Adopted by Chris Motionless and Ricky Horror

Part Twenty-One: Blood Splattered all Over The Steps

~3 Weeks Later~

*CHRIS'S POV*

We were sitting in the school parking lot, waiting for Echo to appear in the crowd of kids emerging from the doors.

Echo eventually came out, and I started the car.

"Chris? Do you see that kid behind her?" Ricky asked me in a nervous tone.

"What?" I asked while looking behind her. There was a boy about her age, a little taller though, who looked scared. Like REALLY scared. I was just about to go pull up and get Echo, afraid about what might happen, when Ricky started panicking.

"Chris, there's a huge guy walking toward him..." He said.

"I'm sure it's nothing." I said. But I wasn't so sure.

"Chris! He just punched him!" He said.

I looked over to see the man beating the kid like crazy. It was punch after punch until the kid fell down on the steps, as his blood splattered on them. I wasn't going to sit and watch that happen. No kid needed that to happen to them. By anyone.

"I'll be back." I said as I got out of the car and started running toward him. I ran right past Echo, who had no idea what was happening.

"Hey!" I shouted at the guy who was still beating the kid.

The man turned around and tried to punch me, but I ducked, stood up, and punched him in the mouth. I punched him again and again until he was backed up against the edge of the steps, then I punched him off, sending him tumbling onto the concrete ground. I looked over at the boy laying weak on the steps, crying. His blood was splattered all over the steps. He was helpless.

I walked over, picked him up, and threw him over my shoulder. I immediately started speed walking to the car. The poor kid was unconscious by now.

Echo was already in the car. I saw the color leave her face as I put the kid in the back.

"You know him?" I asked. She nodded her head.

I started driving to the hospital. We eventually got there after about 20 minutes. I carried him the same way I did away from the school as Ricky and Echo followed me to the doors.

I ran in and got weird looks from everyone in the room. I didn't care though. I was used to it, and this kid needed help. The way people were looking at me didn't matter.

"Can I help you, sir?" The lady at the front desk said.

"Yeah. Um, I don't know this kid's name, but some guy was beating him unconscious as soon as he got out of school, and he was bleeding everywhere, and I didn't know what to do so instead of calling and waiting, I decided to take matters into my own hands and just brought him here." I said.

"Oh. Well I'll get a stretcher, then." She said as she walked off.

We waited about 5 minutes before she came back with a stretcher.

"Lay him down on here." She said. I did as she told me, and she started walking back to a room.

"Follow me." She said.

Me, Ricky, and Echo all followed her to an X-Ray room.

"Wait here. The doctor will be here soon." She said as she walked back to her desk.

"So, you know him?" I asked Echo.

"Yeah." She said.

"What's his name?" I asked her.

"Ashton Arcene."

"Okay." I said as the doctor walked in.

"Hello. I'm Doctor Liam." He said as he made a surprised face at the sight of Ashton.

"Well. What happened?" He asked.

"Me and my husband were just sitting in our car waiting for our daughter, Echo, to get out of school and a guy just walked over to him and started beating him until he blacked out. I had to walk over and get in a fight with him just to get him to stop." I said.

"Interesting. Do you know this boy's name?" He asked me.

"Echo says it's Ashton Arcene."

He nodded his head and looked at the hospital bed that the lady put Ashton on. He was starting to wake up.

"Ashton? Can you sit up for me please?" The doctor asked.

Ashton was barely awake, but he did as told.

The doctor took the machine and X-Rayed Ashton's whole body.

"Well...you broke your wrist, Ashton. Go over to the place next door. They'll get you a cast. And that's about it. It looks like you have a busted lip and a black eye, and you should be thankful that that's it. Based on the situation, it could've been a lot worse." He said.

Ashton nodded his head. "Thanks." He said with a shaky voice.

"Thank these people right here. You can go sign out now, if you want." He said as he walked out of the room.

Ashton looked over in our direction, and his eyes widened when he saw us.

"Oh my god." He said.

"Hey." I said. "Glad you're okay for the most part."

"Yeah." He said nervously.

"Hi, Ashton." Echo said.

"Hey, Echo."

"So these are my parents." She said.

"That's awesome. Wish I had parents like yours." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know. Someone who cares about kids, and aren't drunks or drug addicts, like mine." He said as he looked down.

"Oh. I get it." I said. "You ready to go next door?"

"Yeah. Let's go." He said.

~~~

We were in the car driving after we got Ashton's hand in a cast. I had already talked to Ricky in private about the plan I had, and he agreed that we should go along with it. No one should ever be living in a world like his. The best we can do is get him out of it.