It's Harder Breathing Next To You // KELLIC

7

I was dizzy and everything felt numb. I had been lying on the cold bathroom floor for the past hour and I was getting worse by the second. At first it felt good. It felt good to take my own life into my hands but now that this was actually happening, now that I felt my life slowly slipping away, I was scared. I was scared because I was going to miss out on so much more in life. Only a few hours ago I was thinking of how much life sucks and how it will never get better but in the back of my mind I knew that one day I would leave all of this behind. I was scared because I never gave myself the opportunity to turn my life around in the future, but now here I was half conscious on the bathroom floor with no one to help me. I didn't want to die though and I didn't want to call an ambulance. I don't want my dad finding out that I did this. That would only make him think that it's okay if he hurt me because I wanted to hurt myself. There was only one person I could call.

***NO ONE'S P.O.V- Third person***

"Mike, this is the second time your fucking phone has rung. Answer it." Vic said, throwing the cell phone at his younger brother who was sprawled out on the couch in the living room. Mike ignored his brothers annoyed tone. Vic had come home that night pissed off although Mike had no idea why.

"Talk to me." Mike said when he answered the phone. He could hear a mumbling sound on the other end.

"What? Who is this?" Mike asked into the phone, but he still got the same incoherent string of words. He figured it was just a prank caller messing with him so he hung up.

"Who was it?" Vic asked, sitting next to him.

"I dunno. I couldn't hear them properly." Mike replied.

"Well was there caller I.D?" Vic asked like his brother was stupid. Mike shrugged nonchalantly.

"Didn't check." He said. Both of the boys dropped the subject, not caring about who they thought was a prank caller. That was until the phone rang again.

"Oh my god, you answer it." Mike sighed, getting annoyed now and chucked his phone to Vic. Vic caught it and looked at the caller I.D this time. He was surprised to see Kellin's name flashing on the screen.

"Kellin has your number?" He questioned.

Mike sat up, looking at Vic oddly. "Yeah, I gave it to him last week. What's he calling for? I haven't spoken to him in like a week."

Vic suddenly got a bad feeling. In fact, he had a bad feeling ever since he left Kellin's house that night.

"Kellin?" He asked when he answered the phone.

"I don't want to die." The soft, distressed, slurred voice came from the other end of the phone.

"What did you do?" Vic asked, jumping up from his spot in the couch. "Kellin!"

Kellin wasn't replying. Little did Vic know, Kellin had just passed out.

"Kellin!" Vic shouted into the phone again but he got no response. Vic hung up the phone and threw it back at Mike. Deep down Vic knew someone like this was going to happen, so he didn't hesitate in jumping to the conclusion that Kellin had hurt himself.

"We've gotta go. Something's wrong." Vic said, taking Mike's car keys from the coffee table. Mike, noticing how troubled Vic was, jumped off the couch and ran after him out the door.

"What did he say?" Mike asked when they reached the car. Vic didn't answer him. He knew he had to focus on driving so he get could get to Kellin's house before it was too late. Vic gripped the steering wheel tightly the whole way there. He should have noticed the signs. He had seen the signs before on someone else and he ignored them, now he's gone and done it again and that made him feel incredibly guilty. He could have stopped this. He didn't notice how fragile Kellin really was. If he knew that before then he wouldn't have messed with him in the first place. He didn't even realize that the little things he did to Kellin would have such a great impact. He knew it wasn't all him though. Craig had gone too far by doing what he did to Kellin tonight. There was so much more going on in Kellin's life though and Vic knew none of it; that was until he saw those bruises today. He was so shocked when he saw them and although Kellin said it was an accident, Vic didn't really believe him, but it wasn't Vic's place to get involved. It wasn't Vic's life and Kellin wasn't even a friend to Vic. Even though Vic was somewhat intrigued by Kellin, Kellin was still just one of his common foes at school. Well, that was until tonight. Vic didn't quite understand why he wanted to help Kellin earlier, but he had a feeling that Kellin didn't have anyone else, so that's why he went to pick up the innocent boy. Then when Kellin broke down in tears in Vic's car all he wanted to do was stop the car, reach over and hug him, but once again, it wasn't his place to do so. The urge to comfort Kellin scared Vic. He had gone so long not caring about anyone and easily turning off his emotions, then this skinny, pale, younger boy just waltzes in and actually made Vic feel bad for doing something. No one had ever yelled at him like Kellin had. No one had cried in front of him like Kellin had. Kellin was...different.

Vic was speeding and it was putting Mike on edge.

"Slow down." Mike said in a panicked tone.

Vic wouldn't slow down though; they were on Kellin's street now. Vic kept replaying Kellin's words in his head: 'I don't want to die'. What was wrong? What did he do and why didn't he call an ambulance?

Vic slammed the brakes on outside Kellin's house, flung his door open and ran to Kellin's house. He tried to open the door but it was locked.

"Plan B?" Mike asked. The Fuentes' brothers had broken into enough houses and rooms at school to know what plan B meant. Vic stepped aside and Mike knelt down, took his trusty piece of wire out of his pocket and went to work on the door. Vic could pick locks too, but Mike was a lot quicker and within a minute the door clicked unlocked. Vic pushed the door open and ran into the dark house. It didn't look like anyone was home, but he dropped Kellin off just over an hour ago so he should still be here. He followed the only light in the house and pushed Kellin's bathroom door open. Laying on the ground, motionless, eyes closed, was Kellin. Vic did a quick sweep of the room and found an empty bottle of pain killers sitting on the edge of the basin.

"Oh fuck." Mike whispered from behind Vic. Vic knelt down beside Kellin and placed two fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. He felt it but it wasn't very strong.

