I went and sat back in the alley. After a while I put my headphones in and looked at the time; 11:48PM. I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall and let the tears flow. I wanted to be the one to kiss her. I wanted to be the one to love her. I wanted to be the one she loved back.
As I sat there and cried, I didn't notice three guys walk towards me. One pulled out my headphone,another one put a gun to my head and the last one said strictly “You're crying, how sad. Now get up and walk into the alley before we put a bullet in your head.” I couldn't make out what they looked like but I didn't hesitate to get up.
I moved to the back of the alley. It was pitch black and I couldn't see a thing but I could feel everything. I felt a punch in my stomach, exactly the same as when my dad hit me the first time. The pain was the exact same. I thought I would be used to it by now, I thought I could handle it. I guess I was wrong.
They kept punching my gut until I fell. I toppled over and then they started kicking me. The pain killed me, it pierced my skin, causing the familiar bruises and scrapes. It felt the same way as when my father did it. The memories kept appearing in front of me. I could see him, a bottle of liquor in his hand, and fury and anger in his face. He would always yell at me, I could practically hear him say “You're a waste of space, you son of a bitch”. That's what hurt the most.
After a while it numbed out to just memories. I couldn't escape my dad. I couldn't do anything but lay there and take it. I was still that selfish, useless, broken, pathetic, horrible, stupid, worthless teenager I was 5 years ago. I was helpless and I should of been. I deserved it for being so clueless. Who would love me? No one. That is why the one girl I loved was kissing some other guy and not me.
No one saw, no one came to help and no one cared enough about me to look. I thought my life wouldn't be like this again. I guess I was wrong yet again. Scarlet didn't love me and I guess this was what I got for being so stupid to think she did. I just wish I knew sooner.
When I opened my eyes, all I saw was one of the guys' shoe come speeding toward my face, and that's when I blacked out. I didn't know when they left or if they thought I was dead, all I knew was that I was in pain and that I had been out for sometime.
My body ached all over and there was no way I looked normal. I was lucky they didn't steal my iPod because it gave me a time source. It was 3:58AM. There was no point in just sitting there and dying. I had to get back to the apartment.
I was already used to doing things when I was in such pain, so I went back to the apartment, I toke the elevator and went to the door. I opened it to see Scarlet sitting at the kitchen table, a worried look on her face and Kleenex in her hand. She jumped up and ran over to me. She almost hugged me until she saw the shape I was in.
“What the hell happened to you, Tyson?” she said as she looked up at my face, her eyes started to water.
“A few guys beat me up in an alley I guess. I don't really recall” I walked past her and up the stairs.
“I think you should go to the hospital. You look pretty bad.” she said with concern.
I turned around, still in pain and replied “I've gotten worse than this before, I don't think I should waste a nurse's time when I know what to do,” She was starting to cry, I couldn't stand it. I walked down to her, put my hands on her shoulders and said “The truth is, I hate hospitals. Ever since the night I went in on my own, I've hated them. They're full of sadness and people who are in worse condition than I am. I don't want to waste someone else's time if I can do what they would, by myself.”
“Well, if you aren't going to the hospital, at least let me help clean you up” she said as she looked me straight in the eye.
“I don't think I have the energy to stop you” I gave her a weak smile, which hurt me a bit and went to the bathroom. She helped wash up the cuts, put bandages over them as well and got some ice. She was so gentle and caring, it was unbelievable. She tried her hardest to make sure she didn't hurt me more. I was so glad too. No one had ever treated me like that before.
It ended up being 5:30AM before we noticed, that's when I realized why I was in the alley, I saw Scarlet kiss some guy. I had to know more. There was no way I was going to sleep without knowing, I just didn't know how I was going to ask.
Luckily, Scarlet started off a great conversation with “Why were you outside anyway? I came back and you weren't here”
We were in the bathroom cleaning up the mess. “I decided to go for a walk when you were at work and when I came back I opened the door to you were kissing someone on the couch and I didn't want to interrupt so I walked back out and I don't recall anything after that.”
Her cheeks turned bright red, she wasn't one to be embarrassed. “Oh” was all she said.
“So, who was the guy?” I wanted to sleep and I wanted to know. I wasn't going to avoid what I wanted to know any longer.
“His name is Conrad. I met him when I got off work an hour early, I physically ran into him. We got to talking and I invited him up, When we came up and you weren't here, I got kind of worried. You didn't tell me you'd be gone so I sat and waited for you. At 10:30 I started getting really worried and he tried to, as he put it, calm me down by kissing me. I told him to back off, then I asked him to leave and he did. Then I sat at the table and waited for you, I was worried.” She didn't look me in the eye. “And I guess I had a pretty damn good reason to be.”
I wanted Conrad to disappear. How could he be so stupid to kiss someone who was worried about their friend, and not even know them for 12 hours. I had been holding back for two whole months. He didn't deserve Scarlet, even if I didn't either.
“Thanks for being so concerned about me, but you don't have to kick people out if I'm not around. Just send me a text letting me know, that's all.” I replied, its all I could think of.
“And I'll also let you know when I get off work early.” she gave me a half smile, it was so pretty.
“Good, now, can we sleep?”
“Please!” She smiled and we went to bed. Thank god it was Friday and we didn't have school a few hours later.
