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Sky never considered his life particularly interesting or exciting. He preferred to stay under the radar. He wasn’t notable to others, certainly not as eccentric as some of the colorful cast that surrounded him. He didn’t do anything that people could draw attention to. The spotlight never centered on him, and he was fine with that.
Key word was .
Sky misses when he had the choice of acting like nothing. He wants to go back and do cartwheels on grassy hills yodeling, or something. Even the feeling of walking would’ve felt more liberating than this.
Anything could be more liberating than the feeling of his body rotting around his ribs. The feeling that he’s wasting his life away, and that it’s not even his fault.
Sky was graced roughly a month ago with being able to return to the Sprunki house. After almost one and a half years bedridden in a hospital, he is now able to be bedridden in his own room for even longer. At first, he was grateful to be back, but the monotonous schedule - or lack of it thereof- drained him only a week in.
He couldn’t breathe too deeply without the feeling of his lungs hitching, where he would hunch over, curling into a ball until the pain eased. His legs had let out long ago, and his right shoulder only allowed his arm to move about 20 degrees from its resting position. He still felt the gaping holes over and under his skin.
He could barely talk, and he couldn’t move. Almost the same as what he used to do. But he liked having the feeling of choice before.
Bandages wrapped around almost all parts of his body. He has to eat through a tube, which is conveniently placed also in his room, next to his bed. He has no real reason to actually need to leave it.
But he still wants to, despite the way his body protests. Even if he has become a husk, a horrible shell to contain all his vital functions and organs. Lucky for him, not everyone in the group has been mutilated out of shape.
-
“And, uh, that’s the open valley…”
“Mhm.”
Sky opened their eye slowly, tilting their head just enough to be able to look at the two walking behind them without causing pain in their neck. Jevin was pushing their wheelchair with one hand (and his body, technically) and the other hand holding Tunner’s to make sure he wouldn’t wander off. The latter had been doing better, gunshot wound healed and all, but he clearly still suffered brain damage. Which was a given. No matter. He tended to say a large portion of his thoughts out loud; Jevin found it better to just ignore it or, at best, give a limited response in a nod or smile.
Sky gripped the teddy bear closer to their chest with their left arm, turning their head back forward. Jevin, about a week ago, had caught on to the fact that they were not leaving their room and offered to bring them outside every now and then for walks. He’d just bring them and Tunner up to the hills they used to be familiar with and lay around for an hour or so, before going back to the house.
Today was somewhat windy. It wasn’t cold, and Sky felt it flowing through their fur gently. They closed their eyes again to let themselves enjoy the sensation, until the wheelchair stopped.
“Do you wanna go on the ground?” Jevin asked. Oh, they were at the top of the hill already. Sky nodded slightly, just enough for Jevin to see. The older gingerly put his arm under their shoulder and helped them lie down on the grass. They liked the feeling of the grass brushing against their back and arms as they stared up at the clouds above. Lazing around felt better when they were getting fresh air. Much better than the AC unit that regurgitated the dust in their room. They could hear Jevin and Tunner sitting down to their left.
“There’s Pinkie and Oren,” Tunner commented as he seemed to be looking down the hill at the valley. “And Simon. Wonder what’s up.”
“They’re probably singing. That’s the spot.” Jevin replied dryly. Sky nuzzled the teddy a little closer to their face.
“Yeah. And the… sky’s rather blue.” Tunner added, seeming to have switched his attention. Sky agreed that the sky was, in fact, blue today. Which was typical during the day, they told themself. Trying not to picture the dark red that seemed to stick for hours when it happened. How did it even stay that color, they started to wonder, but they tried not to linger on the thought.
The sky was a deep blue now. That’s all that mattered. The clouds were moving quickly, too, probably because of the wind. Sky shivered as a gust came in, blowing over.
“It’s nice.” Sky managed out. Their jaw, completely fucked up, limited their speaking range. It was easier to not speak at all, but they didn’t want to be mute when they still had the ability, technically, to speak.
It was quiet, for a few minutes. Sky closed their eyes after a bit, relishing in the feel of the grass brushing gently against their arm, ignoring the occasional mutter from Tunner.
Eventually, Jevin broke the silence. “You two are holding up okay, yeah?” He asked. His voice was laced with mild concern, which was kind of a surprise to Sky. The generally sheltered-off and nonchalant guy didn’t really bother with checking in on others.
