Finn Haynes (finnigan_h) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-01-06 19:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | #september 2017 |
Who: Madison & Fin.
When: Sunday 24 September - afternoon.
Where: Mercy Hospital.
Warnings: Language.
Status: Complete.
Sunday afternoon. Over two days had passed he regained consciousness but despite the fact he was feeling as well as could be expected and hadn’t shown any signs of secondary drowning or brain damage they insisted that he had to stay in until all departments opened on Monday for last minute tests before they would even think of discharging him. At least in twenty four hours he’d be as far away from the hospital as was possible and he was looking forward to a decent meal and a night in his own bed, although he wasn’t sure how well he’d sleep when he knew his mind would be going over the things that had occurred in that bed - recently and not so recently. The idea of moving and starting anew, leaving all the memories behind him, had built from just a silly idea on Friday to a serious consideration, it would take some money but if he found a place that wasn’t too expensive the mortgage repayments and bills might actually be less than the rent he was currently paying on the apartment.
Saturday evening Fin had woken up at some hour to find Madison and Darren curled up together on the chairs in his room fast asleep and looking more than a bit cozy, while there may be an innocent explanation for it Fin knew what Darren was like and it wouldn’t surprise him if they had already done something. He could’ve warned Mads but he was the last person she’d take relationship advice from so he decided to just give her the ‘be careful’ friend speech and leave it at that, but if he found out that Darren did anything to hurt her Fin would probably get arrested for battery, in the least.
After leaving a note for the pair of them to just go home, he spent a good portion of that night walking around the halls of the hospital, avoiding doctors and nurses, he watched as the fog rolled in and later when the power went out he heard the generators kick in and provide power and light despite the blackout elsewhere. While he did appreciate the effort of people keeping a twenty four hour watch on him Fin was honestly sick of it, he just wanted some time alone to think and not have someone (other than a nurse) hanging around asking if he needed anything more.
Sunday it seemed like his wishes had been granted and had quite a bit of ‘alone time’ in the morning - Mads probably had work and Darren had gone to visit Dominik who was brought in during the night. He enjoyed the quiet, reading a bit and occasionally sneaking a look at houses for sale on his phone when he was able to escape the room for some fresh air.
He didn’t say anything but he had woken up that morning with a weird feeling, it wasn’t one that he thought he had ever felt before - a real uneasiness that something bad was going to happen. Although the logical side of his brain had told him that seriously, what could get worse than the shit that had happened during those twelve hours Thursday night and into Friday morning? Surely fate wasn’t going to be that much of a bitch and hit Fin with another round of bad stuff.
After lunch James had dropped in to see how Fin was going and they ended up talking for awhile - well James talked and Fin listened which suited him fine. A while later James excused himself, there were other people in the hospital that he needed to see, so said his goodbyes and left. Resting back against the bed Fin closed his eyes, he wasn’t tired physically but his head didn’t want to quiet down so he decided to try some meditation, see if that would help his racing mind and quell the uneasiness that still sat in his stomach like a stone.
Mads walked through the halls of the hospital with a grocery bag hanging from her hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She was in her uniform and was technically still on duty, but she'd been allowed the chance to grab a quick bite to eat and visit Fin before she was whisked away to answer another call. The power going out and the dense fog were causing a few problems and several phone calls that were more often than not things out of the police's control. It was nothing the others couldn't handle for at least thirty minutes. That would be just enough time to catch up with her friend.
The last time she had seen him was the night before just before she fell asleep on Darren's shoulder. She wasn't sure how long she had been out, but when she awoke she saw that Darren had dozed off and Fin was nowhere to be seen. There was a moment of panic until she noticed the note that had been left for the two of them telling them to go home. Darren simply moved into the waiting room with no intention of leaving the hospital but giving Fin the space he wanted and Mads joined him. She only stayed with him another hour or so before she finally forced herself to go home so she could get some proper sleep before work.
