The Last Chance Book 2

Chapter 2

TW: Mentions of violence and blood

When NuNew opens his eyes after a while he recognizes the road they are on. He feels himself start to panic a little. He takes a deep breath as the car pulls into the driveway of the house and parks. He flinches slightly when his mother touches his arm. " Sorry mom " he whispers. " Are you ok NuNew ". He nods and puts on a fake smile. " I was just thinking about the past. Sorry for worrying you ". His mother nods her head.  He can see that she doesn't really believe him. So he gets out of the car once everyone arrives. He quickly walks over to Zee, Max and Nat. They all know something's wrong with him. " They talked a lot about the case ". He looks over to Max " How are you doing. Are you ok to walk a lot right now ". Max pats him on the shoulder. " Im ok NuNew. I'm more worried about you. I can see how nervous and scared you are. All three of us can ". He looks over to Nat who raises his hands up in defense. " He didn't have to say anything. Everyone can tell how scared you are " Zee says. He just looks at the ground. " I didn't think I'd be coming back here so soon. I'm just shaken up still ". Zee pulls him into a hug. " Don't worry. No one can hurt you. Not when all of us are here " Zee says trying to reassure him. " That won't stop them from hurting you guys. And what about when I'm alone. They could be waiting for me to be separated from everyone and then hurt me " he says quietly so only the three of them could hear. When he hears someone walking up to them he immediately puts his fake smile back on and turns around. It's Max's father. " You guys ready to head inside. Everyone else is already inside ". He nods. " Yes, I'll head inside. I want to check my phone ". He then quickly heads inside. Not wanting to hear what Zee, Max or Nat would have said. He sees his parents talking with Jimmy's father in the kitchen. So he quickly walks into the room that him and Zee stayed in. Once inside he heads straight over to the bed and starts to pack his bag in order to distract himself. Not to long after Zee walks into the room. Shutting the door behind him. " NuNew " he says in a worried voice. " Please. Please don't talk about what I said outside. I just want to hurry and leave. We are to close to the beach. I can see where everything happened and it's bugging me ". He says quietly. Zee listens to what he says and heads into the rooms bathroom.
After he finishes packing everything he grabs his phone. When he turns it on he sees several notifications from instagram. When he opens it he's nervous. Several people have tagged him in a video.
" Isn't that @——- in that video "
When he clicks on the video he freezes. It's one of the recordings from the beach. The video is from someone who was standing close. He can clearly hear everything Nate's saying. He can hear himself scream loudly when Nat is kicked. He finds himself not able to look away. He's just frozen in place watching the video. Not until it shows Max get stabbed. When he sees Max get stabbed he screams and falls to the floor. Everyone rushes in. He's shaking. Zee is the first to make it to him. " NuNew! What happened what's going on " Zee asked. He doesn't look at anyone. Only watching his phone that's now on the ground. Only when the video shows NuNew screaming does someone notice it. Tommy quickly grabs his phone and looks at it. " Shit " is all he can say as he sees the video. He begins to shake his head no quickly.  " Everyone knows. Everyone saw. I saw. I watched as P'Max got stabbed. I watched as Nat got hurt. Nate's coming. He's going to do what he did to me to Nat. He said he ". He's interrupted by Zee. " NuNew look at me. He's not coming. No one's coming to hurt Nat or any of us ". He looks at Zee. He's trying to hard to calm himself down. He knows Zee won't be able to calm him down. He forces himself up off the ground. He takes a step back stumbling a little bit. He walks away from everyone and towards the corner of the room.
" I need ". He's trying to control his breathing. " I need them ". He wraps his arms around himself. " I need only them. I need to know they're safe ". His mother goes to take a step towards him but he shakes his head no. " I can't ". He looks for Nat among everyone. When he sees him he stars to calm down a little. Although panicking he keeps eye contact with Nat. Knowing that he's the only one who can understand him. " Do you want only me and Max to come to you " Nat asked. He nods his head yes quickly. " You want to make sure we are safe right. It will help you calm down right ". He nods his head again. He bites his lip nervously when both of them make there way over to him slowly. When they are close he pulls the both of them into a hug. " Me and Nat are safe. It's over. There's no more danger. All three of us are safe " Max says gently patting his back. Slowly he starts to calm down. Once he's not panicking anymore he pulls away from the hug and backs away from them. He lowers his head not making eye contact with anyone. He feels pathetic that he had such a bad reaction over the video. " Stop thinking like that NuNew. Stop now. You are in no way pathetic for what just happened ". He looks up at Nat nervously. Holding his tears back. " You just watched what happened again. Not to mention you saw it after such a short amount of time. Why did you watch it NuNew " Nat asked. He starts to cry. Nat does as well. " I just froze. I couldn't look away. I wanted to. I herd you scream the first time he kicked you. I herd myself scream. I was just frozen. I couldn't move. Then. Then I saw P'Max get ". He covers his mouth with his hand. Trying to hold back a sob. Max quickly pulls him into another hug. " Why. I don't get what I did. Why does Nate do this to me and the people care about. Is being Gay such a bad thing. Why does he do this. What did I ever do wrong ". Max pats his back gently. " Some people are filled with so much hate and anger. You did nothing wrong. Being gay or apart of the lgbtq is nothing to be ashamed of. There's nothing wrong with it. They do not get to decide what love is bad ". When he's calmed down Max makes him sit on the bed. " NuNew. Can I come over to you " Zee asked quietly. As soon as he nods Zee slowly makes his