The rotten smell only got worse. The air beyond the threshold of the door was heavy and I could swear the buzzing sound of flies circled my ears but none could be found. The only thing I did know was they needed to clean this place up cause its fucking disgusting. 

"H- Hunter?" I called out quietly, feeling the need to hide my presence and pretend I'd never come back here, to begin with.

"Tiger, that you?" His teasing voice was nowhere to be heard, only distress despite still using my stupid nickname. There in his arms, he held Jamies head in his lap, the smallest cut on his body slicing through his right eyebrow. Around the floor past the swinging stall door, tuffs of Jamies hair were scattered around, evident they were ripped from his head. 

"He's still breathing so that's good. Keaton's on the phone with the hospital right now." Hunter gruffed out, his voice a little deeper than Keaton's. I nodded in thanks, sitting on my knees a good foot away from Hunter's body as I looked over Jamie. His shirt was ripped up and sliced, cuts on his porcelain skin matching the locations. He had deeper cuts around his legs and his shorts hung loosely around his waist. 

The longer I looked the more I wanted to throw up. Hunter's fingers gently ran through the crown of his hair, keeping everything off of Jamie's forehead. We sat in silence for another moment before Keaton stepped in, walking at least a foot around me before asking Hunter to pick up the small boy and bring him outside. 

"The ambulance is gonna be here any minute so we should wait in the parking lot. My mom is on her way here too." Keaton voiced, my heart calming greatly at the sound of help being on its way. 

Hunter shifted Jamie's body to pick him up bridal style before walking out, not saying a word to either of us as he left the gym. My eyes trailed back to the hair on the floor, along with the small pools of blood where Jamie had deeper cuts. I wanted to leave, to look away and never remember this but I couldn't. My eyes stayed glued to that scene and my mind replayed my past like the broken record it was. 

"Andrew, come on we gotta go." Keaton urged, his voice soft and quiet. I felt myself try to look at him but even then I couldn't. All I could see were the short black tufts of soft hair littering the dirty ground, and the sticky blood that stained everything it touched.

"Andrew the ambulance is gonna be here soon and we're gonna have to talk to the cops about what we saw so let's go." My mind clicked at that. My heart bounced at my throat and back down to my chest as I turned to face Keaton, his body waiting in the doorway.

"C- cops w-what do you m-mean the c-cops?" I stared at him, my hands shaking again as my teeth begged to rip at my cheek.

"Yeah? The cops? Andrew what happened here could have been much worse. They are gonna-"

"No."

"What do you mean no? It's not a big deal Andr-"

"I'm not talking to the cops Keaton," I stated, my eyes on the ground and voice shaky though firm.

"You don't get to make that decision Andrew. It's the law or your running away from the crime scene and that's totally illegal." His voice was passive, yet undoubtedly firm, leaving no room for argument. 

My eyes glanced at his body, his shoulders tensing and his arms crossed over his chest. I could see the way his jaw muscle clenched and unclenched as his relentless eyes dug into my own, all of his seriousness being directed at me. Looking into his eyes I could feel my worry spiking, my anxiety making me feel like I have to throw up and the racing heart of an oncoming panic attack getting ready to ensue. 

"Keaton, please don't make me talk to the cops please." His eyes seemed to soften for a second before he shook his head. 

"I'm sorry but you have to. I'm not trying to make you do this for my damn health Andrew. I know you came from a rough background but they are not bad guys." 

"I can't. I- I just can't Keaton they- they never came when I needed them and what if they do the same to Jamie and he gets stuck, Keaton! Please! Please I can't w- what if they find out and call them?"

"Andrew stop," 

"What if they send me back after I just left?"

"Who are they, Andrew?"

My vision was giving out on me, Keaton's shadow getting closer despite his voice drifting farther. I felt the burning of oncoming tears welling in my eyes, everything becoming splotchy.

"What if they come and take me back I don't wanna go back, Keaton!" I felt my knees hit the dirty tile of the floor, my hands catching the upper part of my body as a knife seemed to twist in my abdomen. "Don't let them do this Keaton please," I heaved out, my lungs restricting in their movements, as my mouth bobbed open for air. My eyes screwed shut leaving me in the inevitability of darkness.

