It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing...

"you sure we won't get in serious trouble?" I asked nervously. He laughed. " my dad practically owns this store. Common, get in. " I studied him briefly, his eyes darting from me to the cart and back again. Finally I sighed. "not too fast, right?" he just grinned, and I groaned. " of course. Fine. " I huffed, climbing into the cart. He began strolling down the isle casually, ignoring the strange looks he was getting. He leaned down and I turned in the cart so he could see my face. He grinned. " ready?" I grimaced. " absolutely not. Let's go. " he took off, sprinting down the isle. I squeezed my eyes shut and made a noise as he let the cart go flying out of the isle. He laughed and then gasped. 

" shit, Gracie!" my eyes flew open to see I was headed for a display of kitchen tools, all open, all extremely sharp. I covered my head with my arms as I slammed into it, knives, forks and other miscellaneous items raining down on me. I felt the sting in my shoulder a moment before the memory flooded me. 

glass. So much glass. If I moved, I got cut. But I had to move, Gretchin and Tiff where coming! 

I scrambled up, glass embedding in my feet and hands. I took off to the basement stairs. I knew the drill- if I got there before them I was safe for the night. I just had to fling open the door- 

An arm snaked around my waist. "where do you think YOUR going, huh?" Tiff's drunken voice said. I whimpered as he dragged me back.

"GRACIE ANSWER ME!"  Tristian said, hovering over me. I whined slightly at him yelling, and he squeezed my hand. " I'm sorry, I've been trying to get ahold of you for a few minutes. What was wrong?" I gave him a guilty look. " flashback. "

" he pushed you into a knives display?" he joked. I rolled my eyes, giving him a playful glare. I didn't want to move, otherwise I'm pretty sure my arm would fall off it hurt that bad. 

" no, through a glass door between the kitchen and the living room. They liked to play games with me. Sometimes I won, sometimes I didn't." he grimaced. "that is so fucked up." he muttered. 

"so, why am I just sitting here?" I asked mildly. My shoulder stung, but I wasn't going to make him feel like crap by telling him that. His eyes widened, like he was thinking, then his face broke into a grin.  " oh. Because I called an ambulance while you where zoned out. They should be here soon. You're going to need stitches. And probably patience to explain all of the marks on your back. " I groaned. Dammit. 

" is my mom going to be at the hospital?" I asked, looking down. I realized his hand was still around mine. And I do mean around mine, because I'm pretty sure mine had disappeared. He shifted so he was laying on the ground next to me. " probably. " I glanced around. The clerks had everyone back, and I couldn't see the evil cart from hell. As if reading my mind, Tristian said "a clerk removed you from the cart before I could stop them and wheeled it in the back. "

"how thoughtful. " I mumbled, shifting an then wincing as the pain shot from my shoulder. I suddenly heard faint sirens in the background. 

"thank God." we both said. We exchanged surprised looks, then began laughing.  A man and a woman rushed in and began examining me, pushing Tristian to the side. He talked to a clerk, who handed him something, and he took it out of the bag and shoved it in his pocket. Fingers snapped in front of me suddenly, and I focused on the man. 

" you're Sandra's kid right?" the one they just found?" I sighed. " yes. And for the record, that's where all the Marks came from." they exchanged looks before sighing. " ok. We're going to help you up now, ok? The knife is still in, we need to get you to the ambulance and then the hospital. "

"do you have pain killers in the ambulance? If so you can just stitch me up in there and be done with it. " I pointed out. They looked surprised. " you'd do that? Really?" I nodded again. " well that makes it a hell of a lot easier. " the woman muttered as they helped me sit up. Pain shot through my shoulder and I grimaced. Tristian was suddenly in my face. " you ok?" I grinned at him, then pretended to gag. " I was until you breathed on me. Holy crap! Learn to brush!" he rolled his eyes and the medics chuckled. They helped me out to the ambulance and sat me down. Despite their protests, Tristian fallowed me in. 

"so can you tell me what happened? You're gonna feel a sting as we deaden this. " the woman said. I shot Tristian a look. " mister smart one here decided since I was deprived of the experience of riding a cart and getting kicked out of a store, he was going to help me. He raced my cart from hell down an aisle and pushed me and I ended up steering into the display with pointy objects. " I explained as the woman cut away my shirt in the back and she shoved a needle in. I hissed, and Tristian was in front of me, pulling both of my hands, which had a death grip on the side of the bed thing I was sitting on, into his own. 

"calm down. It's nothing you haven't felt before, right? Talk to me. Anything." he mumbled, so the medics couldn't hear. They where talking lowly too, probably about my back. 

"like what, Tristian? I'm kind of in pain at the moment I can't think very well. " I hissed. He rolled his eyes. 

" tell me more about Tiff. You didn't seem to hate him with a burning passion. " he asked/ stated. I flinched. " Tiff was actually the worst. But Jaylex was... Fond of him, so I couldn't say anything. " 

" whose Jaylex?" he asked, confused. The medic inturupted. " we're ready to take the knife out. Then we can begin stitching. 

15 minutes later we where back in our conversation. 

" Jaylex was... Uhm... Jaylex was Jaylex. There's no way to describe him. Tiff took him when he was 6 so he was the only family Jaylex really knew. Jaylex was gay, he was funny, he was serious, he was my best friend. "

"you keep using past tense."

"Jaylex pissed off Gretchin and Tiff one night because he wouldn't let them mess around with me. They both raped him repeatedly and then Tiff sold him on the black market the next day as some sex slave. " I shook my head. 

" they made me watch." I said softly. Tristian let go of one of my hands to touch my cheek softly, and I realized I was crying.