Given Up

Chapter 41

The door opened before Scott could get his keys out.

"Found him at the Gym..."  Scott's voice was forcibly light and there was a pause that I could only imagine was them communicating through looks, as I didn't want to lift my head to see Kate's face.

"Let's get you inside Ky,"  I was leaning against Sensei Max: his voice low and by my ear.

Max followed the others, edging me through the house to the living room, gently setting me down on the sofa. I still couldn't bear to look into Kate's eyes. I sank my head into my hands, I didn't have the energy for the adults. My body felt so heavy; like I was underwater. All I wanted to do was lie in bed and sleep forever. A hiccup washed over my body; an aftershock of the crying mess I had been back in the gym. 

"Oh hi, sorry, we haven't been introduced. I am Max Pankton. I teach...used to teach Ky Karate."  He extended his hand and shook with Kate.

"Of course, yes, I have heard your name. You were at the gym?"  Kate's voice showed her confusion - of course she had no idea what had just gone down. It was probably a good thing that she hadn't heard everything I had said...

"Yes, I saw him and Scott...er..."  He paused and Scott filled in the rest.

"Max was there when Kyle got a bit upset and helped us out." Scott said gently. He was being so vague he might as well have said 'I'll tell you later'.

I didn't want to be here when they talked about my breakdown. I got up, my legs feeling like jelly.

"Where are you going pal?" Scott was right next to me.

"Bed," I managed to grumble.

"We need to fix up your hands first, okay?"  Max was the other side of me now.

I looked down at them, the knuckles torn to shreds from pummelling the bag. It had almost been Scott's face. 

"Oh my God, what happened to your hands?"  Kate gasped as she too stood in front of me - the three of them a veritable cage around me. She reached for my hands then and I yanked them away, causing her to flinch too. I couldn't be touched right now. They were all suddenly very still. They were treating me like I was made of glass, but this time I didn't care. I was already cracked:  I might shatter at any moment. 

"Just let me go," I whispered, a wave of exhaustion rippling through my body. I didn't want people that cared: they would just be more people that I would eventually let down.

None of them moved. I sank back into the sofa and turned my back on them all, burying my head into the couch cushions.

———-

The hum of voices invaded my senses; my awareness growing slowly until I couldn't ignore it anymore. Kate's shrill ringtone cut through sharply, making my stomach flip. I heard a chair pull back and her voice say softly.

"Yes, this is Kate." 

Her voice drifted away as she evidently went out into the hallway. I cracked my eyes open now to see worn, brown leather facing me. I must be on the sofa. I remembered coming home; Scott and Sensei bringing me in; collapsing on the sofa. My throat felt like I had been eating sandpaper; my stomach hollow and aching. As I was about to move, I heard my name being used: I stayed where I was.

"I didn't like to say in front of Kate, but I had no idea that Kyle had been the one to find her."  Sensei Max's voice was a low murmur.

"One of my buddies attended; said it was a pretty bad scene. She'd been there a few hours. They had to pull Kyle off of her." There was a pause; a clink of a glass. "Like he said to you the other week, he blames himself for going to the tournament. Now he feels responsible for his friend dying too."  There was a creak as someone moved in one of the old chairs.  "How he thinks he can be to blame for a sicko abusing a kid, for any of it, I don't know."