birds flying high

chapter two

↳ november 19, 1970, 4:13pm

declan woke with a gasp. just like the night before he took in quick, deep breaths of air, though he wasn't in as much pain as he had been. however something was different about his current situation. there was something wrong, and it wasn't the bandages wrapped around his head nor how he felt rather hopped up on pain medication. the pain meds seemed to slightly slow reality and heighten his senses, but even still, he couldn't place it.

with wide eyes declan slowly looked around the room, taking in everything around him. he vaguely remembered what the place looked like from before he dramatically collapsed, but things were still a little fucked up, even with his foggy memory. he saw the tattered curtains and ugly carpet floor. he saw the television and the poor choice of wallpaper. he saw the messily knitted blankets and the ratty, weirdly comfortable couch under his body, then it suddenly hit him. he couldn't see. well, no. that wasn't right. he could see, but he couldn't see colours. he couldn't see motherfucking colours. he couldn't see how the couch was a dark shade of velvety emerald green. he couldn't see how the curtains were yellow or how the carpet was a burnt burgundy orange. he couldn't see how the wallpaper was a striped burnt yellow or how the blankets were various shades of maroon and navy blue. the physical trauma from getting his head bashed into the corner of a curb must of really done something bad.

strangely enough, this didn't seem to affect declan as much as one would assume. the medication was really messing with his head and delaying his thoughts and how he responded to life, and he couldn't help but wonder what the fuck he was on. he hadn't ever taken anything for pain before so he didn't know the difference between drugs and what they did. either way, it was messing with him. it was messing with him so much that he couldn't really think of more than one thing at a time. in fact, he didn't even realize there was talking coming from the room next to where he was until he had focused on the ceiling for a good five minutes after realizing he couldn't see any shades of colour.

when he tuned into the people speaking he heard a voice he hadn't ever heard before. the man sounded professional and somewhat angry, as if he had been repeating himself for hours. "it's not that simple. listen- if you would just listen to me-" another muffled voice came, then the professional man spoke in a demanding tone. "jesus, thomas! stop talking for a second! fuck. look, going to court with a case against three guys, of whom we don't know the identity to-" he was cut off once again, and when he continued he sounded exhausted. "yes, that's important, thomas. they could be the sons of some pretty wealthy people if they're actually like how you described them. going to court against three guys like that would be idiotic. he's a guy who was assaulted by men. no judge is going to care about a male being sexually assaulted by other male's because they find it uncomfortable to talk about. they think it's wrong, but not in the way we do. the case will quickly be thrown away and the jury will rule the three men innocent almost immediately. that kid is screwed, and there's nothing I can do about it."

as declan slowly pieced together what the others were talking about he began to actually feel the energy radiating from the other room. it felt as if everyone was on edge and had their own opinions about what happened. a smile came to declan's lips at this thought because he knew that he had been the only person who was actually there. only he really knew everything that happened, aside from the three preppy men.

the familiar voice of thomas suddenly shot out, verbally attacking the other man. "you're just saying that because you don't wanna give him a shot. fucking hell, man. you're just like what everyone says. I thought maybe you changed after everything, but you're still the same big headed asshole-" he didn't get far before the professional cut him off. their conversation continued with one man cutting off the other. "I'm not not giving him a shot. I'm just not being reckless-"