Comforting the blue engine

The Solution

A few days later, Henry went back to see Edward, only to be informed by Sir Topham Hatt that Edward had been involved in a nasty accident! He had run into a train of fuel tankers and gunpowder vans, and was taken to the Steamworks. Edward still hadn't woken up. It had been over a month by this point. The other engines were all extremely worried. They had started bringing up the idea that he might never wake up. Victor didn't say anything like that to them, but they were starting to lose hope.

It was a late night. Henry couldn't sleep. He had the urge to go see Edward. He didn't know why, but he just did. Henry decided to listen and quietly snuck out of Vicarstown Sheds. Thankfully, he was allowed to visit Edward whenever he wanted. Henry told no one what he was doing. He didn't see a reason to. And, he figured it would cause worry instead.

It didn't take him long to reach the Steamworks. He hadn't even realized how fast he had been Chuffing. It all seemed like it had happened in an instant. Henry assumed that was just from him being tired. It was almost midnight, after all. It wasn't a surprise if he was pretty tired by now.

Henry made his way to the Steamworks shed. None of them ever visited him for very long. It was hard to. They couldn't do it. Every time they looked at him, all they saw was how they had failed him. It hurt them to be reminded of how much they had hurt him.

Henry sighed and entered the shed. He made his way into the shed, and found Edward. Eventually, he lifted his gaze to him.

He was still unconscious. His boiler had a massive hole in the middle, and his paint had been burnt severely, he still looked extremely pale and sickly. Henry couldn't keep his gaze on him for long. It hurt too much to do. He sighed. His body wouldn't move. He wanted to leave, but he couldn't bring himself to. It was as if he was chained to the ground.

It had been almost half-an-hour. Henry still couldn't find a way to leave. He was glued to the trakcs. His body refused to move. He didn't know why. It was strange. He couldn't figure out what was the reason for him staying.

Then, he heard something. It was very faint. Then, it happened again. It sounded like creaking. Henry looked up. His eyes widened. It seemed like Edward was finally waking up. Henry shot up, and moved closer to Edward.

After a few minutes of waiting, Edward opened his eyes. He couldn't see anything. It was all too blurry to make out. Edward blinked his eyes to try and clear them up. They stayed blurry no matter what he tried.

"Eddie..." Henry whispered.

"Henry?" Edward turned to where he heard his voice.

"You're awake..." Henry started crying and hugged Edward tightly.

"How long was I out for?" Edward asked as he tried to hug Henry back.

"It's been a month... we thought you would never wake up..." Henry pulled back from the hug, but was still crying.

Edward carefully moved herself into a sitting position, "What happened? It's all just a blur to me."

"What do you remember?" Henry asked.

"That we were all at my shed and we were talking. I don't remember what we were talking about, though..." Edward replied.

"We wanted you to get help and... Sir Topham Hatt kinda threatened you by temporarilyyour branch line away. You... you freaked out and ran to your shed." Henry didn't want to finish, but he knew he had to, "You had... had hurt yourself pretty bad. You passed out from how much you lost."

Edward stared down at his buffers, "I'm sorry..."

"No. It should be us who apologize. We realized we shouldn't have gone about that the way we did." Henry started.

"So... am I going to be forced into getting help from here?" Edward asked.

Henry shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I'm going to assume probably. Unless you can somehow convince them otherwise, but I don't think you can."

"I guess it's for the best..." Edward mumbled.

"We'll all be there to help. I promise." Henry said.

"Why are you here? It's really late." Edward asked. His vision had finally returned and she was looking at the clock.

"I'm not sure. I just felt like I needed to come here." Henry replied.

"Well... are you going to go home?"

"Um... if you want me to stay, I will." Henry said.

"Thanks... I don't like being alone. Not with all these people and engines around." Edward said.

"Yeah. I bet. Victor and Kevin are nice and all, but it's awkward having to talk to them." Henry said.

They sat in silence for a while. Henry was debating if it was worth it for his driver to call the others. It was really late. He doubted they would be awake, but he wanted to tell them. Henry eventually decided his driver would call the other engine crews.  As expected, no one replied or read it.

"Henry. I'm sorry about all of this." Edward mumbled.

"Hey, you don't need to apologize." Henry replied, "It's okay. We're just glad you're alright."

"This would've never happened if I would've just gotten help..."

"No. It's our fault for not listening to you. That was what went wrong." Henry protested.

"But... but if I would've told my crew then..."

"It's really hard to talk to them about this stuff. I get why you didn't." Henry said.

"So... do you think they're going to admit me or just send me to therapy?" Edward asked.

"I don't know. Considering how bad you were, they might admit you" Henry replied.

"I don't want that..."

"They know what's right for you. You need to trust them if that's their decision." Henry said.

"I know. But, it's hard. I just want to go on with life. Not be stuck somewhere."

"It's not set in stone. You may not be admitted. You never know." Henry tried to reassure him. 

A few minutes of silence followed. Edward looked like he wanted to say something. But, nothing came out of it for a while. Henry's driver was checking him phone to see if someone read his text yet. It didn't appear as though anyone had.

"What's going to happen with the rest of us?" Edward whispered.

"Nothing. Everything will return to normal once you get better." Henry stated.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

...

It had been a while. Edward was getting better. He hadn't been admitted and was just made to attend therapy sessions twice a week. He seemed happier now. Everyone was relieved to see him getting better.

They all decided it would be best to take a few days off until Edward could come back. They felt it would make him feel better knowing he wasn't missing out on anything. They figured that was what had caused him to get so upset before. Because they were going to continue without him.

It took quite some time before Edward was good enough to return to his branch line. Everyone waited patiently for him to recover. They were always there to support him. Edward couldn't have asked for a better group of friends. They stuck by him side through it all and never left.

From now on, they all decided they'd take a day out of the week where they'd go out somewhere and talk about things. That way, no one had to approach them, they could just talk then. Unless, they desperately needed to talk before that.

It was working out well for them. It actually made everyone a lot more open than normal. They didn't feel as embarrassed to share things now. It was a time they could talk and not be judged for it. It was nice.

Everyone had started to wonder why they didn't do that sooner.

The End

At last, Comforting the blue engine is complete!

Thanks for reading!