The Ways in Which I Die (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER 8: "I DID IT"

SUMMER

The air is crisp and cold as Summer walks down the side walk to work. She clutches the bottle of pepper spray in her pocket in one hand. The sun hasn’t quite peaked the horizon yet and she doesn’t trust the dark streets of Quezon City.

She hates it when it storms, storms always mean early mornings the next day. She rounds the corner of the shop and discover’s a familiar Porsche and also Anthony tucked in a ball with his head down under the door frame and her heart drops into her stomach.

“Anthony?” she chokes and rushes to his side.

He lifts his head slowly as she kneels down next to him on the wet ground. His face stained with blood and tears. A wave of panic washes over her. He’s soaked to the skin and looks like he’s been out all night in the storm. His whole body is shaking horribly and the pain and defeat in his exhausted brown eyes makes Summer’s heart twist and break.

“What- what happened?” she breathes, her hands hovering only inches above him. She wants to reach out and hold him close, promise him everything will be okay, but she’s scared she’s going to hurt him. She can see awful dark bruises wrapping around his throat that are clearly handprints, and his right wrist is bruised and swollen. It looks broken or at least dislocated.

He blinks slowly at her. “I did it.”

“Anthony, what did you- who did this to you?” Summer asks desperately.

“I fought my problems,” he whispers.

“Anthony-”

“I tried,” he hiccups around the sound of his teeth chattering together. “I tried to stop her this time. It tried to make it all stop…”

“It’s okay,” Summer says and gently slides her hand into his left one. “It’s okay.”

“I tried to make her stop,” he repeats around a gut wrenching sob.

Summer doesn’t need to ask any more questions to know what happened to him. She knows it was his girlfriend like she’d suspected for a long time.

“It’s okay Anthony,” she promises. “I won’t let her hurt you again. You’re going to be okay.”

Anthony doesn’t say anything else, only leans against her. She can feel his whole body shake against hers and the wetness from his clothes soaks through hers.

“Let’s get you to the hospital-” she begins to say but Anthony interrupts her.

“No hospital Sam. They- they’ll know what happened…”

“Anthony you need to get help,” she says sternly and examines the deep cut above his eyebrow coated in dry blood. “That cut is really deep. Whatever gave you that could have given you a concussion. And your wrist looks broken.”

“I’m fine, I managed to drive my car” he says weakly and stubbornly, while he pulls away from her. Some unseen wall seems to rise up around him, blocking him from her. He makes an attempt to stand up, but he only makes it halfway up before toppling over and hitting the ground hard with a groan of pain. His eyes lose focus for a second and terrified he’s going to pass out Summer slides in close to him once again and wraps one arm gently around his shoulders.

“Anthony, you need medical help,” she urges as he leans his head against the crook of her neck.

“Please don’t take me there…” he moans.

“What if I take you back to my apartment ? My roommate’s an ER nurse, she can look you over.”

Anthony hesitates half a second before nodding.