"Call an ambulance." Vic ordered. He jumped up, turned the nearby shower on as cold as it could go and picked Kellin up as best he could pick up a lifeless body. He pulled Kellin under the cold water, practically straddling him, and shook him.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Mike asked Vic, in between his phone call with the ambulance. Vic lightly slapped Kellin's cheek and Kellin groaned, slowly coming around. His eyes fluttered open before shutting again and he groaned once more.

"Yes." Vic finally replied. Mike said something to the ambulance on the other end of the phone before covering it and turning back to Vic.

"You should wait for the ambulance." Mike pressed, making Vic annoyed.

"I've done this before, Mike!" Vic snapped.

"Yeah but she died, Vic!" Mike shouted back.

"He's not Ellie!" Vic yelled, glaring at Mike. Vic breathed heavily, trying to push away the memories of the girl who was once his best friend. He turned back to Kellin who was slowly waking back up and shivering under the cold water.

"Kellin, are you with me?" Vic asked, pushing Kellin's hair back out of his eyes. Kellin responded with another groan.

Mike hung up the phone after giving them the address which he hoped he got right and watched on as Vic and Kellin sat under the cold stream of the shower. Slowly Kellin was regaining consciousness. Vic kept caressing his face, whispering for him to wake up. He was having flashbacks to when he was in a similar situation with Ellie.

"Where is that ambulance?" Vic asked Mike. Right on queue they could hear sirens getting closer.

"You'll be okay." Vic said to Kellin, but he was more trying to convince himself. Kellin opened his eyes after hearing the sirens and started to panic.

"No. No ambulance." He whined. "My dad he...he can't find out."

Vic saw the fear in Kellin's eyes, but he wouldn't call off the ambulance. It was too late anyway because the paramedics were knocking on the front door.

"You'll be fine." Vic repeated himself. Kellin looked back at Vic and in his confused and dazed mind he completely trusted that he was right, before he passed out again.

—-

**KELLIN'S P.O.V AGAIN**

My head was pounding and my body was hurting more than it usually did. I felt different. I was off balance and just...abnormal. I opened my eyes. I was laying on my stomach. Looking to both of my sides I realized I was in a room I didn't recognize. What the fuck? My head was blurry, but I could vaguely remember what happened last night. Vic dropped me off and then I took those pills. I remember calling Mike, but that's it. Shit. Where am I?

"Hey." A voice came from in the room. I sat up immediately and turned around. Sitting on a chair in the corner of the room was Vic. He looked like he had been watching me for a while, and that's when I noticed I wasn't wearing a shirt.

"W-what? I, uh..." I was at a loss for words. I was so fucking confused. How did I end up shirtless in a bed with Vic Fuentes in the room? Shouldn't I be dead or in a hospital?

"How much do you remember?" He asked softly. I was taken aback by his voice. He sounded completely different when he wasn't trying to sound intimidating.

"Umm, I called Mike and I can't remember anything after that." I was timid. I knew I was giving off that vibe. Vic stood up and walked over to me, sitting on the edge of the bed next to me. I scooted away but I couldn't go very far.

"Calm down, I won't hurt you." He said, looking into my eyes. I feel like I had seen that look before. It was like I could tell he was telling the truth, like I could trust him or something, but I know I've never felt that way about him before so why would I have this sense of deja vu? I shouldn't trust someone I hate.

"What happened?" I asked. "And where's my shirt?"

He got up and walked over to a set of drawers. He opened it, pulled something out and threw it at me. I caught the grey shirt and looked at it oddly.

"Yours is in the wash. Wear this one." He said. I did what I was told and put the shirt on. The shirt smelt like a mixture of soap and cologne and for a second I pondered on the fact that he wears cologne. I had never smelt it on him before so it mustn't be very strong, although maybe I'd have to get closer to him. Wait? Why am I thinking about how he smells? He sat back down next to me and I looked at him expectantly so he would tell me what happened.

"After your phone call Mike and I found you, called an ambulance and they took you to h-"

"An ambulance? What? I was at hospital? Was my Dad there?" I asked in alarm.

"No, no. You regained consciousness for a bit and asked me not to call an ambulance because you didn't want your dad to find out, but the ambulance was already there by then, so I gave the hospital a fake name, then after they pumped your stomach, Mike and I snuck you out, which by the way wasn't very easy." He said.

"Why would you do that for me?" I asked quietly. Why wouldn't he just leave me with the hospital and leave? He simply shrugged and didn't give me an answer. He changed the topic instead.

"Kellin, you're covered in bruises." He pointed out, and that was my queue to leave.

"I should go. I should get to school." I said even though I had no idea what time it was. I could have missed school completely for all I know. I pushed the sheet off me, thankful that I was still wearing my jeans and stood up. The second I stood up my head spun and my knees went weak. I was about to fall but Vic was by my side quickly. His arm wrapped around my waist and he set me back on the bed.

"You aren't going anywhere." He said definitively. I closed my eyes for a minute and looked back at Vic. He was kneeling on the ground beside the bed, looking up at me, his hands resting on my knees. I pushed his hands away.

"Are you okay?" He asked with concern written all over his face. I nodded my head and he got up and sat next to me.

"I'm fine, but I- I should go. I have to face Craig sometime, right?" My voice was laced with a dry humor. I was going to add a chuckle to the end of the sentence but I didn't feel like it.

"First of all, you are staying right here today, got it?" He asked in his normal demanding tone. I looked at him to see he was being completely serious and there was no way I could convince him to let me leave, so I nodded quickly, but my head hurt so I stopped.

"Secondly, I'm," He paused for a moment and his voice went softer, "I'm going to make them stop, okay? No one's going to touch you."