Crystal's Saviour

20

The next few days passed in a blur. I and Crystal had grown closer and we spent most of our time together. Thankfully Crystal didn't do anything to hurt herself anymore. She would tell me how that devil hurt her. I would always ask to come to her place and confront him but she would always tell me not to do anything. She was scared. She was scared that I would get hurt or Davis would get too mad at her and cause bigger damage. I could never let that happen.

I felt like a total looser. There were people around me who needed help but I couldn't do anything to save them. Mom needed help but she wouldn't let me do anything. Crystal needed help but she would also not let me do anything. I wanted to help them!

"That animal." My jaw clenched as I held Crystal's arm with a new bruise. "What did he do now?"

"Nothing just held my arm tightly and left a bruise. Nothing else." She said. I was still not convinced.

"I swear, Aiden." She turned towards me. "He didn't do anything else." She looked deeper in my eyes and I nodded unsurely.

"Why don't you let me do something, Crys?" I looked at her while she wrote down on her book. We were currently in the library and thankfully it was mostly empty.

"We already had this talk, Aiden."

"I know but-" she turned towards me and interwined her hand with mine.

"Look, don't worry about me, alright? I-"

"How can I not worry?"

"Listen to meee." She whinned like a little kid, making me laugh. "Alright, sorry." I put my hand on the table and rested my head on my hands, watching her intensely.

"Try not to worry about me, okay? Your big game is coming, concentrate on that."

I slowly nodded my head but I still couldn't forget those bruises.

"How was practice yesterday?" She asked, trying to help me get my mind to think about something else. I appreciated that.

"It was fine. I was extremely tired. Got my ankle twisted while running but it's okay now."

"Are eyou sure you're okay?" She looked at me with her forehead creased." Yeah, I'm good."

"You didn't have practice today?" She asked.

"I skipped." Her head snapped towards me, I was afraid she might actually break her neck.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to see you?" I gave her a toothy grin.

"Are you serious, Aiden? You have your final match next month. You should be practicing. You should not be skipping because of me."

"Alright alright. I promise I'll go tomorrow but today I really needed to see you. I missed you." I innocently said.

"You missed me?" A small smile appeared on her face. "I did." Smiled back at her.

She laughed slowly and shook her head. "But still you can't skip practice because of me."

Suddenly my phone rang in my pocket. I took it out and saw mom calling.

"Shut it off!" A man sitting just a few feets away hissed at me.

"Hello?" I glued the phone to my ear. I waited for an answer from mom but there was no reply.

"Mom?" I said and my eyebrows creased in confusion when I just heard heavy breaths and nothing else.

"Mom, are you okay?" I started to panic.

"Aiden." She breathed out.

"Are you okay? What's going on, mom?" I stood up from the chair.

"Come. Fast." Was all she said.

"Aiden what's wrong?" Crystal stood beside me with concern.

"Mom? What's going on?" I said a little louder this time.

"I... Can't breath." We're the words she said before there was a loud crashing sound and the call declined.

"I need to go." I panicked and rushed out of the library.

"Call me when you get there!" Crystal yelled.

***

"Mom!" I yelled as I entered the house.

"Mom!" I yelled louder this time. I ran to the kitchen but she wasn't there. I then rushed to her room and my heart almost stopped when I saw her laying down on the floor, unconscious.

"Mom! Shit!" I ran to her and crouched down beside her, shaking her. "Mom! Wake up!" I yelled, not knowing what to do. My mind seemed to stop working.

I scooped her in my arms and rushed outside the house, towards the car. I didn't know who to call or what to do. My palms were sweaty as I gripped tightly onto the steering wheel as I drove towards the hospital.

"Mom." I kept glancing at her from time to time. I was breathing heavily when we got to the hospital. I couldn't even imagine anything bad happening to mom.

I couldn't stop thinking. I sat down in the waiting room when mom was taken inside the room. I was sweating and shaking. I was scared.

I took out my phone with shaking hands. My fingers tapped on the screen rapidly.

"Hey, asshole!" Cameron happily said.

"Cameron." I breathed out. I couldn't even speak anything. My hand massaged my forehead as I looked down to the floor.

"Aiden? What's wrong?" He was serious this time.

"Mom. Something happened to her." I was on the verge of breaking down. I loved mom so much and I couldn't see her like this. I couldn't imagine loosing her or seeing her in pain.

"Where are you? I'm coming right now!"