Mr Mysterious [boyxboy]

13.

Stan carries Timothy because he is too slow and Stan can’t be patient right now – not even for his favourite small person. At the administration desk he asks for Brooke Steven’s room. The girl at the computer is painfully slow as she types in the name and locates the floor and room number.

“I don’t know if she is allowed to have visitors yet, let me just check.” Even her voice is a slow drawl.

“Her family is up there, they called me!” Stan knows he shouldn’t let his frustration show but this isn’t just anyone, this is Brooke and whatever has happened, he needs to be with her.

Timothy pats Stan’s cheek then holds a finger to his lips, “Shhhh.”

The slow receptionist calls someone up in another office and is told that Brooke is in fact allowed to have visitors and so she gives the room number to Stan who gives an unenthusiastic ‘thank you’ as he begins hurrying off.  Stan has never been a fan of hospitals, but really not many people are. They’re cold and white and they small so sterile that you feel like you need to shower before you’re allowed to be there. Following the signs on every doorway he makes it up a floor and to the right room. He knows he is at the correct one because the door is cracked open and he can hear a ruckus inside. Glancing up the hall Stan can see Brooke’s father slumped against the wall, talking to a police officer and a man in a suit. This makes Stan’s heart sink as he pushes open the door to Brooke’s room – it’s serious.

“Stan!” small arms wrap around his legs and he looks down to find Andy attached to them.

Kneeling down he places Timothy on the floor, who hides behind him a little as Andy gazes at him. “Andy, this is my little brother Timmy, can you look after each other for me while I talk to Brooke?”

Andy looks thrilled at being given the responsibility. He peeks around Stan’s legs at Andy and waves to him. “Hi!”

Stan gives Timothy an encouraging smile and he slowly comes out from behind Stan’s legs. Leaving the two boys to play, Stan straightens up and let’s his eyes land on Brooke, trying to remain calm for her sake. Brooke is not looking at him, instead she is looking to the other side of the room, at a curtain covered window. If she is awake then Andy’s cry must have alerted her to him being there, so why she was turned away, he wasn’t sure. Briefly he thinks she may be sleeping, but then he sees her whisper something to Mona and Lucy and the two small girls look over their sister at Stan.

“Brooke?” He takes a cautious step forward.

Brooke shakes her head from its place on the pillow, refusing to look at Stan. She told Mona that they weren’t allowed to call him, but obviously they had not listened. For whatever reason they had disobeyed her and now she couldn’t stand to look at him. Not because Stan wasn’t there to protect her; but because this is all her fault and now he was going to suffer. He shouldn’t have to be seen with her after this, but she doesn’t have the heart to tell him.

When he accepts that Brooke probably isn’t going to roll over for him, he moves slowly around the bed. The room that should be clean is really a bit of a mess. Already there are dirt marks all over the white linen from her siblings, water is splashed on the floor around the small basin outside the toilet and one chair is turned over. Stan can see that Tom, Brooke’s youngest brother (only three years old) is sitting between the chair and the wall, he seems to be trapped but also content as he has a small teddy bear and train which he repeatedly makes collide. Stan assumes that it is Mona’s ‘smart’ idea of a play pen for him. Both girls move away from the edge of Brooke’s bed, freeing up the chair that is there. Stan doesn’t sit, instead he leans over her and gently kisses her forehead. Her hair is covering the most part of her face, and she has the white sheet pulled up over her shoulder so no part of her is revealed. As gently as he can, Stan brushes back her golden brown hair. There is a gash along the right side of her face, and though there are no stitches, the wound is held closed by three small plastic strips.