Murder

Chapter 10- Recovery

I wake up with a pounding headache. I try to sit up and theres a sharp pain in my side that tears through my back. A horrible torturous pain. I think my back is on fire, or there's a burning knife ripping through it, I'm not sure. All I'm sure of is that it hurts. I can't help but cry out in pain and my eyes start to tear up. I am not going to cry. I am not going to cry. I hold my breath to keep from crying, and let out a whimper. Suddenly a door opens, and there are two people walking in. The door must be behind me because I can't see them, I just see a wall, but I hear two sets of footsteps. I blink back the tears and try to stop whimpering, but it just makes my chest hurt. A hand touches my shoulder and I cringe. I wasn't expecting them to get to me so quickly.

"It's ok. It's me." I think that's Rob's voice. He helps me sit up. It hurts really bad and I whimper and my eyes are blurry with tears from the pain. "I know. I know it hurts. You need to put a little bit of pressure on it. It's ok. I'm here. It'll be ok." he said. I sit up, he sits in the chair next to the bed I''m on. "Where am I?" my voice is small, and it sounds like I've been screaming. "My house. You sent a text saying 'hel' and I heard a gunshot coming from your house. I drove over to figure out what was going on. Your dad was talking to the police about somebody breaking in. He said he shot them in self-defense. Is that what happened?" Rob asked. "I-I can't remember. I must've hit my head when I fell. If I fell, that is. I have no clue what happened actually." I said. The last thing I remember is being cold. I was so cold, I thought I was going to get hypothermia. Now I'm here, in a bedroom. The walls are blue and there's a cream-colored carpet. The bed is small -a twin I think- with a white and red comforter, and the sheets are really soft. The second pair of footsteps walks up behind him. "This is my best friend Keith. He's spending the night, he came with me to help you." Rob said. I wave, but I don't say anything. I don't like meeting new people.

Keith is tall, taller than Rob. He has long brown hair and dark brown eyes. He has a really strong build, probably plays football with Rob, I remember Rob saying he plays football. Keith is wearing jeans and a black shirt, like me, except his clothes aren't too big for him.

He smiles and says "Hi, I'd ask how you are but that's kind of obvious" and chuckles. I get the feeling he likes to joke around. I don't mind, I guess I could use a little humor in my life right now. I try to laugh but it hurts. It feels like somebody is pressing a blade into my spine. I never thought getting shot would feel like this, I never imagined it would feel this bad. I always knew it hurt, but this is worse than anybody can imagine, well, worse than I can imagine, that is. "Take it easy, you'll get there. You need to relax. We just came in to check on you. Get some rest, ok?" Rob said and walked out. Rest. Okay, yeah that's possible. Not. There's no way I can sleep with this much pain. At least I'm warm, I don't wake to face that horrible cold anymore. I never want to deal with that again, it felt like my blood was frozen.

