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Kings And Bishops (The List)

Kings And Bishops (The List): Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I was lying in bed, listening to my stomach’s complains. I wasn’t feeling very well the last couple of hours, but I pretty much tried to ignore it, my problems were so much less important than Vic’s right now.

I yawned, then turned to him to see if he’s awake. His eyes were closed, but I could tell he wasn’t sleeping. However, he didn’t seem to notice I moved, so I quietly sneaked closer and gently kissed his lips. Without opening his eyes, he let out a soft giggle and kissed back, then pushed me away playfully.

“Don’t go all Sleeping Beauty on me, Kellin, I’m trying to fall asleep.”, he laughed.

“Exactly.”, I grinned, my fingers carefully tracing the bandage on his head. “…You okay?”

“Yeah, better.”, he nodded. “Less dizzy, at least.”

“Mm. That’s good.” I yawned again and lied back down next to him.

“How about you?”, Vic turned to look at me. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m great. Just a couple of bruises, nothing serious.”, I shrugged.

“Okay…”

We fell in silence again. After awhile, Vic glanced at my wristwatch.

“What time is it?”

I narrowed my eyes at it, trying to see in the darkness.

“Umm, as far as I can see, three thirty. It’s late. You should sleep, I don’t want your brain to get worse and get liquefied or something.”, I chuckled.

“Then, if you want me to sleep, why are you waking me up, you moron?”, Vic teased me, smiling.

“I… I don’t know. I didn’t think about that, actually. I was just watching you and thinking how cute and hurt you look, and I couldn’t help it.”

“Stalkeeeer.”, he poked me weakly. I giggled and snuggled next to him.

“My poor little thing.”, I murmured, then added quietly: “…I’m sorry.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What for? You haven’t done anything, Kellin, you even helped me. Why sorry?”

“The crash was my fault, I should’ve been more careful.”

“Bullshit.” Vic pushed me away gently to sit up. “If I had put my seatbelt on none of this would happen.”

“Yeah… Yeah, true. You should listen to me when I tell you to put on your seatbelt, I keep telling you that all the time, don’t I?”, I pulled him back down. “And don’t get up, you need to lay here and take a good rest.”

“Okay, okay, doctor Quinn.”, he rolled eyes. “Thanks for the advice.”

“It wasn’t an advice, it was an order.”, I corrected him, grinning.

“Oh yeah?”, he grinned back. “So, doctor, what will you prescribe me to make me heal faster?”

“Hmmm, let me think… Maybe… Some of this…”, I leaned in and kissed him again, still smiling widely. “And…”, I ran my hand across his chest, “some of this, too…” He giggled as I trailed kisses along his jawline and down his neck, then back up to his ear, where I murmured: “…And some of this, and you’ll be juuuust fine, you’ll get better in no time.”

“That was very helpful. I’m already much better, thanks.”, Vic laughed and pulled me into another kiss. I let him kiss me for awhile, then pulled back.

“Alright, enough for now, now shush, go to sleep. You might get addicted to that kind of medication, you know, so control yourself.”, I winked.

“I think it’s too late, doctor, I already am.”, he laughed, but couldn’t help but yawn. “…Buuut, you’re right. I must sleep.”

“I’m always right.”, I declared and wrapped an arm around him. “Goodnight, Victor.”

“Victor?”, he opened an eye to look at me critically, and then closed it again.

“Well, yeah, that’s your name, right?”, I chuckled.

“No, it’s Elvis.”, Vic, or as it seemed, Elvis, laughed. “Just kidding. I don’t know, it’s just, you never call me with my full name, and now when you said it, I realized how cute it sounds when you pronounce it.”

“Prejudiced.”, I shook head. “You only think it sounds cute, because you think I’m cute. Simple psychology, my friend.”

“You know nothing of psychology.”, he noted.

“Yup, that’s right.”, I grinned widely. “But shh, the others don’t know that.”

Vic let out a small laugh. “You’re so silly. And you get even sillier after three at night. So now shut up, silly Kellin, and let me fucking sleep, goddammit.”

