Set Free

Chapter 8: Love, Pain, and Moving on

I could barely see Eddie's face through the almost invisible lighting of the cleaning closet. I wasn't sure what do now besides wait for him to tell me what to do next, recently it seems that was all I could do, sit and wait for the answer. In the dimness of the closet and what we had just seen, both our voices seemed lost in the moment.

"We have to go look. Look in the apartment." He said unable to piece sentences together properly.

I said nothing and just nodded. I was going to call him crazy, but I didn't want to fight right now, I'd need a shoulder to cry on after what we may see in a matter of minutes.

Taking deep breaths opening the closet door Eddie stepped out first. I could hear his rapid breath and the thumping of his heart from steps away. At that moment I couldn't do anything to help him besides silently adding my hand to his. Grasping it tightly I could feel the tense grip of his hand relax and I stroked his thumb with mine sending his breathing into a normal pace once again.

Pulling me forward Eddie opened the door to our apartment by pushing on the wood slab that was snapped partially through the middle with the doorknob missing. Entering our living area there were dents slammed into walls that looked to be the imprint of human heads. Tufts of hair lay on the floor, from black to faded green and blonde. Bottles of bright neon blue and platinum blonde colouring were splattered all over the walls and floor. Blood dripped from where remains of glass from a broken wall mirror had been shattered and furniture was tipped over and thrown across the entire room. Most surprising was the fact all three of our friends were seen visible on the floor. Yuza lay passed out on the floor with red dripping from her temple with the doorknob beside her covered in blood. Reggy was spotted near the window with glass in his palm and tuffs of his hair missing and cut off. Lastly, Aydin gave us all a fright. He sat in the corner, the only one conscious covering his eye with his hand rocking back and forth whispering as if he was praying for this to be over. Red fluid dripped from his hand covering his eye and I feared Aydin would never be the same again.

Stepping on the hardwood floor, cracking could be heard from the sound of broken shards of the vase Reggy bought for decoration, along with cereal that had been torn out of the cupboards and thrown onto the floor. As Aydin heard my steps he pulled out a gun from his back pocket quickly pointing it at me and opened one eye to look at who his enemy could be with his hand still covering the other eye.

"Woah shit!" I swore taking two steps back tripping on Eddie's foot and falling back until he caught me in his arms. Like a trust fall with no choice.

Aydin dropped the gun placing his free hand in the air gasping at the sight of us before tears cascaded down his face without even blinking, just because he saw us.  I felt my heart wrench in agony from the sight around us, but mostly by seeing someone I didn't even like get the hell beaten out of him and actually care.

I looked behind me to see the colour drain from Eddie's face as he took in the view around us, and the guy he hated for months now at his worst. Eddie dropped to his knees landing on shards of glass, but rather than screaming in pain or crying as I would, he stayed there and I watched the blood from his body turn into a puddle on the floor. He slammed the ground sending small pieces of damage into the sides of his hands and screaming in disbelief swearing every word I knew possible and most likely giving our neighbours a nightmare.

Running across to the kitchen in the cabinet I pulled out the first-aid kit and walked over to where Aydin sat pulling out body wrap bandages. Without asking I started to wrap around his head sideways and pulled his hand away to bandage his eye. I ignored the sight of whatever could've happened to it and finished the bandaging process. His breath rattled as he caught sight of Reggy and Yuza around the room and his mouth started to waver, like a toddler on the verge of a meltdown.