Noah & Josh

forgiveness

Noah's POV

"I think you'd better leave before my father wakes up. I'll take you to the back door, it's safer for you to go out that way"

Afraid of getting him into more trouble I follow him to the door. Before leaving I insist again "Please think about it" and leave.

The next day at school, Josh was absent again and I can imagine what happened again. At the end of school I went to his house again. When I get there I see that the door is open. I peek inside and see a bunch of bottles scattered around. At the same time I hear screams.

"I know you dropped the bottles on purpose!!! Now you're gonna pay"

Hearing that I open the door some more and see Josh's dad getting ready to hit him with a glass bottle. Without thinking of the consequences I stand in front of Josh. I saw nothing but black as I heard someone calling my name. Slowly that voice was getting lower.

Josh's POV

My father was yelling at me after I had dropped some beer bottles that he had made me go buy."What have you done you piece of shit"He pushes me to the ground

"I... I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to"

"I know you dropped the bottles on purpose!!! Now you're gonna pay"

I saw that he was going to hit me with the bottle and I put my hands in front of my face. I hear the bottle break but nothing though. When I open my eyes I see Noah lying on the floor.
My father, seeing what he had done, ran away. I tried to talk to Noah, but it was useless. He was unconscious. I immediately called 911. After a few minutes the ambulance arrived and took Noah to the hospital. I stayed behind to talk to the police about what had happened. In addition to what happened with Noah, I told the cops all about what has been happening at home with my dad.

It had been two hours since I was in the hospital waiting room and Noah was still unconscious. Noah's mother had been talking to the doctor and walked out of the office.

"The doctor said he's going to be fine. I'm going to go outside and call Any's mother. If you want you can go home, when Noah wakes up I'll let your mother know."

"No. I have to stay here until he wakes up. This is all my fault" I can't hold back the tears and
Noah's mom hugs me, "Don't say that, it's not your fault. I think you and mom have suffered enough."

When I calmed down Noah's mother went to make that call.

After a few minutes Any arrives at the hospital. As soon as she sees me she comes to meet me."What do you think you are doing here? What did you do to him? I told him he shouldn't help you. Especially with what you've been doing to him but he has too good a heart."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen. He protected me from my father. If it wasn't for him, I'd be the one in that bed or worse..." I couldn't hold my tears back and cried in front of Any.

"I didn't know what you were going through... But that doesn't excuse the way you treated him"

"I know. When I found out he liked me I ended up taking it all out on him. I know that's no excuse for the way I behaved but after that I didn't know how to go back. And on top of everything I had Scarlett playing tricks on me."

"I always knew Scarlett was a bitch. She never cared about Noah."

"By the way, I warned Bailey that Noah was in the hospital. You better not be here when he gets here, we don't want to make any more trouble"

I understand, but I can't leave until he wakes up."

"If that's because you feel guilty, you're free to leave. I get your side already"

"It's not because of that. I'm really worried about him" she looks at me surprised because she didn't expect me to say that

"Whatever you say, I just hope you guys don't make a mess"

After a few minutes I see Bailey entering the hospital. He walks over to Any and me. "What the hell is he doing here? You told me he was to blame for all this" He looks at me with a look of disdain

"He has already explained the whole situation to me. It wasn't his fault."

"And you really believe that? We've seen what this idiot is capable of." I just listen in and don't say anything so as not to cause confusion. I understand what he is feeling.

"I'll explain to you later what happened better, just don't make a mess. The important thing now is for Noah to wake up."

Eventually it got dark and Any and Bailey went home. Everyone tried to convince me to go too but I couldn't. The doctor saw that I wasn't going to get out of there anytime soon so he let me into the room where Noah was. I stayed there all night, I couldn't sleep. In the morning, I see that Noah finally woke up. I walk over and sit down next to him.

"Sorry, this is all my fault"

"Josh? What happened?" He looked confused to see me.

"My father was going to hit me and you stood in front of me"

"I remember now. Are you okay?"

"Considering that I'm not the one in a hospital bed, I'd say I'm fine" We both laugh at what I just said

"Did you stay here all night?"

"Yes, I couldn't leave until I was sure you were okay"

"You must be exhausted"

"I'm fine, don't worry. I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. I used you as a punching bag and took out all my anger on you just to feel good. And every time I did that I felt even worse."

"Let's leave that in the past.Now that I understand what you were going through, I can no longer hate you. If you need my forgiveness to move on, you have it."

I was relieved and at the same time happy to hear that but there was something missing. "Do you think we can go back to being friends like we used to be?" I ask in fear of his answer

I can see he was thinking before answering and that's when he looks at me "It's always good to make up with a friend" he stretches out his arm and we shake hands