“Wow, okay, that was a lot of swearing in only one sentence… Right, sorry.”, I giggled. “Goodnight.”

“Night, Kell.”

I rested my head on Vic’s shoulder, listening to him breathe. My mind drifted back to what had happened a few hours ago – the red, the sirens, the lights, the screams, the gun, the pills, the bandages, the pain, but not my pain, his pain, which hurt me even more… It was surely an intense night.

Comforted by Vic’s closeness soon I must’ve fallen asleep. Damn, I was so close to losing him, this close

And here come the nightmares. Sweet.

* * *

Six hours earlier…

Oh God, oh God, how do I do first aid, what should I do? How do I check if the spine is broken? Was that even possible? Why wouldn’t he stop bleeding, please, stop, stop… His eyes were half-open, only a small part of the white could be seen, which scared the living shit out of me, I couldn’t even tell if he could hear me or not, but I kept repeating his name the whole time, maybe because I was hoping he’d wake up, or just because talking distracted my mind a bit from what had just happened. At first I didn’t even notice the tears running down my face, until they got into my mouth and blurred my vision to the point I could barely see anything.

Sirens… Sirens coming closer, louder, and I still didn’t know what to do…

I took a deep breath and quickly wiped away my tears. Okay, Kellin, I told myself, think. What do you do when you need to make sure if someone’s okay? First of all, you check his pulse, of course, but that was dumb, I could see his chest move, I knew he was breathing. Obviously the main injury was on his forehead, but there could be more… I gently wiped the blood away from his face and knitted eyebrows, trying to calm down and remember something I had read awhile ago. I needed to immobilize his head somehow, in case he had broken his spine or something. Alright, alright, because I didn’t have one of those collars right now, I had to improvise. I took my hoodie off, leaving only my T-shirt on, wrapped it around Victor’s neck and tied it with a shoelace. I wasn’t sure if this would work, but I had to try. I lifted his shirt a bit to check if he had any other cuts or broken bones on the rest of his body, but he seemed fine, he had some bruises, but that was all, thank God. When I looked up, I saw that blood had started running down his face again, almost entering his half-closed eyes.

“Shit…”, I murmured, wiped it away again and started looking for something else I could use to bandage the wound. I ended up tearing another shirt of mine and using the sleeve. I spotted a small piece of glass inside the cut, but considering how hard my hands were shaking, it wouldn’t be a good idea to try to get it out, it would just make things worse.

Vic stirred a bit as I touched him and I almost let out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t paralyzed, at least. I was just hoping he didn’t get a skull fracture or something like that. Honestly, I knew as much about medicine as I knew about psychology – almost nothing.

He moved again and mumbled something, which could’ve been my name, but I wasn’t entirely sure. I had started to panic. The police was coming, they were less than two miles away, maybe only one, or closer, they’d be here in no time.

“Vic, can you hear me?”, I tried again. Seeing him this hurt and helpless made tears start rolling down my cheeks again. “Vic?”

At first I got no reaction, but suddenly his hand grabbed mine. I gasped, a little startled. Apart from that, he remained almost lifeless, breathing quickly, shallowly and unsteadily.

I tried again. “Vic, I don’t know if you’re hearing me, but I’m gonna carry you out now, okay? We can’t run or steal a car, considering your condition, but we should hide, the police will be here soon. Okay?”

I got no reply, but I didn’t need one. I opened my door and stumbled outside, then went round the car and dragged him out too. I was trying to be gentle, afraid I might hurt him more, and once we were out of this pile of heated metal, smoke and oil, I carefully placed him on the ground, checking his breathing once more.

“Okay, Vic, listen to me. If you understand me, cooperate, please, because dragging you to a safe place wouldn’t be quite easy, a’right?”, I sighed shakily. “Please let me know if you can hear me… You’re scaring me…”

I knew he wouldn’t answer, so I didn’t even bother to wait for him to try. Instead, after I took a moment to catch my breath, I grabbed my bag from the car, and took him in my arms again.

