With Ears to See

Rain.
The rain is pouring down hard.

And here I am, walking towards the abandoned bridge in the rain without an umbrella.

Mei-Xing and I gave the police our story the other day, but they haven’t said anything afterwards.

What if they don’t find the guy before…?

I shook the thought from my head.
Kellin is going to be okay. He’ll be back home in my arms soon. I just have to be patient.

I started to walk across the bridge, but stopped to look at the creek.
The rain is causing it to rise slightly.

I turned away, but something caught the corner of my eye.

I quickly turned back to see an object lying in the middle of the water.
Peering closer, I felt my stomach twist.

A body.

I ran across the bridge and down to the edge of the creek.

It was definitely a body. A skinny…frail…pale…body, face down in the water.

No. It can’t be…

I rushed into the ankle-deep creek and turned the body over, gasping in horror.
I picked him up and brought him to the edge, gingerly laying him onto the ground.

“K-Kellin…?”
I moved his wet hair from his face.

A purple bruise on his cheek.

Scream in anger, cry out in pain, panic.
I didn’t know what to do.

“Kellin…please…!”

I pressed my lips to his, breathing air into him before giving four compressions.

No movement.

“Kellin…! Please wake up…!”
I did it again.

Still nothing.

“Kellin!”
I was in tears now as I did it one last time.

Nothing.

“Kellin…No…! You can’t do this…! Don’t do this!”
I shook my head in anger and pulled his body into my arms.

He’s so cold…

“I’m sorry…I’m so fucking sorry, Kellin…I love you so much…yet, I let this happen…!”
I let out shaky sobs as I rocked back and forth with him still in my arms.

“I’m so sorry…”

It grew quiet, except for the raindrops hitting the ground.
The world seemed to freeze when I heard a cough and a couple of gasps.

I looked down to see Kellin, eyes blinking open, gasping for air.

“Kellin?! Kellin, say something! Anything!”
“Aus…tin…?”

He lifted a shaky hand and placed it onto my cheek. I placed my hand over his, allowing more tears to fall.

“It’s me, Kellin. I’m here.”
He gave me a weak smile.

“So I did make it out…”
I took a second to register what he said.

“Wait…you escaped?”
He slowly nodded.

"I heard the water from the creek...so I knew I was close to home..."

I shook my head in disbelief and kissed his forehead with a small smile.

“You’re truly amazing, Kellin.”

x x x

“Austin! Austin!”
Mei-Xing charged down the hallway until she reached where I was.

“I got a phone call and they told me to come here! What’s going on?! What happened?!”
I pressed my index finger to my lips and shushed her.

“Mei-Xing, there are patients that are asleep around here.”
“Austin, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on in the next five seconds, I’m going to—”

“I found Kellin, today.”

She stared at me, mouth agape.

“The doctor said he’s going to be fine. There’s a bruise on his cheek and some cuts on his back and hips. He’s also recovering from a large amount of water that was in his lungs.”
“The business man tried to drown him?! I’ll kill that son of a—”

“Mei-Xing…! Let me finish!”
She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Kellin escaped himself. While he was running away, he tripped and fell into the creek. That’s where I found him.”
“When are we allowed to see him?”
“The doctor is checking up on him now.”

She stood next to me with her back against the wall, letting out a long deep sigh.

“He’s back. Now, all that is left is for the murderer to finally be put behind bars.”
I hummed in agreement.

There was a moment of silence between us.

“Don’t tell him…”
Mei-Xing spoke up.

I didn’t have to ask what she meant.

“I won’t…”

x x x

“You don’t know how glad I am to see you, Kellin.”

Mei-Xing left an hour ago, so it’s just me and him.

“I missed you, Austin. I thought that I would never see you again…but…I couldn’t just give up, not when I have someone who needs me.”

I placed my hand on his cheek and placed my lips on his, pouring every emotion I had into the kiss, showing how much I love him, how much I missed him, how much I needed him.

“The police are supposed to be here tomorrow to ask questions. I can try to keep them away for a bit if you want—”

“No. I heard what he did on the news that day. I have to bring that man to justice.”

“Kellin, you survived. You came back home. You’ve done enough.”
“That won’t stop him from harming someone else.”

He found my hand and intertwined our fingers.

“I’ll answer their questions tomorrow.”
He yawned and blinked his eyes.

“You should get some rest. You’ve had a long week.”
“Sing me to sleep?”

I sighed.
“You know I’m not the best singer, Kellin.”

“I don’t care…I just feel better knowing that it’s you.”

So, I complied and sung him a lullaby to the best of my ability until he was fast asleep.

I stayed up and kept watch over him, fearing that if I closed my eyes for a second, he would be gone forever.
I glanced at our hands, which were still held together, and smiled slightly.

As long as they are still together for tonight, I won’t have to worry about them being separate when I wake up tomorrow.

I rested my head next to his thigh on the bed and closed my eyes, finally drifting off to sleep.