Stranger Things Have Happened | Marcus Bontempelli

forty.

The drive to the hospital was excruciatingly long and eerily quiet as we passed through the empty streets of Melbourne. It was nearing 4am but there were still plenty of people loitering around the outpatients where Marcus and I were headed. Liv had sent one message that simply said, 'we're in the ER, message me when you're here' so at least we had some kind of direction when we finally pulled in and found a car park.

In my mind there was no time to be messaging back and forth, I needed to be in there with my best friend so I could see with my own eyes that he was okay. He needed to be okay. Marcus rested his hand on my back as we marched through the large sliding doors, the florescent light and antiseptic smell hitting us instantaneously. A couple of weary eyes and slouched bodies looked up at us from the waiting room as we breezed past towards reception. A middle-aged woman glanced up from the small window, a weak smile present on her face.

"Hi, I'm here to see Connor Drewes," I stated quietly, leaning over the desk.

She quickly searched her computer before looking back at me, "He's in surgery right now but if you go through to room 7B, I'll send a doctor down to speak with you," She replied, motioning towards the automated doors that led through to the emergency rooms.

"Thank you," I sighed before pacing off towards the door.

Marcus looked worried and although he was trying to keep it together, the crease on his forehead was deeper than the ocean. As we turned the corner and spotted the bold sign that read 7B, Liv stood up quickly from her seat and ran over to me, launching herself into my arms and nearly knocking me over. She burst into tears and that's when my heart sank. There was blood all over her skin, blood that definitely wasn't hers. He wasn't okay.

"They said he's not going to make it," She sobbed, clutching my back and convulsing against my body, my eyes immediately connecting with Marcus who, like me was trying to process her words.

"Don't say that... What happened?" I asked, trying to pull her body away and get some kind of information out of her. Instead all I got were loud sobs and unintelligible words.

"Liv, please stop and tell me what's going on," I said firmly, trying to shake her while the tears started streaming down my face. There was silence as I looked down towards Ahren who was sitting down with his head in his hands, avoiding my eye contact.

"ONE OF YOU NEEDS TO TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING," I screamed, now feeling like my heart was about to burst out of my chest.

Marcus gripped my forearm in an attempt to calm me down, pulling my back into his chest and smoothing his hands over my shoulders as I looked at Liv, anger bubbling up inside. Joel emerged from the room and slowly made his way over to me, his face looked like it had seen a ghost and his once white shirt was also covered in blood.

"Thank god you're here..." He said, rubbing my hands over his face.

"Please tell me what's going on," I sobbed as Joel sucked in a shallow and extremely shaky breath, clearly traumatised by what happened.

"He went for a smoke outside a club on King Street and he was gone for ages but I didn't think anything of it until Ahren went out looking to bum a cig and found him beaten and left for dead in the alley... There was so much blood," He grimaced, pausing to take a breath, "I just thought he'd left or you know what he's like... Hooked up with a chick, I dunno," He said, running his hands through his hair as tears started rolling down his face.

"How long was he out there before you found him?" I asked quietly, voice quivering as I looked down at Ahren.

"... He was gone for easily an hour," Ahren replied looking down at his shoes.