Most of the people I had seen in the restaurant were now gathered around the truck’s driver, who was standing in the opposite side of the road and complaining loudly how damaged his vehicle is, and how careless the police officers are these days. The usual, average complaints of a usual, average, middle-aged driver. The vehicle in question was parked at some distance, not that far from our own car. It didn’t seem much damaged. The right headlight was broken, but apart of that, it was just fine.

Otherwise I would probably hesitate, but now the adrenalin was clouding my mind and giving me fake courage. I gripped Vic tighter and headed right to the truck, trying to stay out of the lights.

Thankfully, everyone was too panicked and confused to notice us, and we could sneak to the back of the large machine. The backside of the truck was open, and I stumbled inside, still dragging the lifeless Victor with me. I found myself in a dark place full of boxes, which might have been previously arranged carefully, but some of them were now scattered around, because of the crash. However, I kicked them away, making room for Vic, and put him down again. He moaned quietly.

“Kellin…”

“Shh.”, I pressed my hand to his mouth. I couldn’t let him talk, not now, if I didn’t want them to find us… “Quiet, Vic. We’re hiding.”

He mumbled something else and blacked out again. I wasn’t sure which was worse, if he was awake and making noise, or unconscious and worryingly quiet. Both were bad enough, I guess. I closed the door, then sat down next to him and pulled a few boxes in front of us, to hide us in case someone peeks in. I could hear the police cars, which had finally arrived, outside, people were yelling, footsteps were sounding around. I was too worried about Vic to be scared, so I concentrated on taking care of him. No, I wasn’t going to let him die before me. Just, no. He couldn’t. He was supposed to have a long, happy life. I couldn’t simply let him go.

It was pretty dark inside the truck, but I had a flashlight, so I turned it on and pointed it at my boyfriend.

By the time his improvised bandage was already soaked with blood, so I removed it and took another look at the wound. It was even worse than I had first thought, there were some quite big pieces of glass inside, and if I didn’t do something about it immediately, it could get infected. Of course, we couldn’t go to the hospital, so I had to do everything by myself. I didn’t have any alcohol, unfortunately, just a small bottle of water, but it was enough to clean the injury. As I poured the liquid on it, Vic shuddered and I knew I was hurting him, but I had to, otherwise things would get worse. Trying to ignore his quiet, weak moans, once I was done with washing the blood off, I started carefully pulling the pieces of glass out one by one. I almost threw up at the sight of the bloody sharp fragments, but I had to keep cool and do what I had to.

“I’m sorry, babe…”, I whispered as I pulled out the last piece, the biggest one. It must’ve hurt like hell.

Finally, I was done. When I finished putting the new bandage on, the chaos outside still wasn’t over, and I knew it wouldn’t end soon. News reporters would arrive in awhile, too. Dammit, how I hated them. I had no other choice but to wait patiently until they leave, and this could take ages.

“…Kellin… Kellin, what… Where…”

I turned to look at Vic just in time to see his eyes flicker open. He blinked against the light, then gave me a questioning look. He looked so lost and confused, but this was the first understandable thing he said since he hit his head, well, except my name. I almost cried from relief.

I leaned in so I wouldn’t have to speak loudly, and whispered:

“We’re in the truck that almost hit us, hiding. There are cops outside. So speak quietly, please. Are you okay?”

He looked at me and for a few moments he obviously couldn’t understand my words. It took him a minute to think it over and realize what I was asking him.

“…Yeah…”, he nodded hesitantly. “What… The car… What… happened…?”

“We crashed into a stop sign, and you hit your head. You scared the living shit outta me, man… I think you have a brain concussion or something…”, I smiled weakly and gently hugged him. He was limp in my arms and didn’t hug back, I could feel his heart beat slowly against my chest, as he whimpered softly.

“It hurts…”, he murmured.

“What, babe, what hurts?”, I gave him an alarmed look.

He stayed silent for a moment, then said slowly:

“…Thinking…”

I carefully brushed a strand of hair off of his face. The blood had made it stick to his forehead.

