Close Encounters (Andrew)

[Lyra Grace Wood]

Lyra laid on a soft bed in the hospital wing. Her eyes close d she listened to the people who passed by her bed silently. There hearts always seemed to sututer when they saw the girl. TNow o one knew ho to treat someone who is dying. Her fingers touched the silver bracelet her sister gave her gently feeling the rough stones comofrted her it made her feel less alone. sighing heavily she focused her hearing now on the rain fall outside her room, thunder clashed and the lightning followed as the world readied itself for another long night of sotnrs and flooding. The needle in her arm administered the drugs she needed to feel less pain and more alive but half the time her body was dead to her. when she heard the thunder crash and her dying eyes saw the flash of thunder that is when she felt most alive.

[Guest]

Andrew sat in the office of one of the Matrons in the Hospital Wing, rubbing his temple in frustration. This was his least favorite thing IN THE WORLD to do, but he didn't have a choice. Since his accident, apparently, he had some emotional issues. All he could think of was, YA THINK!

"Wood, you can't keep bottling all these emotions up. If you don't talk about them, how can we move forward in your treatment?" the Matron said to him. Andrew lowered his hand and just looked at her. "What the hell good is talking about anything going to do? Will talking about how I feel allow me to fucking walk again? WILL IT?!?!" he asked, ending in a shout. "Keep your voice down, Wood. I know you're upset-" she started to say but was interrupted by Andrew's angry words. "The fuck I will, and the fuck you do! Talking about shit isn't going to help anything!" he yelled. The Matron sighed and stood. As she walked to her door, she said firmly, "Wood, you need to calm down. I'm going to give you some time to calm yourself down, and then we will try again..."

As she left him, Andrew propped his elbows on his knees and placed his fingertips to his forehead. "Shit....." he said as he ran his fingers through his brown hair. Andrew linked his fingers behind his head and angrily sighed as he looked at the ceiling. As much as he wanted to leave, and as easily as he could, Andrew kept the breaks on his wheels and simply....waited....

[Lyra Grace Wood]

Lyra's eyes opened as she heard shouting not far from her bed. Swinging her legs over the edge she held her blue hoodie over her bare shoulders and holding the IV stand she walked down the way slowly. She was weakened by the chemo but still she could walk.

Stopping by the source of the noise she said "She only wishes to help you know" her foggy eyes found the silver rims of the chair and the light outline of green.

[Guest]

Andrew closed his eyes and sighed. "She may want to help, but no one can help. And no one seems to get that...." he said curtly. He unlinked his hands and lowered his arms. Andrew grabbed one of his wheels to help him glance over his shoulder at the girl. She held her IV stand and a blue hoodie pulled around her shoulders. A Ravenclaw, perhaps... She must have been pretty sick.... "What's it to you anyways?" Andrew asked in the same tone.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

"The matron is kind" she said her tone was even "just give her a chance...I understand how frustrating a bad situation could be" she ignored his rough tone and spoke to him gently.

[Guest]

"Kind?" Andrew asked her, as he reached and unlocked his wheels. He turn his chair so he could face her. "I've tried.... I've tried talking, and it does shit. What more does she want? Talking solves nothing," he said angrily. Seeing as she could still walk, his next comment came out without him even thinking. "What can you possibly know about a situation like this? This....this isn't a bad situation. This is hell...." he growled.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

The storm raged outside the hospital wing as her expression clouded. "I have a tumor eating away at my brain stealing my life and my eye sight. Some of us are not so lucky to be merely confined to a chair" she replied coldly. She turned and made her way down the row of beds.

