The Year We Had (MCYT AU)

47: Living

"Niki? You okay?" Sally asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she answered the call. Her friends should be in their third period now. Their lunch break wasn't for another forty minutes. She knew this, because usually Wilbur would text her.

"Sally, it's--" Niki began, cutting herself off to stifle her sob. She did her best to hold it together. "Sally, you need to come to the hospital. Please. I can't talk right now, I'm in the ambulance."

"What?" Sally was on her feet now, gathering her things and rushing from the classroom, ignoring the teacher calling her name. She had no idea that she could go from calm to panicked so quickly. "Why are you in an ambulance? Niki?"

"I gotta go. Just meet me there." Niki sounded so scared. So sorry. So hurt. Sally couldn't begin to imagine why. She didn't want to. She ran out of the school faster than she had ever run before.

When she arrived at the hospital, Niki was out the front waiting for her. Her eyes were blotchy, her cheeks tear stained, and she had her arms wrapped around her middle, like she was freezing cold. "Niki?"

Niki forced a smile that quickly faded. "Hey, Sally. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"What happened?" Sally's hands rested gently on her arms, and she tilted her head to look better at her face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Niki sniffled, her watery smile collapsing. "It's--It's Wil. And Techno. And--And Tommy, too."

"What?" Sally's heart dropped. No. Oh, no.

Niki looked to the sky for a moment as she did her best to compose herself. "There was a shooter. On campus. They shot Techno, he--he's in surgery now. Um, and they beat Wilbur, badly. He's inside."

Sally took it all in, and did her best to fight off the feeling of horror. Her words were hollow when she finally choked them out. "What about Tommy?"

Niki's tears began to trickle over. "They took him. They--" She choked on a sob. "They took him. Wil says it's the same guys who took their dad. I--I don't--"

"No." Sally sounded as though all the fight had been taken from her. Her eyes held a pain that she was far too young to know. "No, not Tommy."

"I'm so sorry." Niki sniffled, wrapping her arms around her friend.

Sally gripped her tightly and stared blankly at the pavement as tears formed in her eyes. Not Tommy. The boy who lit up the room with his smile, who was so impatient to do something, yet sat so still and watched so carefully when she painted his nails.

Sally closed her eyes, and tried desperately to remember what hope felt like.

---

Wilbur wasn't an easy patient for the ER nurses to deal with.

He didn't want to sit still, even when they came close with materials for stitches. They said that if he kept it up, they would have to sedate him for his own good. He didn't care. He just wanted to be by Techno's side, and make sure that he was okay.

But of course, Techno wasn't okay. He had been shot in the chest. There was no okay coming from that.

Eventually, holding him down was too much effort. They sedated him and took care of his injuries, as he hadn't lost too much blood to be put under. When Wilbur awoke, he found himself lying in a hospital bed. His body ached, but in a different way to how it did before. He could feel some sort of encasing around his wrists, and maybe his ankles too. He wasn't sure. It wasn't what was important.

There was a pretty girl sitting at his bedside, holding his limp hand in hers. Rubbing soft circles on his bruised knuckles. Wilbur blinked and tried to unblur the room, his head tilting across to her. "Hey."