Mad as a Box of Frogs

“Matt,” Arthur says, his voice painfully gentle, “say hi to Karen.”

And Matt resolutely does not whimper. He inhales, holds the breath in his lungs for a few seconds and then exhales, raising his gaze to the bed as the air whistles out of his mouth. It’s a mass of white blankets and pillows stained red in the middle, and if Matt thinks about it like that then maybe, maybe he might not cry.

It’s not Karen lying in the bed, motionless as a corpse. It’s not Karen hooked up to a machine to do her breathing for her, wires trailing from her porcelain skin. It’s not Karen lying there like a modern Sleeping Beauty, her arms clasped across her chest and her head thrust into the air like she’s waiting for her Prince Charming to wake her up.

***

Entry for this, and this. My celebrities are Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (with a few others just thrown in for fun) and my fairytale is Sleeping Beauty.

Note: this didn't start out as a songfic, but around halfway through I realised how perfect the song was for the story and melded it into the plot slightly. The song, if you're curious, is called Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol and is simply wonderful, so I'd recommend listening to it.