We Come From The South » Isaac Lahey [2] ✓

he's hurt

"Ma'am, please step out of the way." The darker skinned doctor ordered, his tone attempting to be gentle and calm, yet it was hurried and strained. His dark chocolate eyes were wide as he continued to glance between the dying Isaac in the hospital bed and the path ahead of them.
But she couldn't move, she couldn't leave his side, not in this state.

"Ma'am!" The same doctor ordered, all pretense of assurance and calm vanishing.

She snapped her green eyes up to him, the once bright colour of her pupil slowly fading to a darker shade as her emotions consumed her. She halted in her run next to the hospital bed and let the cold metal of the rails slip from her grasp. Her eyes watched through a blurred vision as the doctor and many nurses rushed Isaac into a room further down the corridor and closed the door on her.

Adrianna wasn't certain how long ago that had happened. Black and white flashes of the night constantly interrupted her mind as she sat completely and utterly still in a rather uncomfortable plastic chair in the same corridor.
Her thoughts contained only Isaacs limp body, his chest wasn't rising and falling with his soft breaths, his oceanic eyes no longer analysing her every move, the warmth that used to radiate from him diminished. The image of his tall form lying in the dangerous water was the only consistent thing. The smell of burning and sizzling flesh the only smell in her nose. And she could rid neither.

At some point her thoughts had shifted from those horror filled images, from the sadness and fear that had seeped into her skin like water and remain there.
Stiles had caused this. He had cut one of the major power cords, one of the most dangerous ones, for the pure intent to hurt people.
And he had succeeded, at least three people were lying somewhere in this hospital walking the line between life and death, just like Isaac.

She didn't bother listening to the small voice of reason in the far depths of her angered mind. The voice that begged her to acknowledge that it wasn't Stiles, that Stiles could never possibly do this, he wouldn't.

Yet he did.
She had stood with him in a pit of sadness whilst he explained that he might be dying, she had sympathised for him, cried for him. And he knew their fate the entire time. He didn't bother to warn them, he manipulated them and he would pay dearly for it. For hurting Isaac.

A sudden warm hand on her shoulder jolted her from the spiralling thoughts.
Adrianna raised her head to see Scott and Melissa standing next to her, in different clothes she last saw them in. Her eyes moved from their worried expressions to the large window in the alcove next to her, where sunshine poured through the glass and illuminated the linoleum and every feature in the corridor. When had the night passed? How long had she sat there?

Someone was saying something. She couldn't hear their words, just the rumble of Scotts voice. It felt muffled yet loud, like he was yelling in her ear but the words weren't coherent.

"Adrianna?" The hand on her shoulder gently shook her.

She forced her eyes away from the light and back to Scotts face that had lines of concern crossed all over his tan skin.

"Have you been here all night?" Scott asked, or repeated, it sounded like he had questioned that before.

"I think so." Her voice was croaky and hoarse, her mouth dry and rough. She looked away from his expression, unable to bear the sympathy. She didn't want it, not for her. She looked back to the pale floor, the sound of splashing water re-entering her ears.

"They won't let us see him because we're not family." Allison exhaled slowly, and almost angrily. "I told them he doesn't have any."

Adrianna looked to Allison, her eyebrows contracting slightly in confusion. She hadn't noticed her, she didn't even know she came to sit with her. Had she been here the whole night too?

Melissa looked between the girls, an expression of annoyance at her own staff crossing her features. "Well he's got us." Melissa looked to the double doors that held Isaac behind them. "And I've got a key card." She held a black card between her fingers.

Melissa moved towards the doors, Allison following close behind.
However Adrianna remained still, her eyes locked on where the two women stood waiting calmly for her. What if he was hurt too badly, what if he wasn't recognisable? What if there was nothing but a frozen body on a metal slate in that room?

"Adrianna?" Scott's hand was on her shoulder again, his tone gentle and calm, unlike the doctors from, well, last night now.

She looked to him, her expression void of any emotion, her eyes dark.

"Come." Scott practically whispered, although it sounded much too loud in her ears, everything was too loud. He carefully wrapped his hand around her elbow and arm, lifting her from the uncomfortable seat and walking the both of them to the doors.

Adrianna felt much like a robot for she walked slowly and soundlessly, her body stiff, her face a mask except for the anger swirling in her pupils.

Melissa swiped the card, the red light flashing to green and a loud beep accompanying it. The electric doors glided open, revealing a darker room with only one sound; the beeping of a heart monitor.
Isaac lay on a white hospital bed in the centre of the room with a blue blanket covering his lower half. The IV stand and monitor on the right of the bed applied cords and wires into the back of his hand and the crook of his elbow. Shelves lined the back wall of the room, a warm yellow lighting up the contents inside them."

"Be quick." Melissa warned to Scott.

Scott nodded slightly and began to walk him and Adrianna into the room, their pace slow and steady.

As they stepped closer, the image of his statue-like body lying broken in the fatal water. She flinched, retracting slightly away from the body. He was lying on his back with his head facing to the right, black and bruised burns ran up his neck and the left side of his face, scorching his skin. His chest barely rose with shallow breaths, his heart rate soft.

"I thought he would be healing by now?" Allison questioned gently, her eyebrows contracted in confusion at why the burns were even present.

"So did I." Scott muttered. He lowered his hand to Isaac's red and burnt arm. But the moment his hands clasped the broken skin, thick black lines derived from the limp body part and into Scott. He instantly retracted, his expression becoming ever so saddened.

"Is he in pain?" Adrianna whispered, her voice close to breaking, one arm crossed sternly around her chest and the over hovering over her mouth in attempt to calm the lump in her throat.

Scott looked back to Isaac. He lowered his hand again and the black lines raced up his hand and arm. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. Isaac began to inhale deeply, his back arching, his face relieving some of its stress.
Scott groaned, his face scrunched up in pain. He snapped his hand away and exhaled, slowly opening his eyes.
"It won't heal him, but it helps with the pain."

Adrianna inhaled stiffly, the softness in her eyes hardening and going cold. "Did Stiles really do this?"

"Whatever's controlling him did this," He raised his eyes to her, noting the slight venom in her tone. "Whatever's inside him."

"Well," Adrianna straightened up, uncrossing her arms and clenching her fists, shutting off the emotions that tempted her to be weak. "How the hell do we get whatever's inside of him the hell out of him?"

Scott sighed, his expression hardening too. "I'm working on it."

•

•

•

•
( e d i t e d )

brisbane back in lockdown, this pandemic is getting worse.

-a