In Fear of Life

Matt

The phone's ringing. I groan and get out of bed. Oh shit, it's past three. Before I grab the phone, I see Jake's note, and smile. "Mhmm..hello?"

What I hear makes my heart stop cold. "M..Matt..I'm sorry. Can..you pick..me up?" Adam..he sounds like he's in so much pain. My Adam.

"Oh my god, are you okay? Adam, where are you? Jake said he'd pick you up..I-" I look out the window to see Jake pull in. "Hold on, he just pulled up."

"Jake, where's Adam?!" Jake looks at me funny.

"Well..I found out that you two need to talk."

I look at him angrily. "Talk about what?"

Jake sighs. "Matt, Adam's been abusing prescription medication."

I gasp. "No..no, you're lying!" I turn my voice back to the phone.

"Adam, where are you, hunny? Are you hurt?" I ask.

"I'm..at the school still. I'm..okay. Please just come get me. Hurry." Adam whispers. Oh my god.

"Come on, we're going to get him. Just in case, you're my back up." I run out the door and get the in the car, and Jake slides in next to me.

"Matthew..he got into a little fight. He's fine. The person he got into a fight with was his dealer, he said so. He didn't tell me what he was taking, but by the looks of it, Riddalin. I've seen this before, Matt."

I shake my head and concentrate on the road. It can't be true..Adam would tell me. But..he was acting weird. Maybe..I'll think about that later.

Pulling into the school parking lot, I look around, but he's no where to be found. "Matt!" I hear Jake call.

"Did you find him?" I ask. He's kneeling by something.

"Nah, but..I've found some blood here. I think we need to call the police."

I gasp and my knees buckle before Jake catches me. "Come on, get it together. We'll find him." I hear a twinge of regret in his voice. After Jake calls it in, we're interviewed by the cops. Jake tells them everything. The cops ask for his dealer's name, but he doesn't know, and they seem frustrated.

"There's really nothing we can do, sir."

So we spend the night looking for Adam, calling his cell phone, but it goes straight to voice mail. It's nearly dawn and I'm almost ready to give up, but Jake seems determined to make up for whatever he said to Adam..Oh god. Adam..

Suddenly there are police cars and an ambulance. They're carting someone away and putting someone on a stretcher..Wait. "Oh fuck." I whisper as Jake slams on the breaks. I jump out of the rolling car.

Running towards them, I scream, "Adam! Adam, ohmygod, let me through, that's MY BOYFRIEND!"

He looks at me, and for a moment I don't think he recognizes me because he turns his head. The cops let me through and I grab his hand. There's blood all over his clothes. Someone..oh god. There's writing on his face, carved..I can't read it. "What happened? Ohfuckkk, Adam, oh god..I'm so sorry." I sob, feeling so guilty.

The paramedics pull me away to tell me what happened. "Sir, relationship with victim?" I gasp.

"V-Victim?" She nods patiently as I get my thoughts straight. "Uhm, h-he's my boyfriend. We're living together. What.what happened?"

The woman explains to me. "Well, someone murdered this man last night and I'm guessing your boyfriend was a witness. The killer must have taken it out on him, but he was so drugged up, he didn't even realize. Poor kid."

Wait, what? "What do you mean, drugged up?"

The woman frowns and looks at me with sad eyes. "I've seen it all the time. He must have gotten real high last night, sir, and I wouldn't be surprised if his blood was tested positive for other traces of illegal substances."

I gasp. No. Everything Jake told me was true. How could he? How..No...No..I whimper as Jake pulls me into a hug, murmuring, "It's alright, Matthew. Not your fault..He was in over his head. He'll be alright. It's alright."

We follow the ambulance to the hospital and I wait in the white sterilized waiting room for about an hour before a doctor comes out to see me. "Mr. Wilkens, you're the boyfriend?" I nod.

"Well, someone had beaten him, and it's not a pretty sight. He'll be feeling sore for a while. We have other issues to address, though, I'm afraid. Adam had an addiction to the prescription Riddalin and had been under the influence last night. We're pumping clean blood because his body was not used to these toxins."

I feel my eyes start to tear up again and look down. "And what else? What..what did that guy do to him?" I look up again when the doctor stutters and clears his throat.

"Well..Uh..We're not sure why, but someone..some animal carved a name into his face. The upper left temple, so it doesn't look bad, and it won't leave that bad of a scar, which is very, very good. But you'll always be able to see it if he doesn't keep his hair covered over it."

I can't stand it anymore, tears pour down. "What..what did it say?"

The doctor looks me in the eyes. "Logan." He seems to be searching my face. "Do you know anyone named Logan?" I shake my head and wonder why someone would do this. The doctor says, "You can see him, but he won't wake up for a little while, we put sedatives in him to ward away pain and withdrawal symptoms."

