Just for a Moment

I left my room, knowing that Ally needs me right now. As I walked towards the hospital, I heard someone walking behind me. I turned and saw a single guy with a mask on his face. I quickened my pace and so did he. I ran blindly into Max. He pushed me into the masked guy with a nasty smirk.

“Hey Lizzy, what’s your rush?” The guy locked his arms around my body and I started to tremble right away. “Now, Now,” he ran his finger across my face. “My brother never mentioned to me that you were so pretty. I was actually surprised when I met you.” Bile rose in my mouth and Tally slinked out from behind the trees, eyes glued on me.

“Who is your brother?” I managed to say, already knowing the answer.

“How could you forget your first time Lizzy?” Max placed his forehead on mine. “Maybe you need a refresher,” he placed his hand on my inner thigh, not again, I thought. I spit on his face and kneed his stomach. He laughed through the pain. “You will pay for that, but not right now. Right now, my sister-in-law," he looks back at Tally, "and I will be watching you and your friends closely. Very closely, and if you tell a soul about this, well let’s just say we know where your family lives.” He nodded and the masked guy let me go. “Send Jack my well wishes, will you?” Then he walked off laughing to himself.

I walked to the hospital numbly, not sure what to do. In fact, I wasn’t even sure what to think. All I knew was that I would no longer be exploring the campus on my own anymore. I entered into the front glass doors, walked towards the waiting room and made myself forget what happened before I got here. My focus had to be on Ally.

I paced the school’s hospital waiting room back and forth, trying to shake the feeling of being watched. Everyone was sitting anxiously in the waiting room. Ally sat in a corner crying softly to herself, Vic sat with her, his arm around her shoulder. I tried to sit with her to be of comfort but I was on edge myself. Where is Kellin? No one has seen him since this morning, which was making waves of panic consume me. I couldn’t sit still, everything felt like it would explode if I wasn’t doing something. I looked around the room, everyone wore downhearted expressions. I knew that soon those looks would be replaced with pure anger, soon it would be war. I was trapped in my world of thought when I felt someone else enter the room. I watched Gabe reenter the waiting room, his face was somber. I ran up to him, knowing that he was searching for Kellin. He looked me in the eye and shook his head.

“He is in a room three doors down from Jack. They brought him in an hour before Jack got here. He is not doing well.” I bite my lip hard, trying to keep the tears from streaming out.

“I have to see him,” I start to push past him and he grabs my arm.

“I don’t think you want to see him like that.” I looked Gabe in the eye and saw the anger and sadness there.

“I have to, Gabe.” He nods his head showing that he understands.

I ran down the hall and turned the corner. I peeked in on Jack, who with the blood cleaned off of him didn’t look too bad. He had two black eyes, a deep gash, a broken rib and a broken arm. Bruises were all over his body but according to the doctors he would be just fine. I stepped into his room and placed my hand on of his. I wanted to somehow be of comfort to him in a way I couldn’t be for Ally. He looked at me and smiled as best he could.

“I am glad you are okay, Jack.” I kiss his cheek. “Thank you for keeping Ally safe.”

His smile grew, “I do my best. Go check on Kellin for me, okay?”

I nodded and walked out of the room, my heart rate increasing with each step. I knocked on Kellin’s room door before letting myself in. I gasped; Kellin’s wounds were more severe than Jack's. His left eye was swollen shut; he had a gash running across his exposed stomach. His nose appeared to be broken; his hair was caked in blood. So many bruises bloomed across his body that I could barely see his skin color. Even though nothing looked broken, I wondered if maybe one of his ribs were. I looked closer and his whole side was a deep reddish, purple color. I walked slowly towards him, crying, my body aching as if it was me who had been beaten.

“Kells,” I barely managed to say his name through my sobs.

“It’s my favorite girl,” his voice sounds so weak and frail.

“What happened?” I trembled, stepping slowly towards him.

“What, am I no longer handsome?” He joked.

“Don’t be silly.” I touched his bare stomach. “Please tell me what happened.”

“Well after I left your room I decided to head to the studio to do some demo recordings of my vocals. Out of nowhere a bag is over my head and I am thrown to the floor and literally being dragged into the woods.” He showed me the long jagged scrape marks down his back. It took all my power not to kiss them as if that would somehow make them better. “Then some dudes were beating me from all sides. When I got my first chance I curled into fetal potion, but it was too late for my ribs. I figured I would protect what I could. They got pissed, hit me over the head with something heavy and hard then I passed out. I woke up here, Gabe found me, told me the same happened to Ally and Jack. I was waiting for you to come to me. You took long enough.”

I stepped closer to him, guilt crushing me, “Oh my God Kells. I am so, so sorry. I should have never made you leave this morning, this is all my fault.” He lifted his arm and reached for me, I gently crawled into his bed. I was so afraid to touch him. He raised his hand and started to stroke my hair. “I was so scared Kells. I thought. . . I thought I lost you. I, please Kellin, please don’t leave me. I love you so much it hurts. Promise me you won’t leave me again.”

“I promise Lizzy, I promise.” I cried into his arms. He forced my chin up so I could look into his eyes. “I love you too, Lizzy.”

I stayed with Kellin until the nurse came in to let me know visiting hours were over. In the dusk of the evening the group and I walked back to the dorm. No one was really hungry, so dinner was skipped. We heard that JT made an announcement, he was furious with today’s events and justice would be served. Ally and I would be sharing a room tonight, neither one of us wanted to be left alone. As we approached the dorms everyone noticed right away that Ally’s door was opened. Vic walked ahead to check it out. Next thing we saw was a lead pipe swing out towards him. It missed to our relief and Ally was at his side right away. They had rigged the light switch, they wanted to hurt Ally.

I peered into her room, it was a wreck, and everything was tossed everywhere. I gasped when I saw the words written in bold letters on her wall. WE ARE WATCHING YOU LIZZY. WE HAVE OUR EYES ON YOU ALLY. There were two pictures underneath. The top one was of Jack leaving Ally's room but not before giving her a kiss. Below it was a picture of Kellin and I behind the pillar at the mall. His hands were on either side of my head as he looked down at me. The word whore was written in red along my arm and my knees buckled until I fell. It is true, I was a whore. I went from being Vic's to loving his best friend. How could they even stand to be around me anymore? My chest started to tighten up. I just couldn’t make myself breathe. I felt the world spin, and the last words out my mouth were:

“I am so sorry Vic.”