Cold Lonely Nights

Family

After the demonstration Shane had in front of the whole orphanage, Jack finally got his way by having Shane punished by solitary confinement in his room.

By this point, Shane's given up trying to escape, letting himself be alone with his thoughts until he can't bear them anymore. Every time he thinks of anything, it always brings him to think of Drew.

He kicks the door to stop his thought track again, looking at his barred windows for a moment. Shane sniffs before smashing the glass, screaming in anger.

He cuts open his elbow as it shatters and stares at the glass shards on the floor.

He remembers hearing about a kid who cut himself open with the glass two years ago. There was a word that the adults would use to explain it but Shane had no clue what it was. When he asked Luke about what happened, he was told that the kid was extremely upset and thought he felt better when he was hurt.

Curiosity on how the kid dealt with what was upsetting him makes Shane slowly pick up one of the pieces of glass. He stares at it for a moment, feeling a little anxiety about making himself bleed because of a fear of the pain but he presses it against his arm. He gently applies more and more pressure, whimpering at the pain when his hands tremble, and makes the glass go in a lot deeper than he was originally hoping for.

"No." He whines when the sight of his blood seeping out of his arms begins to scare him.

He hurries to the door to try to get help, screaming for help. When he starts feeling dizzy, he tries hitting the door but his dizziness keeps getting worse.

"LUKE! HELP ME!" Shane screams.

His breathing gets quicker and his sight starts blacking out slightly. Shane whines, waddling backwards. He falls back on his bed and gradually passes out.

After a while, Luke knocks on the door. When Shane doesn't answer, he unlocks the door and rushes in to Shane's aid. He quickly reaches for some towels to press against his bleeding arm. He then checks Shane's pulse on his neck, sighing in relief when he feels that he's still alive and warm.

"Oh Shane, what were you thinking?" He tells the boy softly, stroking his dark blonde hair out of his face and patting his cheek gently.

Jack walks in angrily at the sight of the door open. He's about to shout at Luke before his eyes wander to the sight of blood everywhere.

"Another one?" He checks quietly.

Luke shakes his head with a sniff. "He'll make it." He tells the other man, picking Shane up and carrying him to the nurse's office.

The nurse gives them a worried look when Shane gets lied down on one of the beds.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Luke reports, stepping back to let her do her job.

"This is the second time he's tried to commit suicide, isn't it?" Jack recalls.

"He's not suicidal, he just doesn't know any better!" Luke defends.

"You had to sedate him to stop him from walking out onto the motorway." Jack reminds the taller man.

"He wasn't thinking of it like that, he just wanted to keep going after Drew's car!" Luke points out. "Shane's the kind of boy who still cries when he just grazes his knee, he must've been confused or it could have been an accident." Luke tries.

"They look self inflicted. It's pretty hard to inflict that amount of damage on yourself by accident. Luke, I know that you had a closer relationship with Drew and Shane but the signs are clear. Shane is now a danger to himself and we need to make sure that he can't ever try something like this again." Jack tells Luke.

"What are you suggesting then? We put him on suicide watch? Lock him up somewhere that he won't be able to find anything to hurt himself with? He's still a child, Jack! He's been through enough!" Luke snaps.

"Our therapist suggested something which could help Shane get over the shock of losing Drew. It will allow his brain to understand and process what happened in a logical way. There's a very high success rate so the chances of it helping him are in our favour." Jack explains.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Luke growls.

"It's very closely linked with hypnosis. He can snap out of it at anytime if he feels uncomfortable." He reassures. "I also figured it could help get him some sleep without waking up screaming for Drew to come back."

Luke goes quiet for a moment, weighing out all of the different factors silently. As much as he's worried about approaching Shane with the idea of being hypnotised, he knows that it'll be for Shane's benefit in the long run.

The nurse finishes wrapping the bandages on Shane's arm, letting the two men approach him.

Luke steps forwards to brush Shane's overgrown fringe out of his eyes, smiling sadly with the thought that he uses his fringe to hide behind even when he's asleep or unconscious.

"Luke, I can't go ahead with it if you aren't comfortable with the idea." Jack reminds him.

"Get it done." Luke decides. "That way he'll be able to understand why he still hasn't received any letters from Drew without completely breaking his heart."

Jack awkwardly points out. "The money they spent on having him is the only thing keeping us above water. If Drew had stayed, we would have to close by the end of the year."

"I know. It's just heartbreaking to see how devastated it's left Shane. I'd hate to think of how tough things must be for Drew. Being in a completely new place must be difficult and he's still scared of meeting new people. He just seemed to be so happy when he was with Shane. Even we've given up trying to keep them apart. I've never seen a bond so strong." Luke murmurs.

"Drew's going to be fine, he's got a family looking after him now. They have more money, resources and time for him than we ever could. You know that almost as well as I do." Jack tells him.

"You're right. I just think we should keep a special eye on Shane to check up on him." Luke sighs.

"He'll be fine." Jack reassures.