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sleepless nights
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
A splitting headache that pounded to the beat of his heart. A stinging face, a swollen eye, a little deliriousness. Gabriel Burton was experiencing all that and more as he finally opened his eyes (well, eye) on the floor of the locker room, six faces swimming above him in various degrees of blurriness. He'd been unconscious for all of a minute, but it'd felt like an eternity, just like his flight to the lockers had. An eternity of unsettling images that he couldn't quite name, of fireworks and faces, all of which he'd promptly forgotten when he finally woke. There had been voices—his friends voices—all of which laced with concern, and there had been a squeeze of his hand, a rub of his shoulder. And now he was officially awake. Now he was blinking up at them, and he knew that because they were all here it meant that Billy was gone, maybe not dead, but at least gone.
"Gabe." Will was the first to speak, which wasn't much of a surprise. He'd always been there for him. "Are you okay? Wait, no, that was a stupid question. You got knocked out. Billy threw you against a locker."
"You look like shit," Alina pointed out, chewing on her lip. Gabe thought this was a little unfair, given that her hair was a mess, and the bottom half of her face was coated with dried blood. This wasn't even mentioning the way she clutched her ribs and winced periodically, or the fact that she was leaning against Lucas. He tried to say so, but his voice came out as a croak, and he shut his mouth before he could embarrass himself.
"Can you stand?" Lucas asked. He looked around the changeroom, and Gabe did, too, and noticed a giant hole gouged out of the wall. Outside air streamed through. "I mean, I don't want to rush you or anything, but I don't think that we've been very inconspicuous about this whole thing."
Gabe's eyes flickered to El, who was clutching at her throat. He could see fingermarks there from where Billy had grabbed it. Guilt flooded through him. He hadn't seemed to help much. In fact, he'd barely done anything. Except get knocked out. And waste everyone's time. Like he usually did.