way over to him. Once in front of him Zee slowly squats down in front of him. Zee won't touch him unless he hears him say he can. Not wanting to talk he just nods. Zee slowly stands up and wipes his tears away. He looks towards everyone. They're looking at him worried. " I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want everyone to look at me like that. I just want to leave and talk with the investigators. I just want to start to recover ". He looks back at Zee when he feels him gently caressing his cheek. " Remember what I told you last night. We are all here and will help you recover ". He nods. " In order for us to help you recover we need you to be honest with us. Please don't hide how you feel from us. We are worried because we care for you ". He takes a shaky breath. " I need to be honest " he repeats quietly. Zee smiles at him. Everyone stays silent and gives him time to speak. It's quiet for a long time before he says " I'm terrified ". Zee sits down on the other side of him. " Can you tell us what you are terrified of " Max asked in a gentle tone. A tone that he's only heard  Max use with him whenever he has to do something that scars him. " I'm terrified of everything. I'm terrified to talk with the investigators but I know I have to. I'm terrified that something will still happen to everyone. Im terrified by the thought that there's always a chance for Nate and the others to get away like last time. The cops failed me. What if they fail me again. This time it was a stab wound to someone I care about as well as having to watch Nat get beat up. What if next time he actually kills me or someone I care about. He's programmed my head into thinking that anyone who I'm close with will get hurt. It was always just a threat until a few days ago ". He looks down at his hands. They're shaking. Nat walks in front of him and grabs his hands. " The cops won't fail you this time. P'Max's dad won't let them fail you. The investigators will have such a huge case to put against Nate and the others. If that 1% chance that the system fails happens then we take it to social media and drag them to the ground and have others help us get the justice that you deserve ". He nods. " The justice that me you and P'Max deserve ". Nat nods before making him stand up and then pulling him into a hug. " Did you know. When I started panicking I looked for you first Nat. Even when I was panicking so much I knew that if I saw you, you would be able to understand what I needed ". Nat tightens the hug. " Fate brought us together right NuNew " Nat says as he pulls away from the hug. He smiles. Not a fake one but a genuine smile. " I was brought to you when you were feeling lonely. While you were brought to me in order for me to heal ". Nat as well as everyone laughs. Even he laughs a little bit.
He turns to his parents and says " Can I ride in Hia Zee's car to the station. Just so they can help calm my nerves. His mother agrees, although she's a little reluctant to. He smiles and then looks over to Tommy. Who's still holding his phone. " P'Tommy can you show P'Max's father the video after I leave the room. You can hear Nate say that he did try to kill me along with other things ". Once he sees Tommy nod he grabs his bag as well as the crystal bracelet that he got for him and Nat. When he puts it on he lifts his wrist to show Nat. Nat raises his left wrist as well. " Amethyst. A crystal that can help you heal " Nat says while smiling. He nods smiling. Nat then holds out his hand for him to grab. Once he does Nat pulls him back to Zee's car. Everyone follows them outside after quickly grabbing their bags. Him Nat and Max all get into the car while they wait for Zee who's getting the directions. He leans on Nat. " I know that everyone in our group will get interviewed so I want to warn you guys " he says quietly. Max looks at him through the mirror while Nat just holds on to his hand. " You might see some videos or photos of me and they won't be good. Hia Zee has already seen them. The videos show me panicking worse then you guys have ever seen. As for the photos. They are far more worse then the videos. They show how I looked when I arrived at the hospital. How much blood I had on me. How the scars looked. So in case you see. If they show you then I'm sorry ". He says and Nat squeezes his hand. Zee gets into the car. He can immediately tell that they talked about something. Before Zee says anything he beats him to it " I was warning them that the videos and photos might be shown to them. I'm going to use Nat's phone to text what I told them to our group chat so the others know as well ". He can see the way Zee becomes tense. " Hia " he says getting Zee's attention. When he knows Zee is paying attention he continues. " I'm doing a lot better now compared to how I was in the past. I'm not as terrified like I was back then and my scars are healed ". He can see Zee relax a little bit but he still has worry written on his face. " I will tell you if I ever start to get that bad ". Zee just nods and starts the car. " It will take us about 30 minutes to get to the station that the investigation team is working at ". Everyone nods. Nat hands him his phone. He opens the group chat and sends a text that says " This is NuNew on Nat's phone. I want to give everyone a warning since we all are going to be interviewed. The investigators have videos as well as some photos from the first event. The videos show me panicking way more then you guys have seen me. As for the pictures they will be photos of me when I showed up to the hospital and how I was covered in blood. As well as show my scars. If they show you I'm sorry. I also want to say that if you see them to not worry to much about me. I'm a lot better since then. I'm not as scared as I was then and my scars have all healed ". Once the text is sent he hands Nat his phone back. " Try to get some sleep while we are on the way. Use my shoulder as a pillow " Nat says. He lays his head down on Nat's shoulder and closes his eyes.

Word Count: 2408

"Recovering from PTSD is being fragile and strong at the same time. It's beautiful medley of constantly being broken down and pieced together. I am a painting almost done to completion, beautiful but not quite complete." – Kate J. Tate