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20.

|| Possible Trigger Warning, Read With Caution ||

Nathaniel's Point Of View

When I wake up I check my phone for the time. I'm in... Not my room... Okay... But the time is 06:23. I get up from the bed and walk out the door. Fuck, my knee hurts pretty badly. I don't remember it hurting this much. So I pretty much just limp. Something doesn't seem right. This doesn't look like my house. It kinda looks like Hunter's, his family has two spare bedrooms. Plus his, his fathers', his mother' and Rivers'. This makes no sense. Why the hell am I here.

Bang

Holy shit, what was that. It wasn't like a gunshot, but as if someone fell.

"Nate," I hear someone say. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. It's Aaron.

"Aaron, where are you?" I ask.

"Over here on the roof," he says. I follow his voice to the window of the other room. It's open. He's on the roof. I climb out the window to join him. Then I ask, "What the hell is going on?"

"It's Hunter, he called. He started saying stuff. Nate, I'm scared. Is he gonna jump?" He asks.

"That sound came from the roof didn't it?" I ask. He nods. I make my way to the other part of the roof. The highest part actually. I see someone. I start climbing up. Aaron's close behind. I reach the top. It's gotta be a good 17 or 18 meters, which is 55 to 59 feet. "Hunter?" I say. I've lost sight of the person, but I know they're up here. I say his name again.

Suddenly pain strikes in the back of my bad knee. It's Hunter. His hand is on my shoulder, the other one holding my wrists. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground. My head just over the edge.

"Hunter-" I start. But he puts his hand around my neck and starts squeezing. I can't really breathe. I start gagging. My hands are free so I try to get him off. It's useless. He's to strong. I start to see black edges. He lets go. He hits my stomach. Fuck. It hurts like a bitch. He doesn't stop. Then I feel pain strike my lip. My vision gets blurry. He hits my stomach again. Fuck. He hits my chest. That's where the surgery was. He hits my face again. Then hits my stomach again. Then he hits my face, hard. It starts throbbing. I My world turns into a black abyss.

*****

"Nathan?" I hear someone's voice. My vision is blurry, but I'm pretty sure I'm still on the roof.

"Thank god you're alive!" Someone else says. My vision starts to clear. Yep, I'm definitely still on the roof.

"I don't know what got into me, I'm really sorry I almost killed you. After almost killing myself," Hunter says.

"Hunter, I think I would have rather you killed me instead of yourself," I say in a hoarse voice.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy," Hunter says. He starts patting my back. Fuck. I start coughing. Blood starts pouring out. It doesn't stop. Shit! "Whoa there," he says.

"Hunter what's going on?" Aaron asks. He's

"It's called internal bleeding. It's pretty bad. Nate, there's blood on your shirt," Hunter says.

"Probably from what I've been coughing up," I say.

"No. Nathaniel, you're bleeding," Aaron says.

"Aaron's right. Nate-" He starts.

"Let's just get off of the roof," I say in a hoarse voice. Then I get up. My knee kills. I wince.

"Hey, hey, hey. Sit back down. You're hurt," Aaron says.

"I... I... I'm fine," I say, then I make my way down to the lower level of the roof.

"Nate, wait up," Hunter says.

"What?" I ask. I'm just getting down to the window I came in from. I go back through the window.

"Let's just get back, somewhere safe," Hunter says.

"Hey, Hunter, there are people walking into your backyard," Aaron says.

"What the hell?" He says as we reach the front door. He opens it.

"Hey Aaron?" I ask. Something's wrong.

"Yeah?" I he says as we walk on the pathway to his backyard.

"When was the last time I did a backflip?" I ask.

"Months," he says. This isn't real. I did one less than a month ago.

"Why don't I just do one now?" I ask.

"No," he says.

"Off the stairs?" I ask.

"No," he says.

"Well I am," I say. Hunter has a deck. Stairs that go up to the deck. I walk over to the deck. Hunter follows.

"I'm gonna try four steps," Hunter says. He walks up to the fourth step from the bottom. He does one. Lands it.

"Maybe you should try a wall flip instead?" Aaron says.

"Sure, or just a flip in general?" I say.

"Yeah," he says.

"Okay," I say. I then run inside. Then I go to the window that attaches to the roof. No I'm not doing a flip off the roof. I'm jumping off the roof. I need to wake up. I get to the top. Hunter and Aaron are yelling. I don't care what they say. I take the jump.