"A- Andrew stop just breathe, just breathe," I felt a hand press into my back and my skin lit afire immediately, a wave of more torment wafting the chaos of my muddled mind. My upper body flung back, my knees coming to my chest to hide my face in the safety of myself, and my arms wrapped around my legs. 

I gasped, "No- no, no no Keaton the cops will tell on me just like they said because I belong to them and I won't be able to stay here-" I whimpered. I felt another hand lightly skim over the skin on my knee, this time my body didn't retreat, but stilled. 

"Breathe," He cooed. He placed the full weight of his hand on my knee, before slowly coming to run a small circle at the base of my back under my shirt. His hand was cool, simmering the fire that surged through my body and the pit of my stomach. I heard him move behind me before slowly wrapping his hands around my own that held my legs close, and pulling me into his chest.

"Just breathe. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you I swear it, Andrew. I will be right here always." He cooed into my ear, the familiar sound of an ambulance pulling up to the school wafted through the locker room. My breathing began to settle, the comfort of being in Keaton's arms emitting from the top of my spine to the bottom of my stomach. 

My feet pushed against the floor in front of me to push my back further into Keaton's chest, his arms tightening around my legs drawing me in. He continued whispering delicate words in my ear till his mom found us, her soothing touch helping me stand on my own with Keaton at my side. 

Mrs.Jones drove us straight to the hospital after a visit to the dollar store to grab some candy. She stayed in the car while Keaton and I scanned the shelves for sweets my friend would enjoy waking up to. 

"Hello ma'am how can we help you today?" The receptionist asked, her eyes glancing over us quickly before redirecting her full attention to Mrs.Jones.

"Good afternoon, my name is Dana Jones and I'm here to visit a patient you recently received today."

"Oh yes of course Mrs.Jones, Hunter Dyer informed us you and your son would be visiting. I just need you all to take a seat and fill out this paperwork and I will lead you to the room straight away." She pulled out three clipboards, handing one to Mrs.Jones and two to Keaton. We filled them out quickly, returning them to the receptionist before being led down the hall to Jamie's room.

The smell of antiseptic and medications filled every square inch of space, the smells only getting stronger the further away we walked from the waiting lobby. Keaton walked in front of me while I held the bag of candy close to me, a card inside signed by Mrs.Jones. 

The receptionist stopped right before the door labeled with a small name tag reading Jamie's real name, whispers being heard from inside. Mrs.Jones nodded with a thanks before stepping aside, pulling Keaton a small distance from me to speak to him privately, whispering something to him quickly before smiling at me and leaving. 

"She's gonna meet us in the car whenever we're ready." He whispered to me, his hand coming to meet the small of my back as he led me into the room. The layout looks the same as mine did when we first visited this place when I collapsed from an episode. Sitting next to the bed, Hunter laid his upper body on the bed his eyes staring up at Jamie, who was watching him intently. 

"J- Jamie?" I squeaked, Keaton drawing his hand away from me to take the bag of goodies we brought for the boy, his smile charming and warming as ever. 

"H- hey Andrew." Jamie's voice was a rough whisper, a bandage crossing around his neck to cover something I hadn't seen in the locker room. The thought made my body visually flinch, Jamies eyes widening, before turning back to look at Hunter for help. 

"It's okay Tiger, he's just bruised a bit but he's okay." Keaton and Hunter shook hands in greeting, Keaton placing the plastic bag at the foot of the bed for Hunter to open up before grabbing two chairs for us to sit in. I shook my head and moved to place myself at Keaton's side, guilt pooling at the thought of having run from Jamie when I first saw him. 

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, fiddling with my hands in my lap as my eyes hyper-focused on the self-inflicted scab wounds surrounding the cuticles of my nails. 

"It's okay," Jamie whispered. The urge to look at him was restrained, my eyes staying trained on the fresh slit of blood seeping from my cuticle. "Hunter here told me you got to me before they did, so thank you." 

My gaze snapped up to train on a pair of blue eyes that sat next to my best friend, his eyes still on the boy in the bed. 