As she approached, Mads noticed a man stepping out of Fin's room. She recognized him as Father James from St. Dismas Catholic Church. What was he doing in Fin’s room? Her steps quickened as her mind jumped to the worst reason possible a priest would be exiting her friend's room. He couldn't have just been there to speak with Fin, not at all. That was too logical and the worry that had been building over the last couple days was influencing her overactive imagination something fierce.
She burst into the room, looking a bit panicked. “Fin?” Her eyes landed on him resting on the bed with his eyes closed. She quickly moved to the edge of the bed, dropping her bag onto the floor before resting her hand on his shoulder. “Fin??”
Fin was starting to relax, using a mindfulness technique he was listening to the sounds of the hospital going around him to focus in on the ‘now’, from the sounds of people talking to footsteps and even the very faint chuckle of laughter. He could have sat there for a while, not caring about what else was going on in the world other than this moment, he hadn’t meditated for a while but it didn’t take long to get into the mind frame. The quietness was shattered by a flurry of footsteps followed by the familiar voice of Madison. Exhaling deeply and loudly he opened his eyes.
“Hey Mads.” He looked up at Mads with a small smile which disappeared when he saw the slight panic on her face. “What’s wrong?”
"Oh thank god," she breathed, plopping down into the chair next to the bed. She took several deep breaths, trying to get her heart to stop beating so damn fast. She really needed to stop overreacting; her heart might burst otherwise. Running a hand through her hair, Mads looked at him briefly before moving her gaze to anywhere else in the room. "I thought..." Her cheeks were tinted pink from embarrassment. "Shit, don't scare me like that."
Sitting up he watched as Mads sat down and breathed deeply. “I was just relaxing, nothing terrible going on, I swear.” Fin hadn’t put the pieces together, seeing a priest exiting his room and walking in to see him with his eyes closed, no wonder she freaked out.
“I didn’t expect to see you, thought you’d be too busy with the fog and blackout. Anyone would think the world is coming to an end.” He said, crossing his legs and resting his arms on them.
"Better not be or I'd throttle you," she replied with a huff. Last thing she needed was to have something else terrible happen to Fin. Her heart no longer beating out of her chest, Mads finally started to settle. She placed her coffee on the table and picked up her discarded bag, digging out a premade sub that had obvious come from a gas station and quickly unwrapping it. "Yeah, we've been pretty busy, but I managed to find a bit of time. Probably won't be able to stay long though." She took a bite out of her sandwich. "So how are you? I didn't get to say goodnight before I had to leave last night. Everything alright? You didn’t wake me."
Despite the feeling of dread that still sat in his stomach Fin didn’t want anything bad to happen to himself either, he had suffered enough as it was. He watched as Mads took a sub out of the bag, unwrapped it and took a bite, remembering what eating on the run was like when he got busy in the store. “Relax while you can, even though hospitals and relaxing don’t usually go together.” He smiled the best he could, it was only a flash but better than nothing at all. “I’m going as well as can be expected, if it wasn’t for the weekend I think I would’ve got discharged by now… but they want to keep me in until tomorrow, purely observational of course. I didn’t wake you last night because you needed the sleep, you can’t go working a long shift and then sit in some uncomfortable plastic chair watching me for hours on end.”
Part of him did feel bad for not saying goodnight to his friend, but he didn’t want to disturb her and he really did enjoy his alone time. “I love you Mads, but you don’t need to keep a twenty four hour bedside vigil on me. I need some ‘me’ time and that’s what I did last night - I walked around the hospital, sat outside for a bit and looked at the fog before it got too cold. Oh… and…” Fin got his phone from the stand that was beside his bed, pressing some buttons he brought up the listing on a place he was looking at that morning. “What do you think?” He asked. The place looked good from the outside, although the interior photos showed just how much work the house needed, great sections of drywall were missing, doors weren’t where they should be and honestly it looked like someone had really trashed the place.
