Hunter Of The Night (Phan AU)

Four

Dan POV
They carried me to the van waiting outside of the corner store. I know that they're trying to be gentle but every turn and pull caused a pain to shoot up my arm.

"They injured the kid and got away," one of the men carrying me said. I heard a couple of grunts of disapproval but other than that nobody said anything. They hoisted me up into the van, attempting but failing to be careful. They placed me down on two seats and Caspar came and squatted in front of me.

"Is it your shoulder?" He asked, and I nodded. I immediately regretted that, because a jolt of pain shot through my arm and back again.

He reached behind him to retrieve something I couldn't see, then turned back to me with a bandage and some gauze.

"This is gonna hurt," Caspar stated bluntly, then went to work. He lifted me up enough to take off my shirt, then placed me back down softly. He then took to examining my shoulder, lifting and rotating my arm. I winced several times and tried my best to not cry. It probably wouldn't go down well if I cried on my first excursion. After all, I am the youngest of the group so I had to hold myself above their expectations.

"I think it's just a sprain. I'm gonna wrap it up and we'll look at it tomorrow." Caspar mumbled, then unrolled the wrap in his hands. I bit down on my lip harshly, trying not to cry out as he wrapped the bandage around my injured arm.

"There," Caspar said finally, and leaned back to examine his work. He must've been satisfied, because helped put my shirt back on and lifted my body to a vertical sitting position.

"Are you trained in medicine?" I said weakly, trying to keep my voice from breaking.

"Not really," he answered truthfully. "My mom was a nurse so I know how to do these things."

I nodded in understanding, and went back to focusing on not crying. It hurt like a bitch, but I wasn't going to let my weakness show. I've learned to hide it.

I was 12, and I was riding a bike outside. It wasn't mine, it was my friend, Jacob's. Lori would never let me have a bike, she thought it was too dangerous. She had a thing against dangerous objects. Jacob was cheering me on, telling me to go faster, faster. I didn't want to disappoint him, so I did, moving my feet quicker. The wind rushing through my hair made me feel almost like a bird, and the burn in my legs felt great.

All of the sudden, I heard my name shouted from behind me. I stopped quickly, throwing my feet on the ground and my hands on the breaks. I turned around to the source of the yelling and found Lori standing by the curb, her hands on her hips. I cowered slightly as she came toward me, looking furious.

"What did I tell you about dangerous toys, Daniel?" She hollered, getting closer to me. I shrank against the handlebars, making myself look even smaller than I already was.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to ride his bike," I said meekly, knowing that wasn't a good excuse for my blatant rule-breaking.

"You're sorry?" She said sarcastically, looking at me like I just said the world's worst cuss word. I let out a tear then, fearing the worst. She must've seen the tear fall down my cheek, because she reared her hand back and slapped me across the cheek hard. "Don't you dare start crying," she said through her teeth. "You're not a baby, Dan Howell."

I placed a hand to my now-swollen cheek, shock written across my face. She leaned in really close to my face, and whispered, "go give that bike back and go to your room."

I didn't dare argue. I ran the bike over to Jacob, giving him a mumbled apology, then darted into my room, closing the door softly behind me. I sat down on my bed and let the hot tears cover the red mark on my cheek. I didn't make a noise though, I didn't want Lori to come in and see me crying.