand..."

"I'm fine." She lied, trying to steady her voice.

"No," He shook his head, "You're not fine."

He quickly got out of bed and slipped his patient coat on, gesturing to Alice who remained in bed, still in shock. 

"I'll take care of it." She said absently.

"Come on," He beckoned her over, "I know how to help you, but we need to act quick before your hand swells up cause then its gonna hurt like a bitch." He told her.

When she still didn't move, he groaned in frustration, rushing back over to her side and picking her up in his arms. Without hesitation, he headed for the door and they left the room, Ashton practically running down the hallway. 

"Where do they keep all the medecine?" He asked.

She pointed to one of the hallways. "Last door in the hall. The door has a number combination lock. The passcode is 1963."

He nodded, stopping in front of the heavy metal door. 

He set her back down on her feet and pressed the buttons into the keyboard on the door. There was a ding and the word 'unlocked' appeared on the door. He twisted the doorknob and pushed the heavy door open.

Grabbing a hold of her other hand, he led her to the sink where he opened the faucet and pulled her injured hand under the running water. She winced in pain at first but later relaxed as the cool water began to feel good against her burned skin. "Keep your hand there." He instructed as he walked to another part of the medecine room, searching for whatever he needed to help her feel better.

He returned to her, gauze to wrap over her wound and painkillers for her to take in hand.

He shut the water off and grabbed her hand gently, bringing it close to him. Her blue eyes watched him carefully as he began to wrap her hand in gauze. 

With every wrap around her hand, she jumped a little, an acute feeling of pain coursing through her. 

He finally finished and brought her gauze wrapped hand to his lips, planting a soft kiss on it. "If you ever wake up in that place again, do not touch anything. I will know you're there and I will go find you."

"But then you'll get burned." She said in a small voice.

He shook his head. "I have a very high tolerance for pain."

Reaching behind her, he grabbed a glass and filled it with water. He handed it to her, along with a painkiller. 

She took it from him and drank the pill, hoping it would take effect quickly.

As she waited for the medicine to work, she thought she might ask him something. "How do you know about first aid? You acted very quickly and in a calm manner."

He smiled as a memory filled his mind. 

"When I was little, my brothers; Michael, Calum and I used to run around the foster home doing all sorts of crazy things. Once, while our caretaker was ironing clothes, we got it into our heads that we wanted to play under the ironing board. And Calum was the youngest of us, he didn't know any better. I told him not to touch the iron because he would get hurt. So he went and did it anyway; I believe he was five or six at the time. And he touched it, burning his fingers, particularly his pinky." He explained, pausing for a second.

"So what did you do to help him?" She asked.

He continued, "We rushed him to the kitchen and put his hand in the sink. So we turned on the water and had him stand there while I looked for something cool to put on his hand. The only cold thing we had was a tomato." He chuckled, "So we had him hol onto the tomato until his hand cooled and then we wrapped it in a bandage."

She giggled at his story. "It sounds like you saved his hand, Dr. Irwin."

He grinned proudly. "I felt so good about myself then, I honestly believed I was some sort of hero. I never let him forget we cured his burn."

"Did you kiss his hand too?" She wiggled an eyebrow at him.

"Don't laugh." He said, barely able to contain his own laughter. "But yes, I did. He was six years old though. And..." He gulped, his smile disappearing. "He was brought to the foster home when he was three, almost four. He could barely even talk, but I remember he was so upset that his mum because she had left him. The thing is he had gotten a scrape of something, and he told me he was waiting for his mum to come kiss it to make it better. So...I thought...if I were to kiss his hand, then he would feel better."

Scooting closer to him, she hesitantly laid her head on his shoulder.

She sighed, "I think I'm warming up to you again...I don't know if that's a good thing."

He bit his lip nervously.

"It probably isn't."

-

I KNOW I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS IN ONE WHOLE MONTH.

SO I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE.

THE THING WAS THAT FINALS AND PROJECTS AND MY SPRING CHOIR CONCERT WAS COMING UP AND I WAS STRESSED AND WHEN I AM STRESSED, I CANT THINK WELL. SO I DIDNT WANT TO DELIVER A SHITTY CHAPTER.

ANYWAY, IT SEEMS LIKE ALICE IS WARMING UP TO ASHTON AGAIN.

SHE MIGHT FORGIVE HIM.

I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY THIS CHAPTER.

THANK YOU FOR READING.

I LOVE YOU.

-CLARY xx