“Then don’t think. Just lay here and once the cops leave, we’ll find a way to get to a pharmacy and buy some medications. ‘Kay?”, I tried to smile.

Vic weakly smiled back. “Okay… I’ll… I think can’t stay awake anymore, it just hurts a lot…”

“Alright, I’ll let you sleep.”, I nodded. “I’m shutting up now.”

“No.”, he grabbed my hand again. “No, keep talking… Keep talking, ‘cause I love to hear your voice…” He paused. “I… I thought we died… back there, in the car crash…”

“Yeah, but we didn’t. We’re gonna be okay, Vic.”, I tried to sound as confident in what I was saying as possible.

“You sure…?”, he asked, his voice shook a bit.

I looked into his big, sad, confused eyes. They were slightly defocused and his pupils were so dilated that they were covering almost his whole irises. I wasn’t absolutely sure he could see me, but I smiled reassuringly.

“Positive. Now rest. We’ll probably have to wait for a few hours, and until then you must be well enough to walk.”

I lied down next to him, in a way we were looking at each other. His hand was still holding mine tightly, refusing to let it go, but I didn’t mind it, feeling his grip on me was letting me know he’s okay enough.

“Talk…”, he whispered. “Talk to me to let me know you’re alive…”

“…Okay…”

I opened my mouth, but hesitated. Should I say what I wanted to say? Was it a good idea?

Fuck this, I was going to say it.

“You know, I… I love you.”, I said softly. “I love you, Vic, so please, don’t die… Not on my watch…”

…But he had already passed out once more. Goddammit.

* * *

Two hours later, after they had searched the whole area for us and didn’t find us, they let the nervous truck driver leave. We decided to stay in the truck and wait until we get to a city (since the restaurant we had dinner in was just a roadside one, quite far from any kind of civilization), hoping that would happen soon. Vic was a bit better, at least now he could have a proper conversation with me and his reactions were pretty much normal. I was so glad to see him get better and although the fucked up situation, I was smiling like an idiot.

“…How long?”

“Mm?”, I looked up. Vic was watching me from the floor, his head rested on my bag so he wouldn’t lie directly on the uncomfortable metal surface.

“For how long have we been traveling?”

I glanced down at my watch. “An hour, I think. Not for long.”

“It seemed like, I don’t know, three hundred and forty years or something.”, he groaned as he ran his hand up his bandage, then he narrowed his eyes at his fingers. “Umm. Blood. There’s a lot of blood, is that normal?”

“I just gotta change your bandage, I guess.”, I frowned. “But if I keep doing that, soon I’d have no shirts left.”

Vic grinned.

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind that, you walking around shirtless would be a pretty nice view.”

I giggled.

“Shut up, you’re injured, you’re not supposed to joke around and be funny.”

“Who said I’m joking?”, he tried to raise an eyebrow, but quickly gave up, afraid that doing this might irritate his wound.

“I did.”, I crossed arms and sat back down next to him. “Whatever. Let me see that wound once more. We gotta find a way to stop the bleeding.”

“Alright…”, he said hesitantly. Now, when he was awake enough to know it’s going to hurt, he wasn’t really willing to let me touch his cut. I couldn’t blame him. If I was at his place, I wouldn’t let anyone come near me no matter what.

I carefully started taking the bandage off. The blood had stuck it to his forehead, so removing the thing was painful itself, and Vic had to say goodbye to parts of his eyebrows. I unconsciously frowned as I saw his bleeding forehead.

“I’m not sure if I should be glad or worried that I can’t see the thing.”, he murmured and twisted his eyes up, trying to somehow take a look. “Does it look bad? Is it deep? Is it infected?”

I didn’t reply right away, I wanted to observe it closely first. I must’ve had a really disgusted and horrified expression, because Vic’s eyes widened in fear as he was watching me.

“Kellin?”, he insisted.

“Hang on.”, I threw him a warning look, to let him know he had started to talk too loudly, then I continued in a whisper: “It looks pretty bad, though it’s not that serious, I think, but you got some nasty cuts from the glass. However, I don’t think you need stitches…”

His eyes widened even more.