I shook my head, "T- that's not r- right J." Hunter's eyes came to meet mine, a soft smile I'd never seen before gracing his features. My mouth fell open to speak again and correct what really happened but Hunter stopped me.

"Yeah, it is Tiger. Stop stressing so much you look like your little hearts gonna give out." He chuckled at that, Jamie giggling next to him. Keaton placed a kind hand on my back, my body jerking in the chair before relaxing. 

I turned to look at him before looking back at Jamie, his brow eyes showing not a drop of fear or any acknowledgment of what happened to him in the locker room. My teeth bit down on my cheek to hopefully stop myself from asking any questions, afraid I would hurt him by making him remember. 

"Aw, you guys bought me candy!" Jamie's weak voice squealed, the crinkling sound of the plastic bag mixing with the sound of Hunter and Keaton's laughter. Jamie tore into one at a time with the occasional help of Hunter to open something while we sat and spoke, most topics staying on what we were planning to do tomorrow. 

"Pause, what happened to your girl?" Keaton asked, looking quizzically over at his best friend. Hunter passed up a shrug and glimpsed down at his phone. 

"She might still be in the bed of your truck. I only came inside because I heard a scream." He shrugged again. Everyone's eyes moved to look me over, Jamies eyes more worried than anything. Keaton seemed troubled but he knew more about my problem than Jamie did so he handled it kindly while Hunter wore a slightly scared look on his face, as if recalling the sound he heard from the parking lot. 

"I texted her already and told her we are over so if she's still in your trunk I don't know what to tell you, she's not my damn problem anymore." He huffed out, Jamie's hand coming down on his shoulder with a weak slap and a scowl on his face.

"No swearing it's against the rules." He deadpanned, Hunter's face looking surprised before turning into a mischievous smile. 

"Well excuse me princess didn't mean to offend you." He teased, Keaton chuckled at my side while I smiled at their interactions. I can't say it didn't make me happy to see my best friend getting along with Keaton's best friend. It felt good. 

Really good.

"Page, you're gonna stay here right?" Keaton asked, his question catching both me and Jamie off guard with confused glances between the two. 

"Yeahhhh," His arm reached behind his head to rub at the nape of his neck. "I already texted my folks so they know too, tell Ma to bring me some pizza when she gets a chance." Keaton nodded before standing and making his way towards the door.

"We're leaving?" 

"Yeah we still have to go put in our statements and then we can head home." Keaton walked to the other side of the bed to give Hunter a handshake and threw Jamie a kind wave of goodbye. 

My nerves spiked a little at the thought of being around the cops but I swallowed my feelings and bid my friend goodbye, thanking Hunter for his help. Mrs.Jones greeted us and drove us straight to the police station. Halfway there I could feel my hands start to shake and lungs clench till Keaton rested his palm over my knee and rubbed insignificant shapes into the skin. 

Even when we arrived at the police station Keaton stayed by my side throughout everything. The cops said something along the lines of 'The only reason we're going to allow you to share an interrogation is because of your mother.' which made no sense to me but Keaton seemed to know. I had the urge to throw up the whole time they asked questions but was thankful they asked simple ones like my name and age and what I love about my school. 

They asked questions about Jamie, some of them strange like what his ethnicity was, but I couldn't really answer since I didn't know, so I told them he is Asian. They asked me smaller things like what was he like as a person and who were the type of people he kept in his "circle". I'm not sure what the hell they meant by a circle but I was his only friend as far I knew. 

"Alright gentleman, you can confirm today that everything you have said in this room would still be accurate and true under oath in a courtroom?" I glanced to Keaton, nodding his head in understanding before I did the same. I wasn't really sure what an oath was but I would do anything to get out of here. "Good, you are both free to go," Both policemen sitting across from us in the small room stood, one of them reaching across to shake Keaton's hand. "make your way back to the front and Ms.Glenn will help you fill out the remaining paperwork." 

As we made our way out of the room and down the hall I could feel Keaton glancing between me and the floor, the movement making me anxious. 

"What?" I whispered to him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice gentle and considerate. I thought for a second more as we walked.

"I think I'm gonna shit myself," I answered, my eyes focused on the floor. 

I think I'm gonna shit myself.