Mangled (A NateWantsToBattle/NateMare story)

Eleven

The next day, Raven decided to stop by and visit. I saw her with balloons, flowers and chocolates.

"Um... what is this?" I asked.
"I didn't get the chance to properly throw you a welcome back/get well soon party so here it is!" Raven exclaimed.
"You didn't have to do this!" I insisted.
"No seriously, I wanted to." She responded. She then grew serious again, "because I really wasn't sure before 2 days ago that I would see you again alive."
"Well, I'm here!" I assured her. "So try not to make this suddenly dark and depressing!"
"Yeah!" She smiled.

She then gave me a hug as she handed me all the gifts. I carefully carried them to the kitchen and set it on the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Well, well, well..." My mom smiled. "Raven certainly wants to party."
"Yeah." I responded.
"OH! And by the way, I also ordered pizza to be delivered here!" Raven suddenly remembered.
"Jeez Raven, you're really pulling off everything today." I said.

Suddenly, we were interrupted by my Dad.

"Girls, you need to check this out!" Dad shouted from the living room.

We all walked into the living room, where Dad turned up the volume. Before the volume was turned up, the first thing I saw was a camera shot of Nate leaving the hospital in chains with several other officers. I then listened to the reporter.

Nathan Smith, the young man convicted of several counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping has now been released from the hospital and is now being transferred over to a mental facility downtown. Officers and witnesses say that Nathan was calm while being escorted into the van. They claim that a journal, which he was holding in his hand has kept him calm and under control throughout most of his time recovering in the hospital. They believe that this journal will be the key to his recovery in the mental institution as well.

For some reason, I hated watching the footage of Nate being chained up and brought into the van. Even though he was calm and kept himself under control the entire time, it made him look like a prisoner. The media made him look like a prisoner when he was simply a boy who grew up struggling with multiple mental disorders. Even though he did kill several people, and is being charged for killing Mat, you could tell he felt guilty about it all.

I just sat there, wondering what would happen to him inside of that mental institution. Would things be better? Or would things be exactly the same as they were last time he was in the mental institution? Or worse...

"Well..." Dad sighed, "looks like we're gonna have to wait and see what happens. I'm actually going to keep in touch with several doctors at the institution to check his progress."
"As long as he has that journal I think he'll be fine." I assured them.
"Well, let's hope so and let's hope he doesn't somehow grow out of it." Mom said.
"Well, if he does let's hope he finds something else to keep him occupied." Raven added. "Who knows what will happen if he doesn't have anything to keep him occupied, or if he loses that journal?"
"Let's not think about that yet, please." I suggested. "And let's just be positive and thankful that Nate is taking everything better than we originally thought."
"That is true." Dad nodded. "And let's just all be thankful that our little girl is home safely."

Just then, my parents and Raven all pulled me in for a group hug.

Suddenly, our group hug was interrupted by a doorbell ringing.

"Ooh! Pizza's here!"
---
ONE WEEK LATER

Raven and I walked through the neighborhood. We looked both ways and crossed the street and made our way to the entrance of the cemetery.

We walked down the pathway and through the grass when we suddenly came across the headstone.

MATTHEW PATRICK

I knelt down until my eyes were looking directly at his name.

"Hi Mat..." I said. "It's me, Sarah. Things have been going a lot better than we all expected. I just got the bandage removed from my arm yesterday, I'm reunited with my family and friends. And Nate, Nate is doing great. There hasn't been a problem and he's handling everything well so far. I just hope it stays that way."

I then paused for a moment as an image of Mat with Nate flashed in my mind, suddenly causing a rush of emotion throughout my body.

I then touched the headstone with the tips of my fingers.

"I just wish you were here to see all of it..."

I then felt an arm around my shoulder as Raven patted my right shoulder. She then looked directly at me.

"He's here in spirit." She assured me. "Never forget that."

I smiled at her and then looked at the headstone again. I then took out a rose I brought with me and laid it on the ground.

"See ya later, Mat."

Raven and I then stood up and quietly made our way out of the cemetery.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey guys! (Sorry for the sad transition BTW)

Unfortunately the next chapter will be the epilogue and therefore the last part of the story. I had an awesome time making this story!

I hope to make more NateWantsToBattle stories in the future!

If you guys haven't already, if you would like to, check out some of my other stories!

Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading this story and I hope you enjoyed it!

~Jackir30