“Stitches…?”, he murmured under his breath.

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I think you’ll be just fine without them. Once we get to the city we can buy some real bandages and painkillers, soon you’ll be as good as new. Okay? Okay. Now let me clean that wound again, to make sure you don’t get an infection.”

“Is it gonna hurt?”, he asked cautiously.

“Perhaps, yeah.”, I rolled eyes. “C’mon, Vic, be brave for me. We’ve had worse.”

“You keep saying that, but I really don’t believe you anymore.”, he sighed. “Okay. Go ahead. Clean the fucking cut and let’s finish this.”

I just nodded and took the bottle of water again. There was almost no left, because, well, Vic and I had gotten thirsty during the trip, but still, it was enough to wash the skin. Then I started slowly bandaging it with a new piece of cloth, while trying to ignore Vic’s complaints.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, fuck, man!”, he let out a quiet whimper and shuddered. “It hurts, be careful!”

“Shh!”, I gently pressed my finger to his lips. “Shh, I’m trying, but it’s not easy. So you should try to stay quiet. Please.”

“Yeah, right, it’s easy for you to say, you’re not hurt.”, Vic said bitterly.

“Yes, I’m just dying, not a big deal, really.”, I rolled eyes.

I realized I shouldn’t have said that when I noticed the change of his expression.

“No…”, all his irritation had vanished, replaced by regret. He looked at me, almost crying. “N-no, Kellin, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound this way, I didn’t even think… I mean, I just forgot… I’m so sorry I made it sound like your condition is less important, it’s not, at all, and I never thought that, even for a second. Hell, for me your life is more important from my own, I wouldn’t-”

“It’s okay, I know, I wasn’t serious.”, I interrupted him before he gets more upset, feeling bad for even opening my mouth. “I know you didn’t mean it, and if you did, it would still be fine. I shouldn’t have brought up the subject at all.”

He didn’t reply, so I leaned in and carefully kissed his hurt place, now when the bandage was covering it. That, thankfully, made him smile a bit.

“That’s better.”, I nodded approvingly. “Now, how about-”

But I couldn’t finish, because suddenly the truck slowed down and stopped. I shut up and tilted head, trying to hear the noises outside and tell what made the driver hit the breaks, and possibly find out if we’ve reached the civilization.

“Kellin?”, Vic looked at me, worried, and tried to sit up. “Why did we stop?”

I pushed him back down, a bit roughly, but it was only because I was scared he’d start bleeding again if he moved too much.

“Stay there and don’t move.”, I ordered with the tone of a concerned doctor. “I’ll check.”

“Okay…”, he sighed and lied back down. “Do you think he realized we’re in here? Maybe it’s a trap, and they’ll catch us…”

“Shh. I don’t know. Don’t be so pessimistic.”

I got up and walked to the door, as quietly as I could. Even without pressing my ear to it, I could hear the sounds of roaring engines, voices, and some distant music outside. It was clear – we had entered a city. By the smell and noises I figured we must’ve stopped at the traffic lights.

“Come on.”, I said after a moment. “We’re at some traffic lights, probably. That’s our chance to get out, otherwise who knows where the truck would take us… Hey, nuh-huh, don’t get up!”, I quickly added as I saw Vic try to sit up again. “I’ll carry you.”

“Bullshit, I can… walk…”

He stumbled to his feet and almost fell back down right away. I caught him and took him in my arms, then started leading him to the door.

“Yeah, right, I can see that.”, I said ironically.

“I just tripped.”, he lied. “Let me go, Kellin…!”

“Nope, nope, nope.”, I pretty much dragged him to the exit, trying to make him stop struggling. “I can’t help but notice I always end up having to carry you.”

You end up carrying me?!”, he gasped in disagreement. “How about that time when those cops beat you up and I had to drag you to the car?”

“Yeah, but it was just once, and it couldn’t have been a big problem for you, I mean, look at me, I’m just a little guy, how heavy can I be?”, I insisted, chuckling a little.