[Guest]

A clap of thunder rang loud and clear as the girl finished her comment. Andrew, for one of the few times in his life, was without words. "Damn it...." he cursed himself as he wheeled after her. "Wait. Wait!" he called, "I'm.....I'm sorry. I didn't.... I didn't think. It tends to happen sometimes when your as pissed as I am...." In a way he was rambling, but he felt like a complete ass for saying something as insensitive as he had. Andrew didn't know this girl or the personal hell she was going through. As angry as he was at his own situation, compaired to hers, his was nothing, and he knew it.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

She turned her darkened eyes on him, though she couldn't see it would appear she was staring into his soul. "The matron's son ended up in a wheel chair" she said her tone was icey but not as cool as before. "He killed himself in his grief from losing his legs, you speak without thinking, words are like weapons Mr. Wood they wound sometimes and you should be privy to that"

[Guest]

Andrew looked away from her gaze at hearing about the Maton and what she must be thinking when she meets with him. He didn't know that she likely saw her son sitting before her. As if your day can't get any worse.... He knew all too well the damage that words could do. Being on both the giving and receiving end of them. "Don't you think I know how damaging words can be?" he said cooling, looking up at her. "Words are what changed my life forever that day. Words told my parents and my brothers that I would never walk again. Words told me that I would never be anything more than an invalid...." he said, his voice growing harsher as he remembered his uncle making that snide comment to his mother when he didn't know Andrew was listening, but he stopped there. Andrew didn't want to say more that would bury him in the giant hole he had dug for himself already. "Oh, I know all too well how words can harm worse than actions..." Andrew said firmly yet calmly.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

"You are as invalid as you let yourself, if you know the power words have then you should take care not to use such weapons so carelessly" the torches flickered as a gust of wind blew them. "You should take care to understand the ones you hurt. Not all of us are the enemy"

[Guest]

Andrew sighs and looks away, ashamed of how he was acting. "No, not everyone is the enemy. Just, not everybody understands...." he said quietly. He raised his brown eyes to her. Andrew hadn't met someone like her before. This girl was kind and wise, and she understood, in her own way, what he was going through. "I will try not to let my anger influence my words, but it's..... It's not easy," he said with a sigh. "Thank you....for your kind words. Again, I'm sorry for what I said," Andrew told her, managing a small smile. "Ummmm.... May I wa-...take... you back to your bed?" he offered, tripping over the word that he felt didn't apply to him anymore. He felt it was the least he could do...

[Lyra Grace Wood]

She offered him a smile her hands had been shaking and her legs were unstable "That would be lovely, may I lean on your chair? I find my strength leaving me" she was signifigantly paler then she had been when the encounter had begun.

[Guest]

Andrew watched her smile and he thought what a lovely smile it was. He was about to answer her that she could lean on his chair for support, but after seeing her hand shake as well as the color leaving her face, he thought of something else. "I have a better idea," he said as he wheeled himself a little closer to her, "Here, give me your hand."

[Lyra Grace Wood]

She could make out his form as he got closer to her and she bit her lip feeling a bit nervous, nodding to herself she held out her hand to him.

[Guest]

Andrew took her hand and, after locking his wheels, he set her hand on the top of the left tire. "Trust me," he said, keeping his eyes on her, as he put his hands on her waist and, gently, pulled her into his lap. "I'm not about to let you walk back if you're losing your strength. You guide your IV stand, and I'll drive," he said. "Now, which bed is yours?"

[Lyra Grace Wood]

Despite her best efforts she blushed caught off guard by his actions. "sixth one in from the center of the ward." she said holding the stand. "Thank you...my name is Lyra, Lyra Grace Prewett"

[Guest]

Andrew grinned to himself as he watched a wave of color brighten her cheeks as she sat on his lap. Removing the lock on his wheels he looked and counted the beds from where they were to where she said. He looked at her when she said her name. Prewett... She was a Pureblood, or he assumed she was. All the better. "Lyra... like the star...." Andrew mused to himself. "I'm Andrew. Well, you know my last name," he said as he began to wheel them towards her bed. "It's no trouble, really," he said with a light laugh, his strong arms wheeling them smoothly down the row of beds.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

"I know who you are" she said softly "I was there...you know.." she said no more and sighed as the storm battered the castle. Suddenly a window blew open and the torches were out in a wisp plunging them in darkness. In the distance she heard a clatter as the matron became overwhlemed.

Chuckling to herself she said "Welcome to my world..its dark in here" she waved her hand and the torches flew to life burning brightly, another wave repaired the window.