Well, they supposed he had changed. They all had. Pretty much no one acted the same as they did before it happened, not even the ones who had been spared.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Tunner…”
Sky’s mind wandered back to the others who came out okay physically. Grey was an anxious mess after everything. He isolated himself from everyone, jumping at the slightest sound and touch. Compared to the calm and collected person he was before, it felt like he was an entirely different person.
“Sky? You good?” Jevin glanced over at them. Sky turned their head and nodded slowly.
Survivor’s guilt , they thought. While everyone survived, by technicality, the ones who were okay physically seemed more battered emotionally than the others.
Emotionally.
“Tired,” Sky said, closing their eye again. Even the act of not sleeping drains their energy. They’re very content with the idea of sleeping out here, though.
“You can’t sleep out here. Too many ants.” Tunner said matter-of-factly, sitting back up. Sky opened their eyes again, turning to look at the two.
Jevin just shrugged. “You shouldn’t be sleeping all the time,” He said, earning as much of a frown as Sky could offer. “It just messes with your sleep schedule. Save it for night.”
“Im tiiiiredd…” Sky whined again, squeezing their eye shut. Curse their body for not letting them have a little fit. Jevin snorted, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. Get up. You should be doing your work soon,” Jevin said, standing up and stretching before walking up next to Sky. They groaned childishly again, reluctantly letting Jevin help them up back into their wheelchair. Tunner got up as well, cracking his back.
“You- you got that physical therapy stuffs, yeah?”
Sky only managed out a weak nod.
-
“Alright, I’m gonna move your arm around, like before. It’s gonna hurt a bit, okay?” Vineria cooed, one hand pressed against the back of Sky’s right shoulder blade, the other under his upper arm. Sky tried to relax himself (failing horribly.)
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Sky let his mind wander off to try and distract himself. He glanced slightly to his right, looking at the woman beside him. Vineria, over the course of the last year, had learned how to retract and ‘bring forth’ (as she put it) her ‘snail eyes’ (as she put it). She generally kept them in her normal eye socket but sometimes enjoyed messing with people by letting them ‘go free’ (as she, yet again, put it). Sky found it incredibly disturbing, and she seemed to have noticed that, for she never did it around him.
After being referred back to the house, Vineria offered to take on the role of working with him on physical therapy, since he still needed it. He technically should’ve been going back to the hospital every day to work on walking and moving, but Vineria miraculously had a medical degree that no one seemed to know about and was capable of legally practicing physical therapy. After a bit of bargaining and a lot of money, she got some equipment moved to the home and worked with everyone who needed it.
He closed his eye, inhaling sharply before nodding to Vinera.
She slowly pressed his arm forward, the other hand pressing against his shoulder blade to help move it along as well. The pipe that went through his shoulder had completely messed up the way his bones were aligned and only made it harder for him to move it. Vineria added this part to his sessions in hopes of re-aligning it so that he could move it.
It had been going okay. He could move his arm a little higher than he could when he was first moved back, but progress was slow, and he could only go so high until…
He felt something press against his skin before a sharp pain started. He winced, tapping against the wall hard enough for Vineria to hear. She stopped.
“Alright. Good job. I’ll give you a sec,” She said gently, taking her hands off his arm.
They sat there, for a few moments. Sky stared down at his feet, hanging over the bar. He must look rather pathetic, he thought. It shouldn’t be this hard for him.
Vineria gingerly took his arm again. “Alright, one more time, then we’ll work on walking,” Vineria hummed. She noted the way Sky grimaced. “Come on. You’ve made so much progress. You’re gonna be moving normally in no time.”
Sky let out a weak, strained laugh. “Probably not,” He said, amused at the thought. It felt so impossible to him with how he was working now.
Vineria smiled at him. “Yes, probably. It’ll definitely take a while, that’s for sure, but you’re on the path to get there.” She reassured him, rubbing the back of his shoulder up and down. “Camon. Let’s keep it going.”
In which it was done and, like always, Sky only made it a bit before it hurt. Vineria helped him up to the bars, his left hand wrapping around the metal, Vineria to his right. He shakily shifted his weight to lean awkwardly on his hips, trying his first step.