“You’re taller than me, don’t forget.”, Victor reminded me, finally grinning too.

“Mm, true.”

I swung the door open and my eyes met someone’s confused look. I blinked – I was facing the pretty surprised driver of the car that had stopped behind us. Well, I could understand him – it must’ve looked kinda weird, two suspicious guys, one of them with a bloody bandage on his forehead, sneaking out of a truck, which is supposed to transport only soft drinks, and definitely not living people. To brighten the mood, I cheerfully waved at the driver, confusing him even more, then jumped down on the ground, still half-leading, half-carrying Victor with me, and we both quickly left the road, followed by the curious looks of the normal people. Once on the sidewalk, I met a particularly interested guy’s eyes. His gaze moved from my face to Vic’s forehead, and then he whispered something to his friends. Uh-oh. Too much attention. I had to distract him, just a little, enough for us to vanish, so I smiled at him politely.

“Hey there. I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but notice you look concerned, so in case you’re wondering, we’re filming a movie. Don’t worry, my friend here isn’t really hurt.”, I explained.

“Yeah.”, Vic joined the show, following my lead right away, and stood up on his feet as steadily as he could. “The blood is fake, I’m an actor. My name’s Gerard Bishop, maybe you’ve heard of me? …No? And how about Harold King here? …Still no? Strange. Oh well.”, he gave the man an ‘It happens’ smile, one of those apologizing little grins you give to people to show them that you know they’re actually not completely dumb, although they seem to be.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought something happened, you know...”, the man laughed awkwardly and pointed at his head. “I’m so stupid. I thought you really had an accident or something like that. And, hmm, I think I’ve actually seen you both somewhere…”

I quickly coughed to interrupt him before he remembers who we are.

“It’s possible. By the way, I was wondering if you have seen our director around? A bald guy, about six feet tall, wears a moustache? No? Dammit, he must’ve been here already.”, I looked at Vic and tried to remember his fake name. “Right, um…Gerard? Right, okay.”

. “Umm, I haven’t seen such person, but if it’s important, I can help you find him…”

“Aw, that would be very sweet!”, Vic gave him the best smile he was capable of. “Thank you.”

“No, actually, wait…”, I pretended to watch something behind the guy. “Wait, isn’t that him? Right there?”

“Where?”, Vic played along, knitting eyebrows. “I don’t see him…”

Unconsciously, the guy turned around to look, too, and when he looked back at us to tell us he didn’t see the director in question either, we were already gone. Or, more precisely, already a few blocks away, hurrying to… somewhere.

“Dammit, Vic.”, I said, gasping for breath, because, well, walking fast while carrying an adult man isn’t that easy. “You manage to be a better actor than me even with cracked head and a possible brain concussion. How is that possible?!”

“Was that a compliment or irony? I need to know, to make sure if I should hug you or punch you.”, he laughed.

“Please, don’t do either of those, we don’t have time.”, I giggled. My eyes drifted to the cars on the street. “That’s a lot of traffic, we must be in some big city… What state are we in again?”

“Um, I think we’re still in Nevada, but it could be Oregon…”

I raised eyebrows.

“Already? No, I think we’re still in Nevada. We must ask, though.”

I slipped my look across the different shops at the two sides of the street, looking for a drug store.

“Yeah, right, how does that sound to you: ‘Hey, I assure you, I’m a completely normal guy, going on a completely normal trip, but… what state is that? And excuse my friend, he’s kinda covered in blood, but there’s no need to worry, it’s his own…’” Vic chuckled. “It just doesn’t work this way, man. We’ll find out, sooner or later.”

“You’re right, I must agree, it would be a little weird to walk around and ask such questions.”, I laughed a bit too. My eyes finally fell on a small pharmacy in a small side street. “…Oh, look! Seems we’ve found what we’ve been looking for, c’mon. Let’s get you some medications.”