I nod and walk into the room. There he is, a bandage over the wound on his head, his hair drifting over it softly. Adam has dark circles under his eyes and he's very pale. I whimper and crawl into bed with him, holding his hand. I hear the door open but don't bother to look. I know who it is by the accent. "You're going to forgive him, aren't you." Jake says, growling.

I bury my face into Adam's hair. "I have to. I love him." I murmur. The door slams and I look up. He left. I turn back to Adam and stroke his face, whispering, "It's okay. I still love you. It's not your fault."

Later that night, the nurses kick me out and I have to leave. I go back home and lay down on the couch. I don't know where Adam is and I don't really care at this point. I sigh as I hear a thumping on the door. GAH!

I drag myself over and open the door to see someone I've never seen in my entire life. "Uhm, hi?"

The person had shortish black hair with some blond in it. "Hi, is Adam here?" He asks.

I feel tears start to prick at my eyes again and I stare at him. "No, he's in the hospital. What do you want?" The guy stares right back at me.

"Did I really hurt him that bad? Oh fuck..Oh no..Fuck.."

I gasp. "You're the guy who hurt him?"

He nods and looks at me, scared. "I'm..sorry. I wanted..to apologize." I grab his arm and yank a very scared looking guy into my house.

"First off, that's not why he's in the hospital. Second, did he ever buy drugs from you?" I ask, angry now.

He nods. "I..uh..well, it was only medicine, not bad." My mouth drops in a surprised 'O'.

"I'm not fucking stupid, those are as much of a drug as anything else. Did you also get him high, you fucking idiot?" He shakes his head.

"N-No. He got in my face the other day when that Irish guy..never mind. But I kind of followed him and my friend and I..uhh..got even." I nod, now understanding. I want this guy out of my house.

"Out. Now." I push him towards the door.

"I want to say sorry to him, though. I don't care if he accepts it, but I still have to say-" He stops when Jake walks in the door, drunk off his ass.

"Whaa?" He slurs.

I let out a scream of frustration. Jake stares at the guy and grabs him by the arm, too. But with a grin. "Eyy, you're that kid. That one. You're..you're hott. Let's go make out, pleasseee?"

My jaw drops and I glare at Jake, who's looking seductively at the boy who looks terrified. "Dude. You're at least 4 years older than him, get a life, and go sober up."

I shove them both out the door and ignore Jake's drunken yells to 'let meee in, ya bloody 'merican!'. I sigh and lay back down on the couch.Grabbing the remote, I click on those news.

"And now, we're here live to speak with Adam Johnson, age 17, who was attacked late last night after witnessing a brutal murder.." I gasp and sit up as the woman with garish makeup on enters his room with a nurse. He sits up and stares at the camera before ducking under the covers.

Pissed off, I grab the keys and peel off to the hospital. When I get to his room, I push open the door and find the reporter trying to sweet talk to Adam, whose face had turned a little green. I grab him and shove at the camera crew. "Leave him alone. He just woke up, can't you see he's in pain?"

The lady holds a mic up to me. "Are you his boyfriend?" I nod. "Were you aware that Adam was under the influence at the time-"

I scream. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Adam whimpers and pulls the covers over his head again. After the nurse apologizes a million times, I ask if Adam can come home and feeling bad, they okay it.

When we pull up, Jake is on the steps sleeping. I pull him up as Adam opens the door and we slide him onto the couch before we go into the bedroom. He sits down on the foot of the bed. I sigh and pace. "Is it true?" I ask. I see him wince.

Nodding, he says, "I got sucked in so fast. I..I'm so sorry, Matty. I didn't..I understand if you don't want me anymore."

I rush to his side as the tears start to flow and hold him. "It's okay. I love you. Just please..don't...don't do this again. I don't think I could handle it." He nods into my chest and looks up at me. His bangs barely cover the cuts on his head, and I kiss it.

"Do you know what happened?"

He shakes his head. "Well, kinda. I mean..some guy..named Logan..did this to me, and killed that man. I mean, I remember that guy, the one who died, but I don't remember what happened after that."

I sigh and take off his jacket. "Okay. Oh, and..this kid stopped by earlier. Said he knew you." Adam freezes while unbuckling his buckle.

"Who?" He whispers.

I help him unzip his pants. "He said his name was Rayy. He wanted to tell you, 'He's sorry, so sorry.'. Then Jake came home drunk and tried to rape the guy."

Adam chuckles at this and I tilt his face up. "It's so good to hear you laugh.." I murmur as our lips meet. I love this. I love him. We crawl into bed with our clothes on and he snuggles into my chest, sleepy. I caress the side of his face, and whisper, "I love you, Adam." I see him smile, eyes closed, before he falls asleep.