Last Train Home

Ryan has never seen so much white before in his life. Too much in one place. The only other colors he's seen were light blue or purple. But too much white. Right now he was sitting on a hard leather clinic bed with only a white sheet over it. It was really cold but that was probably because he had to remove his shirt so the nurse could inspect him.
Not many words were spoken, except for the questions the nurse would ask him. Like his age, or how he is feeling. He didn't answer neither of them. He could heard the words but there was a knot in his throat, and he just couldn't answer. The nurse didn't seemed concerned, since she turned to William who was sitting in a chair nearby observing. He answered the questions the nurse asked.
"How did you get these bruises, Ryan?" she asked quietly, dabbing at the purple marks over his arms and torso. He didn't answer.
He watched as William scribbled something down in his clipboard and looked up at Ryan. Ryan tilted his head down, avoiding contact. He felt the nurse apply something cold and smooth over his bruises, telling him that it would make them go away faster. To Ryan, it didn't matter how fast they went away. They would always be there.
The nurse handed Ryan back his shirt which he quickly put back on. The nurse and William spoke for a couple of minutes, exchanging papers and writing down signatures. Soon enough, the nurse pulled back the curtain and walked off and it was just him and William.
William sighed, looking at the boy who hadn't even held eye contact with him more than five seconds. This was the hardest part of his job. Taking a child away from their parental figures and searching for a place to put them in. Usually it was smaller kids. The ones who would cry and fuss and kick and scream. These were the ones who didn't understand. The worst part of this, is that Ryan did understand.
"Ryan, I'm going to take you down to my office and I'm going to explain what goes on from here."
Ryan stayed silent, getting off the clinic bed and pulling his hoodie on, walking beside the older man down various hallways and out to a desk where he waited for William to sign more papers. Once they were out of the building, Ryan did something William wasn't expecting.
He ran.
William's eyes widened before he could even process it. There wasn't much to run to. There were too many cars parked everywhere. "Ryan!" he called out, chasing the younger boy. Fortunately, the boy couldn't run fast and William had a firm grip on his arm.
"Hey, you can't jus-" William started until he heard a whimper from Ryan. The boy's head was tilted down, but not far enough so that William could see that the boy was clearly upset, already to the point of crying. This was the first time he'd seen him like this.
"Ryan..." he spoke quietly, keeping one hand around Ryan's elbow. Ryan sniffled, wiping at his eyes with the back of his other hand. They stayed like this for a moment, William being patient.
"Running won't make it better, Ryan."
Ryan made an odd, whining noise and suddenly William felt like he was dealing with a little kid again. He could see that the boy was on the verge of tears again.
"I'm here to help, Ryan. I know this is hard but you have to trust me."
William waited, watching the younger boy sob quietly, constantly wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. After what felt like five minutes, William gently tugged on Ryan's elbow and they walked back to his car.
The drive seemed like it would take forever, the soundtrack of his afternoon was the quiet sounds Ryan made in the backseat. The boy had covered his face with his hands, attempting to stay quiet. But William just put on the radio and hoped that this would work out.