"Well, yeah, I know that…" She began, looking a bit guilty as she gulped down some of her coffee. Mads was fully aware that she didn't need to keep a twenty-four hour watch on Fin and that it was probably more annoying than helpful at this point, but she couldn't help herself. Not being there for him was one of the things that allowed this mess to happen in the first place. "You still could have said goodnight at least," she finished, taking a big bite out of her sandwich. It provided a good excuse not to talk. She peered over at the phone when he turned asked for her opinion on whatever it was he had brought up. She quirked an eyebrow. It was a house. He was thinking about moving? The exterior image that he started with didn't look too bad, but the interior shots he scrolled through were not so promising. "What do I think about what exactly?"
“I’m sorry I didn’t say goodnight. You looked so peaceful and when my moving around didn’t wake you up I decided to just let sleep. Next time I promise I’ll say goodnight.” Fin was wishing he also had a sandwich or something that provided him with an excuse not to talk and have to explain his decisions, as close as he and Madison were there was still a lot of thing she didn’t know about him, the secrets he kept to himself and that he would never share.
“I’m thinking of buying it... I’ve lived in the same apartment for years, I was thinking it’s time for a change.” Fin replied, taking the phone back and looking at the pictures himself for a moment. He fidgeted with the phone in his hands. “Start fresh y’know, leave all the old memories behind and make some new ones. It’s pretty rough and needs a lot of work but maybe this is what I need, something to focus on, to make my own.”
"That's all I ask." Though Mads couldn't say she didn't mind having the extra time to sleep on Darren's shoulder, even if it ultimately ended with a sore neck this morning. Worth it. She took another big bite of her sandwich when confirmed her suspicions regarding the house he had just shown her. Yes, this was done purposefully. She wanted to give Fin a chance to explain his reasoning before she just blurted out how bad an idea she thought it was to buy a house that needed so much work done. It would be rude not to give him the chance to explain. In the end, the reasoning he gave was sound and made sense, but she still wasn't too sure about the idea. "Just how much work will it need?" She finally asked. Mads had watched enough DIY shows to know that a simple fixer upper could turn into a far greater monster real quick.
He knew that fixing up the house wouldn't be easy, that it could turn into a disaster quickly but something drew him to it. “Drywall and new doors manly, some new carpet or floorboards and a coat of paint.” The written information about it stated that structurally everything was alright, the damage was mainly cosmetic and the water, power and gas services were unaffected and still within perfect working order. “Everything else seems fine, though I wouldn't know that for sure til I had a look at it.There's even a decent sized yard.” After living in apartments and the odd townhouse since moving out of home after college, the idea of having an actual yard was a bit of a novelty.
"Sounds too good to be true." Mads was obviously skeptical. The chances of finding a fixer upper without some issues beyond cosmetic at that price were slim. Though, to be fair, the location usually affected the price so there was a good chance it wasn't in a desirable neighborhood. Hell, it probably already lost value just being in Point Pleasant. "Not really sure about the whole thing, but if you think it'd be good for you then go for it." Another bite of the sandwich quickly washed down with coffee. "Definitely need to look into it more before anything is decided though. When the power comes back and fog clears up maybe we can go check it out."
From the bit of research Fin was able to do from his phone the place was in a pretty good area of town but he too was sceptical as to why the price was so low, he was hoping that it was going cheap because it was a foreclosure or the previous owners couldn’t be bothered fixing the damage and wanted to sell it for less because of that and not because it was the site of a murder or some other dreadful incident. Fin knew he shouldn’t rush into it, that buying a house would be one of the biggest decisions he would make and it shouldn’t be taken lightly or rushed into but there was something about this house that drew him in and the idea of a clean slate, a place that he could actually call ‘his’ was one that he had toyed with for a while. It had just taken a near death experience to make him see that it was time to make changes in his life.
“As soon as I’m out of here and this darn fog clears I plan on contacting the agent to view it, see what damage there really is and all those things that I know you’re concerned about. I’ll let you know and you can come along if you want… and you’re not busy with work.” Fin smiled at Mads, knowing that the weather and lack of power was causing problems for most of the emergency services, especially the lack of visibility brought on by the fog. He was concerned about his friend driving out there in what was best described as a ‘Pea Souper’ (although thankfully it didn’t seem to be caused by pollution like the ones of old), Fin just hoped that Mads would be safe as the flashing lights of her squad car would make it a bit easier for others to see.
