𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦. | 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

23

Clay groaned, the noise coming out as a hoarse whimper due to his dry throat. He slowly forced his eyes open but involuntary shut them again, the apparent light around him nearly blinding him.

Pain quickly seeped into his bones again, causing the boy to whimper out in sheer discomfort. Every breath felt like he was heaving smoke from his lungs. Each noise he made caused this throat to burn- making it seem like it was on fire. The flame only grew when he swallowed.

The familiar feeling of bile quickly began to rise from his unsettled stomach- sending his head into a pulsing daze. It felt like someone had used his head as punching bag, his body too weak to even support the thought of sitting up.

As Clay slowly started to regain some feeling, he quickly began blindly testing out his limbs- some hurting more than others. Clay managed to move his hands without much discomfort, attempting his best to feel around himself without opening his eyes. His fingertips were met with a cold, paper-like fabric.

Where was he?

As more and more questions flooded into his stuffy head, a low voice erupted out of nowhere. As loud as it seemed, Clay could barely make out what it was saying let alone who it belonged too. He felt as if his ears were completely stuffed with cotton balls, blocking out any and all sound.

Clay slowly and hesitantly began to raise a hand to shield his eyes from the light. He slowly peeled his lids open, the atmosphere around him turning out to be a bright white.

"-wke? Hey dude, you with me?" The unknown voice slowly became more audible. "L-Luke?" Clay barely managed to gasp, his eyes clearly widening at the sight of the familiar dirty blonde he had just been fighting prior.

His eyes first landed on the slight bruising around his eye and harsher discoloration around his neck, most likely cause by Clay himself. Memories of the fight came flooding back to him in an instant, the terrible feeling practically punching him in the stomach.

Luke clearly noticed the panic on Clay's face and he backed away, slightly holding both of his hands up in a mock-surrender. "Hey hey, it's okay. I'm not here to hurt you dude. Don't talk if it hurts." He quickly advised, noticing the initial strain in the blonde's voice.

Clay slightly calmed down after picking up on the sincerity of his tone. His body tensed slightly when Luke took another step closer again. "Don't- don't move too much either." The dirty blonde stepped forward, tentatively resting a hand on Clay's abdomen. "You're in pretty bad shape."

These was a slight silence, a million questions appearing in Clay's mind with every passing second. "Look.. I'm just- I'm sorry. I really am." Luke sighed, removing his hand from Clay's body. "I didn't- we didn't- ugh-" He struggled, turning around from Clay.

Luke inhaled sharply and stood facing away from the blonde for a few seconds before turning back. "I'm really sorry for what happened. Sap didn't expect you to be there and I didn't know that would've happened. If- if I knew I would've stopped him beforehand-"

"It's none of my business to talk about his personal life without him here but it's just been.. rough." He jumbled over his words quickly, crossing his arms. "And you going off with that George kid more, he just kind of went off the rails," Clay mentally perked up hearing George's name, reminding him about the brunette.

"George." Clay breathed out, his pupils blown wide. Luke physically cringed at the sound of Clay's voice, but caught wind of what he was implying. "He's okay, if that's what you're asking. He's in another room." He nodded in confirmation, looking towards the door for a moment.

Clay looked around the room he was in, almost scanning it. "You're in the hospital." Luke piped up, noticing the blonde looking around. "After- After Sap got you off of me and knocked you out, I panicked. I don't know what came over me but.." Luke hesitated. "I don't know. I just- I closed my eyes and hit him and.. he was just down."

Luke shuddered. "All three of you were on the ground and I didn't know what to do. I- I couldn't leave you there.. y'know?" He sighed again- this time running a hand through his hair. "I called 911 and managed to get to a hospital."

The dirty blonde stopped speaking, letting the atmosphere fall into a comfortable, still silence. Faint noises could be heard from the hallway, indicating the busy life outside of the quiet room. Clay slightly sat up, using his arms and elbows as stability.

"Sap's across the hall too. You did him pretty good." Luke slightly chuckled. "You managed to break his nose." Clay's eyes widened, guilt quickly washing over him. "-But it isn't as bad as it sounds. He's tough." He swiftly interjected. Clay noiselessly exhaled out of his nose- a fond smile finding its way into his face.

The two shared a faint smile, but only for a moment. "I'm really sorry, Luke." Clay breathed out again, his voice still hoarse and shaken. "You shouldn't have gotten mixed- mixed up in all of this." Clay breathed slowly, each word feeling like he was swallowing rocks.

"You shouldn't have been put in the middle when it was just between Nick and I." The blonde sighed, lowering his head. "Hey hey.. Don't beat yourself up like that." Luke shook his head. "What happened happened. It was honestly my own wrongdoing not trying to calm him down earlier on."

"You know he can be pretty hotheaded at times and I- It probably wasn't a good call to not talk any sense into him." Luke slowly lowered himself to be sitting on Clay's cot, careful to avoid hurting him.

"I just kind of.. stood around and let it happen. If i knew this-" He motioned between the two, "-would've been the outcome, I would've said something way before." He shrugged, loosely crossing his arms.

"Don't beat yourself up like that." Clay reciprocated, using the same wording Luke had just moments prior. The dirty blonde slightly snickered, his faint smile returning. He looked up again, meeting his eyes with Clay's. "No hard feelings?" He almost nervously asked.

"No hard feelings."

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8/20/21

1105 words

two more chapters after this one and i think his dream is gonna come to a close :) (also sorry this chapter is lowkey short the next two should be longer and more interesting LMAO)