A Brother's Sorrow [REWRITE]

Chapter 2

Chris's eyes flew open, only to find he was in what appeared to be a hospital room. He whirled around, hearing a strange beeping noise, only to spot the heart monitor from his nightmare blinking beside his bed. He sighed then started crying out of relief, grateful to be alive despite his life being pure hell.

A doctor ran into the room, his deep brown eyes widening when he saw that Chris was awake. He seemed disappointed for a second but quickly gave the child a broad smile. "Hello," he introduced. "I'm Doctor Harvey Franks, and you must be our little bite victim."

Chris wasn't impressed, knowing a fake smile when he saw one. His father had always been using one, it seemed that the man didn't know how to be honest at times. "Aren't you the doctor," Chris asked with a bored expression on his face." You of all people should know about that."

The doctor noted that Chris seemed to rapidly flash between emotions as he spoke. First, the boy had seemed overjoyed, possibly at realizing he hadn't died. Then, his tone quickly faded to a dull monotone, which may have indicated a severe chemical imbalance in Chris's head. It was tragic to say the least, not to mention that William, the boy's disgusting slug of a father, had demanded that the boy was taken off life support! If the doctor had actually respected the man, he would've listened to what the man had said.

Instead, he chose to keep Chris on life support, saving the boy's life. He refused to allow a child to die just because the father wanted the poor lad dead. After all, he had lost his only child before, and the boy looked strikingly familiar. Almost as if his son had been reborn into the body of this innocent child.

Chris stared at the doctor until he grew annoyed of the doctor just standing there, the man's eyes watering as he kept his eyes on Chris. He felt a few needles being pulled out of his body in various places, yet he kept his eyes locked onto the strange doctor who was doing the job of a nurse. Strangely enough, Chris didn't actually mind the doctor showing him so much attention, it was far more than he had received at home after all.

Finally, Dr. Franks pulled away from the boy and disposed of the used needles. The doctor then gave Chris a final, longing glance before turning away and leaving the room. "I wish I could just take you away from here," Franks thought to himself. "Yet, it's illegal. I can't save you from that horrible man but at least I can ensure you'll be alive when you leave my care."

Chris, once again alone, studied the room he was in at the moment. It appeared to be a normal hospital room, after all he was certain he'd visited his mother in a hospital before. He then spotted a red button beside his bed, and a grin creeped onto his face. He leaned over and pressed the button, unsure of what it would do but was too tempted to not push it.

The novelty quickly wore off, and Chris grew bored of waiting for something to happen after around 30 seconds. So he turned his attention to the small TV in front of him. He looked for a remote, spotting it on the bedside table. He quickly grew excited and turned on the TV, changing the channel until it landed on a rerun of Fredbear and Friends and immersed himself in the episode.

A nurse rushed into the room a couple minutes later, solving the mystery of the mystical red button. Her nurse cap rested precariously atop her gently woven, dark brown dreadlocks, her nurse's uniform tight on her slim, curvaceous form. She too was surprised that Chris was awake, expecting him to have died due to the massive damage to his skull and cerebellum. Shoving back her shock and awe at the boy's resiliency, she stepped towards his bed and actually did her job.

"What do you need assistance with?" The nurse asked, brushing back one of her locks to get a better view of the child.

Chris felt his stomach gurgle, and he beamed at the kind nurse. "Uh, could I get some food?" He felt flustered for some reason but he dismissed the thoughts as a bizarre coincidence.

The nurse nodded, patting the boy on the head affectionately before heading down to the hospital cafeteria to get the boy a lunch.

Chris turned his attention back to the TV, silently cheering when he saw Foxy pop up on screen. The red fox animatronics had always been a favorite of his elder brother Michael. Despite Michael being partly responsible for Chris's head Injury, he didn't blame Michael one bit. The poor teen had been coerced by his friends into pulling the prank, and at least he'd gotten to spend time with his brother for the first time in over a year. Chris allowed himself to stop thinking for a while, divulging in the rare tranquility of watching a TV show he enjoyed without constantly feeling like he was being watched. For a while, Chris was genuinely happy.

Then William entered the hospital room, and everything went to shit from there.

The man appeared astonished that Chris was awake, and had to pinch himself to ensure that he wasn't dreaming. His son was alive, which was both a miracle and an annoyance. Now he couldn't have an excuse to turn his youngest son into a robot and join his sibling. Of course, he was in the process of converting his entire family yet he wanted Chris to die so he wouldn't have to end another life. What a pain, William thought to himself.

Chris intentionally ignored his father, keeping his eyes locked onto the television screen. He assumed that his father would take him home and dump him in his bedroom again, abandoning the child once more. Chris preferred the hospital, not to mention that the nice nurse hadn't come back with lunch yet. Despite just having been taken off life support, Chris was still hungry. Not to mention that he needed to go really badly.

"Christopher," William began to speak, using his son's full name to reestablish authority. "Get up and get dressed. He gestured to a bag which was beside the hospital bed that most likely contained clothing. " We're leaving."

Chris sighed, turning off the television with the remote before stretching his arms to regain mobility. He slowly slid off the bed and got to his feet, ignoring the agonizing sensation of pins and needles as the blood began flowing to his legs once more. He grabbed the bag and walked to the bathroom linked to the hospital room in order to change.

The nurse then arrived, wheeling in a TV tray with the day's special: macaroni and cheese. She froze when she saw William in the room instead of Chris in a moment of confusion. "Uh, hello there," she said nervously. The man was quite threatening after all, he radiated a dangerous aura that she desperately wanted to get away from. "I was just bringing lunch for the patient...but it seems he isn't here!"

William was growing cross. Chris seemed to be taking far too long in the restroom, and now this nurse had barged into the room. "Wrong room, the rat isn't here."

The nurse appeared thoroughly embarrassed. "Oh I'm so sorry, I must have read the room number wrong! Please, pardon me for being so rude!" She turned and left, taking the meal with her.

Chris finally left the restroom a few minutes later, having taken the time to relieve himself. William grabbed him by the arm roughly, dragging him out of the room and out towards the car.

"Bills been paid," William said gruffly. "Now c'mon, Mikey is waiting to greet you. He has a special surprise for you to see after all." He chuckled darkly, imagining the look of horror on Chris's face when he saw the....improvement he had given Michael four days before. Speaking of which, he hadn't checked on the boy in a couple days, seeing as he'd been spending time with his wife and daughter. He wondered how Michael was dealing with his new arm.

Chris allowed himself to be dragged away, hiding the tears of pain he felt as his head started to pound. He hadn't fully recovered from the surgery and his brain wasn't ready to handle the sudden motion. Yet, he chose to keep quiet. His father would be infuriated if he saw the signs of weakness, after all.