Back Home • Book 2 | COMPLETED

37.

Hunter's Point Of View

I wake up to Aris screaming my name so loud I can't ignore it. I get up and run down the hall to where he is. He's in Nate's room.

"Shit. No. Shit," I mumble, "Call an ambulance."

Nate's bleeding badly. I don't know what triggered him. He's got two cuts that go straight from his wrist all the way up his forearm. His bed is covered in blood. His body looks so lifeless.

"Here," Aris says handing me a phone.

"Hello. What is your emergency," the person on the other line says.

"He's breathing," Aris says.

"Um... my friend. He's um. He's bleeding badly and is unconscious. Please hurry. I don't know how much longer he can hang in there," I stutter.

Stay calm Hunter. Stay calm.

The person then asks for my name, where, the phone number I'm calling from, and all that other stuff.

When I'm off the phone. I take a deep breathe. It's going to be alright.

A few minutes later I hear the sirens.

******

It's almost 3 in the morning. Aris and I are in the waiting room. We've been here for about an hour.

Aris woke up at half past one and went to go ask Nate something that's been on his mind. Then he found Nate. At first he didn't have words. Then he called me.

He's in the chair next to me, legs shaking constantly. He can't stay calm. Honestly I'm not very calm either right now.

"Hunter," Aris says.

"Yeah?" I respond.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" He asks.

"Yeah. I do. I do think he'll be alright because I know Nathaniel. He's a fighter. He's lost a lot of battles, but that doesn't mean he's done fighting," I say, "It'll be okay."

I then put my arm around him. He leans on me.

"Hunter Mathews," I hear someone call.

I look up, Aris does the same. A doctor called me. I then get up and walk over with Aris following.

"So you're the one who called for Nathaniel Hunter," the doctor asks.

"Yes sir," I say.

"It's a good thing you did. Any more blood loss and it could've been a whole different situation," he says walking down the hall.

"He should be awake soon, but we still had to put him under anesthesia," the doctor says opening the door to the room for us.

We walk in the doctor closes the door behind us.

It's like one minute he's making a ton of progress then the next he's back at stage one.

He's lying down. Asleep from the anesthesia. They have him on a breathing tube from his nose. His arms are bandaged. It looks like they might have had to do some surgery, not just stitches. He's also got an IV and another wire in his arm.

God Nathaniel. Why. Why do you do this.

"I asked him that once. He said that he wanted life to be better. For everyone. He said that it would be better without him," Aris says.

Oh shit. I said that out loud?!?

"He'll get better," I say to Aris.

"What if he doesn't," he says.

"He will," I say.

Aris walks over to one side of the bed. He whispers something to Nathaniel while hugging him. I can't make out what he said because it was muffled. When Aris lets go I notice he's crying. I don't say anything and neither does he. He walks over to me and I let him cry onto me. I wrap my arms around him and he does the same.

"This will all be over soon," I tell him.