Five Little Words

Part 6

Things continued to progress very slowly over the next few days. With the help of rest and the steroid anti-inflammatories, the swelling continued to decrease at the same rate of a snail competing in a race, to the point where it took almost a whole two days of being on the steroids for there to be much further improvement.

This improvement - although minor - was seen as a major step in the ladder of recovery. 

It had started with just involuntary twitches of his fingers, which had then progressed into being able to consciously move and clench his hands. Further control of his arms and chest returned by that night, and by day three there was almost full feeling in his chest, the feeling in his arms following close behind.

But after that, there didn't seem to be any sign of improvement, and it resulted in a lot of frustration being built up over the next few days.

*****

5 Days After the Accident.......

"Please sir, you must try and eat something-"

Dec had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the nurse's persistence. She'd been pushing him to eat for the past ten minutes, ever since she'd appeared with a tray of food that looked incredibly unappetising.

"I told you before, I'm not really hungry, thanks" he replied as politely as he could, but he couldn't help the annoyance that still crept into his voice.

"Is he giving you trouble?" A familiar voice quipped knowingly from the entrance to the room.

The nurse turned her head around to face the doorway, and she almost dropped the tray when she recognised Ant leaning against the frame, eyebrow raised and a half-smile twitching at his lips.

"Uh...no, no....not at all...." the nurse gushed, blushing furiously, not meeting his eyes.

Chuckling, Ant pushed off the doorframe and walked over to her, smiling.

"It's alright, I'll take care of it" he promised, eyes twinkling kindly.

Still blushing, the nurse nodded and quickly made her exit, closing the door behind her.

Taking the vacated seat, Ant folded his arms across his chest as his eyes fell on the pouting Declan.

"Alright, spit it out" he ordered, eyes narrowing as his friend refused to meet his gaze. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I'm just really not that hungry" Dec retorted flatly, keeping his eyes fixed on the window at the side of the room.

Ant's eyes narrowed suspiciously, leaning forward a little as he looked him up and down. He wasn't really surprised to see that - having not eaten since the accident - his friend was starting to get a bit thin, his face was rather pale and looked almost gaunt, and there was a distant sadness in his eyes.

"Decs, you haven't eaten anything for five days kiddo-" he began, but he was cut off by a furiously heated glare coming from the bed.

"You don't exactly work up much of an appetite lying still for 24 hours a day doing nothing but staring at the bloody ceiling!" Dec shouted back, finally letting the full force of his frustration into his voice. A hot stinging sensation pricked at his eyes, and he forced his gaze away from his friend once more, keeping his sight fixed on some distant point on the wall.

Sighing, Ant set the tray down on the side table and got up to perch on the side of the bed.

"Hey, come on kiddo, I get that you're frustrated-" but once again, he was cut off.

"That's one way to put it" Dec growled, glaring at the side of the room and trying his hardest to keep his temper under control.

But Ant could see the flicker of emotion in his eyes, hear the tightness of his voice, and he felt his own throat squeeze shut.