I stare at the ceiling, listening to my phone buzz and buzz. It's on vibrate, and I'm stuck in that group chat. I don't even know what time it is, but it feels too early for them to be texting, that's for sure. I'm exhausted, like when I wake up in the mornings to go to school. School. I have to go back to school eventually. Oh no, I don't want to go to school. Not like this, not the way things have been going lately. I can't, I look exhausted and I feel exhausted. Speaking of exhausted, my phone battery must be about to die. I should plug it in. I walk over to my bookbag to get my charger, luckily there's an outlet next to the bed. I plug it in and decide to see what everybody is talking about. Since the group chat is Fia, Julia, Sarah, Maranda, Sammie, Emily and I, it's probably something stupid or funny. Or they're trying to plan something to do today together. I scroll to the top, where the messages for today started, and glance at the clock, it's 10 am. I try to read the messages but they keep texting so it scrolls to the bottom. "Shut up and let me read you guys spammed me." I type. I start from the top, it starts with Julia. "Gab Emily and Sarah I just heard a gunshot coming from your direction are you ok?" she asked. Sarah answers "I'm all good." and emily says "Yeah I'm fine." "Gab? Gab answer!" Fia says. After that it's just a lot of "Gab answer are you ok, does anybody know what happened, there are police cars outside your house, answer us, let us know you're ok." So I decide to say "I'm ok. I got shot. I don't remember what happened but I'm at Rob's. He's takin care of me. Don't worry." and they all reply with sighs of relief, and then they ask who Rob is. Julia decides to answer for me. She says "A beautiful man that drives her around and is super nice and gave us pizza." I get the feeling she has a bit of a crush on him. She's not very good at hiding it. "Real smooth Julia. Way to hide your feelings." I send. "Hey it's not my fault. You're hanging out with a beautiful man and I bet he has beautiful man friends and I WANT ONE GIVE ME ONE." she sent back. Everybody in the chat started laughing. "You'll be happy to know he does have a friend and I'm with both of them now so ha." I sent. "WHAT NO THAT'S NOT FAIR I WANT ONE. SEND A PIC." she replied. "Once they come back." I said. Julia answered with something but I stopped paying attention. If I'm going to get better I need to get used to moving again. I get up and walk around the room.

Every step feels like I'm getting smashed in the back with sharp glass shards. My spine feels like it's supporting one thousand pounds. I need to keep moving. Walk it off. Make the pain of this like the pain of everything else I've ever faced: get used to it or ignore it until it's just numb. Either way, it's gonna take a while, and I need to make sure nobody can tell how much this hurts.

There's a knock at the door, and Rob and Keith walk in. I take a quick picture for Julia without them noticing. "Hey kid. How're you feeling?" Rob asked. "I'm fine. I can walk just fine." I said, noticing his irritation at the fact that I'm wandering around the room. His expression lightens up a little as I walk some more, hiding the pain, hoping I'm not showing any discomfort. He chuckles a little. "You're really something, you know that?" he says, and smiles. I try to smile back as best as I can. "I try." I said. He motions toward the chair, telling me to sit down. I sit and he and Keith rest on the edge of the bed. "Now, do you remember what happened? Your dad told the police what happened, but they'd rather hear it from you." he said gently, like he was talking to a small animal, trying not to scare it.

I try to remember. I really do. I think as hard as I can, but I just can't remember what happened. I want to remember, I know I need to, but I just can't. I'm such an idiot, I can't remember something this important. Rob must have noticed my irritation. He moved a little closer to me and whispered. "Hey, it's ok. You don't have to remember just yet. It takes time." he's still talking really softly. He probably thinks I'm some sort of wounded creature he needs to care for. "Look, I know you mean well, but I don't need your sympathy, ok?" I say. Keith scowls while he's leaning in the doorframe, like he has been the entire time, I don't think he likes me all that much. "I know you don't, but I want you to have it." Rob says. I sigh. I really don't want it. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go now. Call me if you need anything." I thanked him and he walked out, a glaring Keith following him.

The next few days passed in a blur, they were all the same. Me hiding the pain, going through the motions, out with Julia and Fia when they got back from school, the rest of the time being spent at Rob's house with him fussing over me. I still can't remember. Why can't I remember? I need to remember. I can remember everything else he's asked me. I think of what he always asks me. My responses are always the same, "my name is Gab Kenny. I'm 14 years old. My birthday is December 9th. I live in Florence. My brother was murdered. He was missing for a week and found in the river." That's what I always say.

I think I should go back to school soon, but I sleep almost all of the time, and my back still hurts. Not as much, but a little bit. I guess I can go back. As crazy as it sounds, I kind of, miss school. I miss seeing my friends, I miss history class, I miss... I miss being normal. I miss doing normal things. I spend my time investigating my brother's murder, recovering from being shot with my brother's best friend helping me, having my other friends fuss over me getting shot, telling me how worried they were. I don't do normal things, and there's no doubt my friends from school are getting worried -or starting rumors, I'm not sure- I should go back. Yeah, I'm gonna go back.