STRUGGLE

CHAPTER FIVE: DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER

It has been two days since the attack and Nick still felt like shit. When Nick has woken up from passing out he found himself in a hospital room. He later learned htat he had had enternal bleedings and two broken ribs. The day after the attack Nick spent it in the hospital and thought about all that had happened. He regretted hitting Miranda in the face, not just because he had gotten beaten up for it but because he had hurt her. He has a dangerous temper and when he gets mad he mostly ends up hurting people.

Like when he had beaten up Paige. that day Nick had been drunk when one of his friends asked him about how he felt about Paige being Bisexual. Nick had had no Idea what his friend was talking about. When he asked Paige she finally amitted she had known for two years but never told him. Being as drunkas he was he wasnt thinking right at the time and had beaten her up badly. He hadn't been mad at the fact that she was Bisexual but at the fact that she ahd kept it from him and he had to find out from someone else. He knew it that was no excuse for hwat he had done,he knew there was NEVER any excuse to hurt someone.

That was two years ago. Now it was NIck who was getting beaten up. He was out of the hospital now and was at the beach, his sanctuary. NIck winced as he stood up, his broken ribs( left side) screaming in protest. He grabs the crutch the docter had insisted he use and started up the beach toward his car. He hears someone up ahead and looks up, muscles tensing. He lets out a sigh of anger and slowly sinks back down onto the warm sand. The person up ahead was Miranda. She comes over and sits down next to him.

" I thought I might find you here." She says staring out at the ocean.

"What do you want? did you come here to laugh at me, to tell me that I deserved this?" he grumbles trying to bite down on his anger.

"Well you did deserve something.... just not this. I came here to tell you that I'm sorry for what Matt did. He was wrong for doing it." Miranda says looking Nick in the eyes.

He avoids her gaze as his anger sweels inside him. He hates sympothy, especially from her. He tries to get up but fails as a fresh waves of pain hits him. Miranda helps him up by giving him his crutch.

"Don't help me up! I don;t need any help from you!" He snaps and snatches the crutch away from her.

"Hey I'm trying to apologize and be nice here!" She snaps back.

"Well I don't want any apology from you, You're the reason why I go tbeat up in the first place!" He yells at her finally loosing what little control he had over his anger.

"Me? How the hell is this my fault? YOU'RE the one who smacked me!" Miranda yells, anger dripping off every word her own temper showing.

"You know what? Just Shut the fuck up Ok just SHUT UP and leave me the fuck alone!" He screams and tries to run the best he coudl away from her. Suddenly something from the day of the attack comes back to him. He turns around to see Miranda staring daggers at him. "Hey speaking of Matt, shouldn't you be watching him, make sure he isnt using his precious drugs again?" he asks a smirk spreading across his face.

"What the hell are you rambling on about? Matt doesnt do drugs." Miranda says coming to stand in front of him. The smirk quickly fades from his face. Miranda didnt know about Matt being a junkie? HOw could that be possible? the siblings were close, or so he thought.

"Never mind, forget it." He says wuickly and heads for his car again.

" No wait! NIck tell me why you said that!" Miranda calls after him and walks to catch up to him.

"I said it because your "perfect" brother is a herion Junkie" Nick says finally getting to his car.

" You're lying, you're just saying this to get back at Matt." Miranda says angrily.

" No, for once I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me ask Matt, He'll tell you." Nick says getting into his car.

"Fine I will, just to prove you're wrong." She says sounding a little unsure and runs to her own car. Nick watches as Miranda drives away and shakes his head. What did he just do? He suddenly feels like something bad was about to happen once again because of his stupid anger. He starts his car and drives home.