Him

What the Hell Happened to You?

It's been about two weeks since Craig and I hung out at The Drop. It has been going really well, we have been getting to know each other and hanging out more. We, usually, go to his house, which is right on the beach, or somewhere else close by together. We normally don't hang out at my apartment because Scarlett and Deran are there most of the time.

Yesterday, they decided that they were going to go on a small getaway to Trestles Beach. Since Deran has been spending lots of time getting his bar up and running, he thought that it would be a good idea for both of them to spend some time together away from Oceanside. Of course, conveniently, Craig said that he had some work to take care of with Jason to "close a deal," whatever that means. Either way he said that he would be really busy. I didn't realize that when I met Jason, at The Drop, that they worked together. So I settled on the idea of a self-care day, because I have the next two days off and I'm going to be alone in the apartment.

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The rest of the night I ordered a pizza from the Little Italy down the street and found a movie to watch on Netflix while I ate. After the movie was over, I decided a little T.L.C. was long overdue and put on a facemask and binged a few episodes from my favorite show. I washed the facemask off and made myself some dessert before continuing to watch my show.

After a few hours of watching TV and playing on my phone it was about midnight, so I sent Scarlett a text:

From Layla:

Hey I just wanted to let you know that everything is fine here and I hope that you had a good day surfing and burning in the sun ;)

From Scarlett:

Haha you are so damn hilarious. We had a really great day. We got on the beach early today and set up with towels, an umbrella, and cooler. Deran thought it would be a good idea to attempt to teach me how to surf and he said that I was getting the hang of it. He's the best teacher :)

From Scarlett:

We're actually going to bed right now too ;)

At that text I just scoffed and rolled my eyes, giggling to myself. I typed a quick reply:

From Layla:

Ew. Be safe lol. Goodnight xx

Then I figured that I should probably send Craig a quick text too since I haven't really talked or heard from him much today, like I expected. I sent:

From Layla:

Hey! I hope everything is going well with your deal. I missed talking to you today and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Twenty minutes later Craig still hadn't replied, so I changed into a black tank top and took off my gym shorts before getting into bed and falling asleep.

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BANG BANG BANG

I gasp sitting up in bed, my eyes trying to adjust to the dark after being dead asleep. I look at the clock and it says 2:57 a.m. I sit there thinking I'm dreaming still. The banging comes again, so I turn on my bedside table lamp.

BANG BANG BANG

It continues and I grab the bat from my closet and head towards the door because I have no idea who would be at my house at almost 3 in the morning, and I've seen WAY too many scary movies for this.

I was very tense walking to my front door. My heart is pounding as I round the corner and the door comes into my line of sight. I adjust my grip on the bat, hoping that I won't need to use it on whoever is on the other side of that door.

BANG BANG BANG

I finally make it to the door, making as little noise as possible. I hear the banging one more time and I jump, startled by how loud it actually is. I get the courage to look through the peep-hole in the door and I see Craig.

But he doesn't look how he normally does. He doesn't have his signature smirk or his long, purposefully messy hair or his bright eyes ready to see me.

He's leaning against the door frame, head against his right arm, left hand clutching his side. He's sweating profusely, panting, and is pale, in comparison to his normally tanned tone. I finally snap out of my haze of confusion and disbelief and open the door quickly.

"Layla." Craig says softly. I finally realize why he is gripping on to his side. He's bleeding. In fact, Craig is bleeding so much that it is seeping through his white dress shirt and red is staining his hands. I grab him and attempt to lead him inside my apartment and onto the couch. I bring him in and kick the door closed. I struggle to drag Craig toward the couch and he throws himself down with a groan. I run to the bathroom to get some towels and to the kitchen to get the first aid kit. I keep talking to Craig in order to keep in awake and run back over to find out exactly what happened.

I kneel next to him and notice that the blood is mostly on Craig's right side, just below his ribs. I slowly peel back the fabric of his shirt and hear him wince and pull slightly away from me. I see a cut starting from the front of his ribs extending to his side. It's a large cut, but doesn't seem too deep. I quickly grab the towels and splash disinfectant on them, before stopping to look at Craig. He looks so pale.

I move some hair out of his eyes before telling him, "This is going to sting." Then I gently dabbed the towels on his cut. He winces while sitting up quickly. I have to push him back down before he hurts himself even more. Craig curses under his breath, but somewhat relaxes when I tell him I have to do this only a few more times. After I finish disinfecting the wound, I grab some clean towels and make sure that the bleeding stops before I bandage him up. As I'm doing this, I notice that my hands are stained with Craig's blood. I look down quickly to focus on bandaging him up before worrying about anything else.

I lift the towels and notice that the bleeding has stopped some. I lift my head to look at Craig's face and say, "It doesn't look deep enough to where you need stitches. I'm no doctor, but I have taken a few courses here and there." I grab the large bandage pads and cover up the cut. As I finish, I sit back on my heels, finally being able to relax. I look at Craig and mutter under my breath, "What the hell happened to you?" I look down, shaking my head from side to side. I stare at my hands. Zoning out, I think about how much worse this could have been. Suddenly, I feel something brush my shoulder and look up to see Craig caressing my arm with his right pointer finger. He nods his head signaling for me to sit next to him on the couch.

We sit in silence for a while, until I meet his eyes. "You really scared me. I saw you just standing there bleeding and I didn't know what to think. Did you get in a fight? What the hell, Craig? I don't know what happened, but I know that thatcould have been much worse than it is right now? Imagine if it would've been too deep, you could've–" I babbled. I didn't realize that I was crying until I felt Craig wipe the stray tears from my cheeks. He grabbed the ends of my shirt and tugged to pull me closer. I gently lied my head on his chest and he rubbed my back.

After about ten minutes of lying in silence, I finally got up and told him that he needs to rest. I struggle to help him off of the couch, but manage and we start to make our way toward my bedroom. We make it to my bed and it help him sit softly. I add an extra pillow to his stack and help him lie back. I walk to my bathroom and grab a painkiller and some water and give it to Craig to take. I go back into the bathroom to scrub the dried blood off my hands. I scrub until my hands feel raw. I walk out and see that Craig has already fallen asleep. I go to my side of the bed and get in to, hopefully, sleep. I'll have to figure out what happened in the morning. I lean over to make sure that he's comfortable and place a kiss on his cheek before turning off the lights and going to sleep.

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Sorry for the wait, but this chapter has taken me some work and research. It's also my longest chapter so far! I'm pretty proud of this chapter because I've never written anything like this before. This is also the first time I've made a cover/picture for a chapter (using others' pictures). Lots of firsts during this chapter! Let me know what y'all think happened to Craig.

Let me know what y'all think!

-Alyssa