"Drew? Darlings, I'm home!" I walked in and let my voice ring out through the small apartment, but I got no reply. I checked the clock on the wall and saw that it was nine, so he should have been in - his shift didn't start till twelve... so where was he?
I checked around the rest of the rooms since the living room was empty, and froze when I opened the door to the bedroom. It was empty, but the bed didn't look like it'd been slept in for a couple of days at least. Maybe he'd just got stuck at his job somewhere...or maybe he was staying over at a friends. Yeah, that had to be it.
I pulled out my phone and text Laurence, just to be on the safe side before walking through and plonking down on the couch. Until he text back there wasn't much more that I could do... I could maybe watch some TV for a little, put on some music, tune my guiatr, maybe even-
My phone buzzed with a text and I nearly jumped off the couch, quickly unlocking my phone and checking it.
Hey Cy, the reason no one's in the house is cause we're all at the hospital
What?! Why?! What the hell happened?!
Oh god. Oh no, something bad had happened. Someone was hurt. No - someone was dead, that's why no one was here. Something terrible had happened when I was away visiting my parents and now I would never see one of them again, and-
You gotta try and remain calm, alright? We're all down at the hospital but I'll explain everything when you get here. L x
I didn't waste any time and turned and ran back out the apartment and down the street, not bothering to wait for a taxi or bus to pull up - there was no time for that. My goggles bounced off my chin as my feet pounded off the ground, dodging and swerving round the people the were bustling about the streets already. I collided with someone and only quickly managed a brief 'sorry' before I was running again, hearing people shout at me and calling names because of what I done to them.
The only thing that mattered right now was getting there and making sure my friends were alright. I didn't actually know which ward or part of the hospital they were in but I didn't care - they needed me when I had fucked off somewhere. Cutting through the park took me almost straight to the hospital without running into people or tripping up over roots, so that was a bonus there.
I burst through the hospital doors, narrowly missing knocking a nurse down who gave out a yelp then glared at me before stalking off and back down the corridor. I looked around before following the nurse a little bit down until I came to the front desk, there was someone there but she wasn't paying attention to me.
"Excuse me?" She looked up, "I got a text from my friend saying that he was in here and-"
"Barrone?" My head snapped round and I saw Luke standing there with a bandage on his forehead and a cast on his left arm. "We're all in here."
He tilted his head to the side and wandered back in with me quickly following after him. I had so many questions that I was about to ask him but for some reason my mouth and voice wouldn't work, so nothing came out and nothing was said between the two of us.
He pushed open a door to a room that had four beds in each corner - all occupied by my friends except one with I gathered was Luke's. Laurence was holding an ice pack to his temple and he had a black eye and a busted up lip; Kier had a bandaged wrapped round his arm from his wrist to shoulder and had some kind of brace on his leg which was propped up on several pillows; Luke wandered over to his bed and plonked down on it, picking up an ice pack and holding it to his neck... and Drew. Drew's head was bandaged up and his face was swollen up and bruised almost beyond recognition, he seemed to be sleeping so that would probably ease the pain a little on my Timid.
"What the hell happened?!" I said, finally finding my voice.
"Funny story," Kier wheezed, "It was about seven or something, and we were heading out to get some coffee and cookies and...stuff for a movie night when some guys stopped us and tried to pick a fight because of how we looked - nothing new there. They pushed us around and called us names, Drew stepped forward and punched one of the guys and because he stood up for himself, they smashed his head off the wall."
"We were all fighting, but these guys were freaking massive and just tanks... Me and Luke got punched and thrown around a whole lot - and Kier decided to kick them a lot, so they picked him up and threw him by his leg across the street," Laurence continued.
"Drew was their punching bag though it would seem...he got the worst of it..." Luke mumbled quietly.
"I fail to see the funny side of that," I growled, walking straight over to Drew's side and clutching his hand. Now that I was close to him and not standing aimlessly at the door I could see just how bad he actually looked, and that just made me more pissed off at the fuckers that hurt him.
A couple of hours passed and they tried to start conversations with me but I wouldn't answer them back, so in the end they just kind of gave up and talked amongst themselves. I didn't feel much like talking with him like this... the others were all (almost) walking and talking - but Drew wasn't waking up and his breathing was getting more and more shallow as time went on.
"We're going down to the cafe to get some food - do you want us to bring you anything? Some cupcakes, coffee...a sandwich?" Laurence asked as he helped Luke load Kier into a wheelchair.
I simply shook my head and waited for them to leave, and from there I felt tears escape my eyes and trickle down my cheeks. I climbed onto the bed beside my little timid as sobs tore through my body. He was my best friend - I couldn't lose him like this... he couldn't go, he just couldn't.
"Don't leave me Drew..." I whispered, clutching onto his small frame.
I don't know how many times I said that same sentence over and over again, with the hope that he would hear me and somehow react, but so far nothing seemed to be working. His breathing hadn't slowed down, or got faster so that was a good sign at least there...
I sighed and curled up into his side, no longer crying but just feeling my bottom lip quivering and allowing small whimpers to escape my mouth. He wasn't going to wake up...I was never going to see his beautiful eyes again, that amazing smile, those fingers playing his bass guitar, or his-
"C...C-y..."
My eyes snapped open and my head shot up as I looked him over. He'd spoken! He had, it wasn't just my imagination, he was awake! He was going to be alright!
"Come on Wooly - I know you can hear me so don't you dare leave!"
One eye slowly started to open and it looked from side to side before finally resting on me, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips as much as he could manage. I felt the corners of my lips tugging up into a large grin over the fact that he was going to be fine now that he'd woken up.
"WOOLY!" I cheered, flopping down on top of him and hugging him tightly. He squeaked and let out a groan in pain, and it hit me that I'd forgotten where we were and how damaged he was. "Oh fuck, I'm so sorry - oh god I'm sorry - but you're awake, you're okay.. well a little worse than okay, but you're still awake! You woke up Drew!"
His hand slowly lifted up and he gave me a small and weak thumbs up. If it was even possible I felt my grin grow yet again and I hugged him tightly before bringing his face to mine and kissing him deeply. He was here, and he wasn't going anywhere. My Wooly.
A wolf whistle behind me made me jump away from Drew and I turned to see our three friends standing in the doorway - shit, they didn't know about me and Drew...
"I called it!" Kier called out, shoving his hand into the air in victory.
Me and Drew both turned red and at the same time said, "Shut up Kemp."