I left Vic outside the store so he wouldn’t worry the other clients, in case there were any, besides, he really needed to rest, so I left him sit on the ground while I’m taking care of the meds. I wasn’t really sure if that’s a good idea, though – first of all, because I was afraid something might happen to him while I’m inside, after all, he wasn’t completely helpless, but he was hurt, and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself if he had to; and secondly, because the ground wasn’t the best place to sit, obviously nobody bothered to clean the streets here.

Dingdingding! The bell at the door announced my presence.

I looked around, then stopped near the counter. The guy behind it was too old, too bitter and seemingly way too bored for this job. He gave me a dry, numb smile.

“Good evening. How can I help you?”

‘Oh, sorry, I was damn sure all dinosaurs died long time ago, but then I met you and it seems I’ve been wrong’ almost slipped out of my mouth, but I said instead:

“My friend hit his head, do you have something that would help?”

“Um… Aspirin…?”, the shop-assistant tried.

I glanced at the door, picturing Vic and his cut up forehead.

“I don’t think this would work in his case.”, I shook head.

“Oh…?”

I looked at the guy irritated. Was he fucking dumb?!

“I think he might have a brain concussion. So I guess some strong painkillers must do. I also need bandages and alcohol.”

Taking his time, the man nodded and started looking for the thing I had ordered him. After a few long minutes of walking around the shelves, hesitating and picking the things one by one, he had put them on the counter and was staring at me from behind his thick glasses.

“I can give you the bandages and the alcohol, but I’m afraid that for the painkillers you need a prescription. Do you have one?”, he said, the boredom making his voice sleepy, somehow heavy.

“Erm…”

No. I hadn’t. But hm, did I really need one?

“Not exactly.”, I ended up saying. “But kind of.”

“Can I see it, please?”

“Sure, yeah, just wait a second…”

My hand slipped into my pocket. When I pulled it out, it definitely wasn’t holding a prescription, though. It was holding a gun. “…I’m sorry, sir, but it seems I’ll have to rob you. I need those medications. And I need them now, thank you.”

“I… uh… I… what?”

The shop assistant blinked a few times against the gun, trying to understand what happened. I guess shit got real a bit too fast for him.

“I’m taking those painkillers.”, I announced. “Without prescription. Can I have them… please?”

He stared at me for a few more moments, then cautiously took a small box from one of the shelves and put it in front of me.

“Thank you.”, I nodded and took it with my left hand, along with the other stuff, while still holding the weapon in my right one.

I realized something and looked up. Yeah, just as I thought – there was a camera in the corner of the room, near the ceiling. I smiled and winked at it, then, startling the old man even more, and probably the whole neighborhood, too, I shot it. Surprisingly, I didn’t miss. The last month I had become quite good at aiming.

“Alright, that’s better. Goodbye, have a nice evening, sorry for the camera.”, I said cheerfully to the shop-assistant, then turned and left, leaving him just stand there, paralyzed from surprise and shock. Well. At least he wasn’t bored anymore.

I found Vic on his feet, leaning against the wall, of course, because he still couldn’t walk. When he saw me walk out of the store, he tried to run to me, but he just tripped in his own foot and almost fell down.

“Kellin!”, he finally stumbled to me. “I heard a gunshot, are you okay? What happened?”

“Nothing, destroyed a security camera.”, I shrugged. “I hope that when you break this thing the recording doesn’t remain? Does it? I hope it doesn’t.”

“Kell.”, he interrupted me. “Did it film you?”

“I think so, yeah, but I was wearing the hoodie, so I don’t think my face could be seen. But still. I robbed the fucking drug store after all.”

“You what?!”, Vic raised eyebrows.

“He wouldn’t give me the medications without prescription!”, I said in my defense. “I would pay him otherwise, but my money’s in the bag, and I had left it to you to keep it, so yeah. I didn’t have much of a choice, you know.”

“Hell, you manage to get yourself in trouble even if I leave you alone for just a second.”, he sighed, then grinned. “But, I must admit, that was amusing.”

