Devil's Night

Unwanted Performance

Ricky POV

I awoke from my dehydration induced coma like rest when the door slid opened with one swift motion. I jolted myself awake as two guards came barging in without hesitation. Though it took a moment or two to get my vision to be clear, I was disturbed to see Chris looking dead over one of their shoulders. Rem was following close behind to his minions, snapping once. In one quick move, they dropped Chris to the hard ground making a loud thud. He groaned as he hit the floor and rolled to his back, using his arms to shield his eyes from the blinding light. 

"Chris!" I yelled as I began to rush over to help him. I shoved Rem away from him, finally willing to stand up to Rem but that was a thoughtless move on my part.

On my way to his side was halted by one of the minios. It wasn't hard for them to tackle and get me in a restrictive position. My wounds were healed more and I could finally be able to struggle through their grasp without the pain paralyzing me. Through my matted, tangled hair in front of my eyes I could see Chris choking and whimpering in front of my view across the room. I turned my head to my left as I heard Rem snap , getting my attention. But I shut my eyes tight, facing away and not wanting to see this.

I could hear Chris let out a high pitched yelp after a dim thump as he took a kick to his chest. On and on it went with the odd but obvious sounds of pain coming from my friend. When I made the quick mistake of taking a look at the scene after about fifteen minutes, Chris was lying in the fetal position, turned away from me and his bare back covered in dark bruises and even some blood. I could see him quivering and shaking as he sniffled and whimpered.

I looked up to Rem, begging for his mercy towards Chris within my eyes. He gave me a short and firm nod, raising his hand to signal to the guards that he's had enough. And in that, the minion released me, letting my hands fall to the floor. As they left the room, one of them gave Chris one last kick to the gut and walked off, sealing the door behind him.

As soon as they were gone and out of sight, I scurried over my beaten friend. He was still tightly curled into a little ball, holding himself in anguish as he softly whimpered. Now that I had a closer look at him I was more horrified than I was before while watching from a distance. This was worse than when we went to school and I would find him on the bathroom floor after getting his shit kicked in from the jocks.I hovered my hand over his back, wondering how I should approach this. I remember how much it hurt me to even have Chris lay a finger on me while cleaning my injuries. Would it feel the same for him? I wanted to help but really what could I do to ease him? I've failed him once more and it kills me inside to be this useless and cowardly for him.

I decided to start careful and lightly stroke his hair. He didn't say a single word to me and remained curled up for quite some time but I promised I would stay next to him to watch over him. I reached over into his pocket and pulled out the other half of his shirt he tore for me. I used it to wipe the blood coming from his mouth and nose. Patting it lightly to make sure I didn't cause him more pain.