“I’m really looking forward to getting out of here, maybe by tomorrow the power will be back on and I can see what damage it’s done to the store. Maybe I’ll stay there til the fog clears, just in case customers actually brave it… though I’ll have to go home and pick up Ferdinand, take him in with me.” Madison knew how much that little Russian Tortoise meant to Fin and not only because of the fact it was Danny who had given it to him, it was almost like a child to him and honestly, Fin was really missing his little friend.
"Of course I want to come along." Someone needed to be the voice of reason and view the place with a critical eye. Mads was afraid Fin might be so driven by the potential for personal growth the home offered that he would fail to see its faults. "And yeah, let's hope this fog clears up soon and they can get the power back on. The amount of accidents we've been called out to is kind of ridiculous." The amount of people still braving the streets was kind of baffling. It was a Sunday, beyond something like church or work there was no reason to be driving around. They were just causing extra work for everyone else. She wasn't bitter, not at all.
"Let me know when you're released. I can swing you by your place to pick up Ferdinand and take you to the store. Truck's pretty decent in this mess." And she liked to think she was one of the better drivers going about the town.
Fin was glad that Mads wanted to come along when he went to look at the house, he wouldn't admit it but she was the rational one in their friendship, he usually dove in boots and all into something while she was the one holding him back asking if what he was about to do was really such a good idea. In hindsight he wished Mads was there when he had first met Darren, maybe he wouldn't be as messed up but there was nothing he could do now.
“What is so important that people risk injury by driving around in the fog for?” Fin asked, not really directing the question at Madison but in general. If he had to go anywhere he'd prefer to be walking and dressed in the fluro high visibility clothes that so many industries seemed to wear now. “Whatever happened to staying at home?”
He was grateful of the offer, how he would get from the hospital to home and then to the store had hung in the back of his mind, he knew all he had to do was ask but he was already feeling like enough of a burden as it was. “I still think you should get a set of those monster truck tires, no one would be game to try and take you on with those!” Fin actually chuckled at the mental image of Mads driving around in a monster truck.
"Don't you know? Staying home is for losers. Winners go out into dangerous conditions without a care in the world." Mads rolled her eyes. Honestly, she wouldn't be as annoyed about all the people driving around if they would be more careful. It was just like the first snow of the season; people suddenly forget how to drive and all hell breaks loose.
She let out a laugh. "Pretty sure I get by just fine without big ass wheels on my truck. Though I won't lie, it would be cool to be able to trample over cars on a whim. Not that I ever would, of course." But she would most definitely imagine it. Picturing the crunching of irritating drivers' cars under her tires was might cathartic. ...It was probably a good thing she didn't want monster truck tires...
The sound of static brought her attention to the com on her belt. Another traffic accident that needed to be addressed. Mads shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth, cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk's as she chewed. Washing down the mass with coffee, she finally stood up from her chair with a sigh. "No rest for the wicked. I'll be back later tonight. We can see about getting paperwork done so I can get you out of here first thing in the morning with little hassle." She leaned over and kissed the top of his head. "See you, space cowboy."
People did seem to forget how to drive when the weather was less than ideal - be it snow, fog or rain. He couldn’t imagine the amount of accidents Mads had seen over the years caused by idiots who couldn’t remember how to drive to the conditions.
“You should ask if the patrol cars can get them, it’d make getting around a lot easier and if some idiot doesn’t pull over for the lights and sirens you can just ram them out of the way. But an old fashioned cow-catcher or snow plow would do just as good a job… Oh! A snow plow with monster tires!” Fin smiled widely, yes he got that bored over the weekend.
When the comm’s crackled to life and alerted Mads to another accident, the smile fell from Fin’s face, duty called. He closed his eyes as she kissed the top of his head. “I’ll be here.”