“It definitely was.”, I agreed. “Now let’s get out of here, before the poor old guy calls the police, and I know he will, once he gets out of the shock. And, I think we’ve had enough cops for today, hm?” I gently took him by the arm, keeping him up so he could clumsily walk along with me. “Come on. Let’s find a hotel, and there I’ll bandage you properly.”

“Awesome, can’t wait for more pain.”, my hurt boyfriend snorted out. “Alright.”



* * *

Now, about five hours later, I was sleeping uneasily in my bed.



Dad… Stop…

I felt his rough hands push me, as I hit my head in the cupboard and collapsed down on the floor.

Please…

I never understood why he did it… He just sometimes snapped, got pissed off by the smallest thing, and started beating me. He didn’t seem to care that he was causing me pain, he just liked doing it, I guess…

Daddy… Please, don’t hurt me, I won’t do it anymore… Please, dad…

Back then I was just a weak, skinny little boy. Why would he want to hurt me? Was he angry at me that mom left us? I guess it was my fault. It was all my fault. Maybe I deserved the beating, I deserved it all…

THUD! His foot landed in my stomach. I cried out softly.

…Stop…

The pain in my stomach was unbelievable. I could barely breathe, I felt like I was going to throw up.

…I can’t…

I looked up and our eyes met. He was watching me cold-bloodedly, no sign of regret in his look, no sign of love, just anger, pure, evil anger…



I woke up with a gasp and it took me a few moments to realize it was just a dream. No. My father was gone. I wasn’t a little boy anymore. I wasn’t all alone, too, I had Vic, everything was okay, everything was okay…

But why wouldn’t the stupid pain go away? It was only in the dream, it couldn’t…

I moaned and sat up in the bed, breathing heavily and trying not to vomit. There was something wrong with me…

Another fit attacked my stomach, and I couldn’t help it anymore, I got up and quickly stumbled to the bathroom. I heard Vic waking up and asking what was wrong, but I couldn’t reply. I didn’t even have time to get to the toilet, instead I just leaned over the sink and threw up.

I took a deep breath, my whole body was shaking, as if I had a fever. I sat on the bathroom floor heavily and wiped my mouth with my hand. When I looked down at it, at first I thought I was still dreaming, but I wasn’t – there was blood on my hand, fucking blood. I blinked, not believing what I was seeing, so I got up and looked down at the sink.

No, no, no, there it was, more of it… It wasn’t much, but still, the fact it was there at all was very alarming…

Something was seriously wrong with me… And then I remembered.

The medications. My medications. I robbed a fucking pharmacy and I forgot to get them, how stupid was that? And now look what happened, only because I was a careless idiot…

Before I could call out to tell Vic what’s happening, I felt the horrible pain again and I threw up once more.

Here we go, I was screwed again.

END OF CHAPTER 18.

Notes

I'm sorry, this one turned out pretty long. Also, all the past moments are in italics, I hope that didn't confuse you.

The first part, with the car crash, was still inspired by Yeah Boy and Doll Face. I just love this song XD I used a quote from it, too: "Keep talking, 'cause I love to hear your voice"

So yeah. Awh, poor Kellin. D:

Comments

OMG I know it was written a long time ago, but this is the best fanfic i've ever read<3

elena580 elena580
10/8/14
Hey I've read this whole story twice, and have you ever heard of a book website called Quotev? Well I have an acount and a story called 'Queen For A Day' Maybe you can help c:
hihihiiii hihihiiii
12/2/13
oh my god i just read the end of this again and i'm all choked up

ATTENTION WORLD THIS IS THE BEST KELLIC OF ALL TIMES

I still have yet to get over this, even though there's a sequel.

send help
clairephernelia clairephernelia
10/6/13
@fuentits

Thank you, thank you, I'm really glad you liked it so much!

There is a sequel, by the way :3
KingForADay KingForADay
8/2/13
Okay, finished. And it only took like two and a half days, wow.

Seriously, I smiled so wide as soon as I read 'Somewhere in Mexico, Harry was trying to cook breakfast. And failing.' I was like YES omfg so badass!

Seriously...so perfect **round of applause**
fuentits fuentits
8/2/13