“There we go. You’ll be walking in canes in no time.” Vineria said, arm wrapped around his waist. Sky grumbled, his foot still planted in the ground.
“I don’t want canes. Old people…” He said, wincing as he opened his jaw too wide. “Canes are for… old people.”
Vineria giggled affectionately. “That’s true, I guess. But it’s either the cane or you spend the rest of your life in your bed. Your decision.”
“So cane or I get fat…”
“You’re not gonna be fat any time soon. You look like a starving sewer rat.” That earned a laugh from Sky. He slid his arm forward, shifting his weight and picking up his other leg to move it forward. “There we go. Keep on like that,” She said.
Sky managed one more step before his knee buckled forward and he stumbled, Vineria catching his weight before he crumbled to the ground. He groaned, hand slipping from the bar and pressing it to his face. “Hey, hun.” She whispered, rubbing his back gently.
Sky didn’t move for a bit until Vineria gently pressed him to stand back up.
-
Sky lay on the couch in the living room. It was getting darker outside; they could tell by the way the light coming in from the windows was turning a deeper red. A pillow under their head and a blanket wrapped around their body, they weren’t quite sure why they resided here. Just because they could, they supposed. It was nice and comforting, and the day had gone okay. They just didn’t really want to go back to their room.
They heard a door opening and closing a bit away from where they were, probably in the kitchen connected to the larger living area. They closed their eye, but perked their ear to see if they could hear whoever had just come in.
“...but he’s really annoyed that the prosthetics don’t let him do as much as before…”
“Oh, really? I guess I thought he’d be fine with the normal and running ones…”
Clukr and Garnold. Sky relaxed but still kept listening out of curiosity.
“Uhm. Wenda hasn’t been freaking out as much… but Grey still doesn’t talk to her. Who else, who else…” Clukr grumbled. Sky could hear him set something down on the counter, probably something techy. They must’ve been checking on everyone. “FunBot’s been running smoothly, and Fun Comp too. Right, do you need me to check your visor?” Garnold grumbled something that roughly sounded like a ‘no’ to Sky.
“Alright… OWACKX’s physical therapy stuff’s been doing good. I haven’t checked up on Sky, though.”
Sky would’ve jumped right up in pure shock if it weren’t for how tired they were. Their fur pricked up, and the listened a little closer.
“They’ve been bedridden, yeah. Vineria said they’re doing better, but not by a lot.”
“You think they need sumth’n? We could probably get them somethin’ done on their shoulder if they still can’t move it.”
Sky didn’t move. They tightened their grip on the pillow beneath them, blinking.
“I dunno. They only started a bit ago. We can wait ‘n see.” Clukr responded dismissively, the cymbal on his head clacking softly. “Uh… Brud’s been looking okay, recently. As has Simon, but he still looks the same…”
Sky let the conversation fade into the background, staring at the wall in front of them. They took a deep inhale and exhaled loudly, closing their eye again. Wait ‘n see , they repeated in their head.
…
“What are you doing out here?”
“Wuh…” Sky groaned, opening their eye. Oh, did they fall asleep out here? They moved their head, looking up over the couch to see Jevin looming over it.
“You should be in your room. How’d you even get here…” Jevin grumbled, moving over to the front of the couch and leaning down on one knee. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Sky just stared at him. They felt fine out here. Sky frowned, clutching the pillow just a little harder. Jevin stared at them expectedly, before seeing that they seemed pretty deadset on not moving.
He sighed. He looked down at the floor for a second before standing back up and moving over to the edge of the couch, sitting down. It shifted a little under his weight.
They stayed not talking for a bit, and Sky started to close their eye again, thinking Jevin was going to remain silent.
“How’re you feeling? Being back?”
Sky looked over at Jevin (at least, as much as he could). They stared at him for a moment before looking back towards the side. “Good.” They whispered.
Jevin nodded. “Good to hear. I’m glad you’re back,” He said, voice as monotone as ever.
Silence again. It was thick, and Sky shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to fill it. Their eyelids were starting to get heavy.
“Tired.” Jevin glanced at him. Sky didn’t add anything. He closed his eye again.
“Okay.”
They felt the room slipping, and their brain starting to turn off.
“Sky.”
They kept themself up, just long enough to hear him.
“You’re gonna be alright, kid.”
They dozed off.