We Are the Kids From Yesterday

I Am Not Afraid to Keep On Living

It was the next morning when Party woke up in Ghoul's arms. He was facing him, seeing Ghoul's peaceful, sleeping face and smiling. He wasn't the first awake, he saw Jet preparing something in a corner of the tent.

"Morning, Jet Star," said Party. "What's that?"

"I gotta check your wound again," said Jet, looking up at Party. "I have to everyday to be safe, but also so I can check the progress of healing. Gotta clean it and wrap it again."

"You think I'm almost better?" Party said, putting a hand on the wrapped wound.

"Yeah, it's closed up a lot," said Jet. "You're not really bleeding anymore, but it was still a bit tender when I checked yesterday. It might hurt, I don't know, you haven't exactly been conscious when I've been working on it."

Smiling, Party said, "I'm tough, I can handle it."

"Baby..." he heard Ghoul mutter in a sleepy voice, still laying down. "Come back to sleep." His eyes still weren't open and he had grabbed Party's arm.

"I'm up," said Party. "You wanna get up too?"

Ghoul shook his head eyes still closed as he turned around. Party chuckled, ruffling the smaller boy's hair before looking to Jet and saying, "There is no one in this world that can make Ghoul a morning person."

Jet laughed, coming towards Party and saying, "Okay, c'mon, let's clean it."

Party moved into a more open space and laid down so Jet could unwrap the bandages on his naked chest. The wound was still rather nasty to look at, Party's skin shiny and pink and he jumped when Jet touched it. There was a slight char on some of the skin and it was not very attractive at all.

"Sorry," Jet said when Party jumped. He took a wet cloth and dabbed at the wound, it stinging slightly when Jet touched it. He then took bandages and wrapped it again. "You can put a shirt on if you want," Jet said when he finished.

"Yeah, I'm gonna," said Party going over to where his stuff was in the corner. He went through his bag until he found a shirt to put on. He had always been a bit self-conscious, always having been a bit chubby. He'd especially feel bad when he compared himself to Kobra and how skinny he had always been, it didn't feel good. He hated knowing they had all seen his bare chest. Yes, at this point in his life he had lost quite a bit of weight but he still hated how he looked. He constantly felt disgusting and was in a constant state of hatred for his appearance.

Party went over to Kobra once he had put the plain white t-shirt on and sat down next to him. "Don't tell me you're gonna end up in a coma too."

"I don't think he will," said Jet, putting the stuff back. "He threw everything up. He's just exhausted from like never sleeping while you were gone and then the fact he puked his guts out yesterday. That stuff, it's pretty strong."

"The kid doesn't seem to be having the best week."

"No, not at all."

At that was when Kobra woke up, rubbing his eyes, looking miserable and sick. "Party?" he said quietly when he saw his brother looking at him.

"You had a rough night, kid," Party said.

"You shouldn't be up," said Kobra, seeming slightly concerned. "You should be resting. To get your strength back."

"I'm fine, Kobra," said Party. "I appreciate your concern, but right now, you're my main worry. You tried to kill yourself again. This is the third time."

Kobra sat up, not looking Party in the eyes as he said, "It had been two weeks. I lost hope."

"Well, look what happened," said Party, his voice sounding slightly on-edge. "I'm back. You know perfectly well that it's not a way out! Things will get better if you let them."