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“BRENDON!” He was lying in a small pool of blood and looked like he about had it. I shed too many tears to count. “Brendon! I love you…” I kissed his aching lips, but got absolutely no response. I collapsed on the ground, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, I was attacked. I couldn’t see who it was, but I was kicked, shoved, and punched all over. Eventually, I blacked out when I couldn’t take it anymore.

-Brendon’s POV-

I heard Ryan’s voice, but I couldn’t move. The pain was too much. I heard them attacking him, too. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t even do that. Eventually, they all left, leaving Ryan and I to die. He wasn’t making anymore noise, and that caused me to panic. I just slightly moved my arm to reach for him, but I couldn’t get my overly-bruised muscles to cooperate.

“Goodbye, Ryan.” I barely managed to whisper before blacking out.

-The Next Day-

In what felt like minutes, I opened my eyes to find myself in a very sterile, white room. The hospital. How did I even get here, though? Stranded, with Ryan, in an old warehouse where no one would even find us. Yet, some how, I was brought here. I noticed I was in one of those double rooms where there’s a curtain separating the patients. I found just enough strength to get up and pull the curtain back to see who I was sharing with. The minute I pushed it out of the way, I flinched. I wish I hadn’t done that.

The image I saw, Ryan’s face covered in bruises and cuts, scars because I was stupid enough to believe Pete when he wanted to make it up to me for being a douche. God, I wanted to just kill him, now. Why was I so goddamn stupid?

“Ryan?” tears poured down this time. This was all my fault. “Ryan, if you can hear me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for believing Pete, I’m sorry for getting you in this mess, and I’m sorry for not being able to stop them from doing this to you.”

He looked much worse off than I did. He had a cast on his left leg and one on each arm. Even in his sleep, he looked like he was in pain. Complete and utter pain. All because I was too gullible for my own good.

I watched him sleep, and he didn’t budge an inch for hours. I began to wonder how long we’d actually been here. A young nurse walked in, and gasped when she saw I had awaken. “Morning, Mr. Urie,” she greeted me with a most pleasant voice.

“Um… is… is he going to be okay?” I pointed at Ryan’s lifeless state, afraid of what her response would be.

“He’s going to be fine. Don’t worry. Just rest up, you guys really took a beating out there,” she said.

“May I ask, who actually found us?”

She gave me a thoughtful look and said, “A young man named Patrick called the ambulance. He was here last night to make sure you guys were okay. He already has the police involved and stuff, so you have nothing to worry about. Just rest up, okay?”

I felt a little better, but I still wanted – needed – Ryan to wake up. I nodded in response and attempted to sleep again. I was awfully tired, even though I probably slept for an extremely long time earlier.

I never did fall asleep, but a while later, I heard someone whine my name, “Brendon…” very quietly.

“Ryan?” I shot up out of bed, a bit overly-excited about Ryan finally waking up. “Ryan! I’m so glad you’re awake!”

He didn’t really move much, but he did smile. As long as he could still smile, I knew things would be alright. “Ryan, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered.

Knowing Ryan was okay, I lied back down and rested my eyes for just a little while…