The Difference Between Fear and Terror

Untitled Part 12

I feel the earmuffs be removed. This must be a trick. He must be feeling particularly sadistic today. As much as silence is deafening, sound is too. The air conditioner whooshes and I have to fight the urge to cover my ears. I hear someone talk. I don't respond, afraid to be punished.

Then the hood comes off. If I thought being able to hear was disorienting, well this was blinding. A figure steps in front of me. Will I finally see my captor? The speaking occurs again. Wait. Is that Dr. Green?

Is he him? What is going on? Did they find me? I don't want to risk punishment so I don't respond. I am carried out to the car.

I catch sight of my arm. It is coated with grime. If my arms look that bad I can only imagine my thighs. There is dirt sticking to dried blood. I am covered in my own excrement.

I see some off the other boys looking at me, but Mr. Blackbourne orders them away. He says I'm fragile. That doesn't seem like a word a kidnapper would use. Maybe they are rescuing me.

I am laid in the back seat as I'm driven to the hospital. I am put onto a gurney. Dr. Roberts takes me away from the boys.

I am given a sponge bath by one of the nurses. I get an IV put in and I'm bandages up. I look like a mummy I have so many lacerations.

The bed raises to a sitting position. I am handed a cup of a sweet smelling liquid. I take it but don't drink it. Both the nurses and Dr. Roberts look at me in anticipation. I'm in a hospital. I can't be hurt here, right? Dr. Roberts lays a hand on my ankle and I flinch away. "Sang, it's sugar water, drink it." I take a deep breath, bracing to be hit as I raise the cup to my mouth. Surprisingly it doesn't come. I let the water trickle down my throat. It feels so good.

I look at him cautiously, afraid to ask. He let me drink, would he be lenient to me speaking? "M-May I p-please use the r-restroom sir?" I manage to stutter out. He disconnects my IV and helps me walk over. He hands me a gown from the counter.

He hooks me back up to the IV. "You have some people who want to see you, can I let them in?"