[Guest]

I was there... Andrew glanced at her and set his teeth as the memory of that game came rushing back to him. "You were? You saw what happened?" he asked quietly, putting his focus back on the path they were going. As the torches blew out, plunging the wing into darkness, he smoothly and swiftly brought them to a stop by simply grabbing the wheels.

He smiled as she welcomed him to what her world was like, and once she had re-lit the torches and repaired the window, he set them moving again. "So, your sight.... You see nothing?" he asked carefully, as he counted mentally, two more beds to go.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

"I did, it was one of the last things I saw clearly. You weren't awake but I was here when they brought you in, I sat with you while they summoned a healer and your parents" she said softly the memory was a sad one. "I was here for my treatment and they were busy looking after you, when they became busy I offered to sit at your side, I did my best to keep you asleep and ease the pain" she reached for his hand and squeezed it gently as she turned her eyes to him "I'm sorry for what happened Andrew but I understand your pain and how difficult it is to cope with a loss like that, yes I can see but barely.. I know you are treated differently know looked at differently it hurts it rocks you to the core but you lived when you shouldn't have you are strong" she smiled a bit hoping to have reached him even a tiny bit.

[Guest]

He didn't remember much after it happened. All he did remember was the outrageous amount of pain he felt. As Andrew turned them into her area of the wing, she told about how she had actually been beside him while they worked on him. He pulled up next to her bed and locked his wheels. Something inside him stirred as she look his hand and gave is a squeeze. Andrew looked at her, his brown eyes tormented by his memories as well as the confusion and frustration he was feeling.

Her last comments about her understanding helped him to see that she knew... She knew exactly how he was feeling, what he was going through. Lyra got it! You are strong... Andrew smiled, truly smiled when she said that. Sure he had heard it before, but this time it was different. It was almost like he was hearing it, for real, for the first time. "Lyra, thank you. Thank you...." he said softly.

Andrew helped her up from his lap, still holding her hand. He let it go and unlocked his wheels so he could move next to her bed to be able to lean against it if he wished. "Why did you stay by me? You didn't even know me?" he asked.

[Lyra Grace Wood]

She climbed back onto the bed and sunk into the pillows. Pulling the blanket up the matron bustled over and gave her a fresh wave of medication. Her body jerked in pain and she tried to cover it by curling into a ball on her side. "I didn't want you to hurt, you werent a nice boy back then you hurt others for fun and stepped on people. But the moment I saw you fall I knew you'd be in pain I didn't want that, so I did what I could to help keep you comfortable." she smiled a bit

[Guest]

Andrew watched as she settled back into bed and the Matron give her more of something that must have been related to her treatment. When the Matron went to leave, she looked at him. He gave her a small smile, to which she smiled in return and gave him a nod before leaving. When he looked back at Lyra, he watched her body shudder and she curled up on her side. Light concern for this girl he had just met washed over his face as he turned his chair so he was facing her.

Andrew listened as she told her reasoning behind staying with him. It was the most selfless thing he had ever heard. He had been an ass, a royal one. What Lyra said was true, and to know that through all that, all she wanted was for him to not hurt, it moved him. He returned her smile and brushed a lock of hair from her face. Leaning his arms flat on her bed, he simply looked at her. What was it about her that touched him so deeply? "I don't know anyone, other than my housemates or teammates who would have done that. I guess, I just acted as they thought I should have acted. Slytherin, you know," he said lightly. He looked around to see if anyone was coming to stay with her, and seeing no one, he ventured, "Lyra, is anyone coming to be with you?"

[Lyra Grace Wood]

"Even the gaunts have a kindness to them" she said with a chuckle "to be with me? how do you mean? my parents hate me and my sister is a professor and has a job to do" she said simply "i'm on my own when I am here" her body shook again this time more violently. Her eyes widened a bit as she felt herself becoming sick, rolling on the opposite side of the bed she grabbed the basin from the table and violently threw up until not a single thing was left to heave. Dropping the basin on the side table she breathed heavily as she reached with a shaking hand for the glass beside her and only succeding in shattering it on the ground.

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