Wake Me Up

Vic’s POV
”Why do you want to listen to our own music?” I ask my brother, a little frustrated. I wanted to listen to other bands that I like, not myself.

”To make sure there’s no room for improvement! Duh,” he yelled energetically. I sighed and put one of our demos in the CD player. He yelled out in victory.

”Mike will you shut up, I am trying to drive!” I yelled at him. If he didn’t stop we were going to get in a car accident.

”Who is going to be out here? It’s like four am! I think it’s safe to say we won’t hit anyone,” he says right before poking me hard in the side, causing me to jerk and shut my eyes. I feel the car bounce against something as I slam on the brake. When I open my eyes there’s someone lying on the ground in front of my car. Mike looks like he doesn’t know what to do but I have no hesitation. I run from my car and kneel next to the boy laying there. He’s gasping for air and for a second I freeze. Shaking my head, I put both hands on his chest and push down fifteen times. When that is done, I tilt his head back, plug his nose and open his mouth, blowing two breaths of air in. I repeat this three more times before I feel him blow a breath back a me. With that I let him go and begin moving the hair from his face, trying to make it easier for him Mike is finally out of the car, yelling frantically, but I take no notice to him. I don’t want to move the boy, remembering that if this were to happen you were supposed to wait until the ambulance got there.

”Oh God, please be okay! Please be okay! Say something! Anything! Oh God, oh God…” I’m trying to get him to respond; a word, a grunt, anything.

”Vic, come on! Let’s put him in the back of the car so we can take him somewhere!” Again, I ignore my brother and continue trying to get a response from him. “Vic we don’t have with us so if we want to take him somewhere we gotta get him in the car!”

”You’re going to be okay, you’re fine. I promise, everything is okay.” I whisper in his ear as I lift him up and lay him down in the backseat of my van, resting his head on my lap. I hear Mike turn the volume of the music back up and one of our new songs starts playing. Does it even make a difference? When I’m sober I feel pain. As we run under the stars through cemetery backyards, celebrate the way the night hides scars. The boy’s breathing begins to slow to a normal pace and his eyes flutter open. Suddenly I’m presented with a striking pair of blue eyes. Mike slowly lowers the volume now that the boy is awake, to which he just whimpers.

”What? What’s wrong?” Is he hurting? Oh my God I hurt him. Mike begins to lower the volume even more which earns us another loud whimper from the boy. “Is it the music?” I ask. “Do you want it louder?” The boy simply nods his head and I tell Mike to turn the music up. Separate me from my own two hands. I’ve killed so many times, but I can’t save the world from the creatures that don’t die. Kinda like the way you tell me, “Baby please come home. I need you here right now, I’m crying underwater so you don’t hear a sound.” Just when I think the boy is relaxing, I see tears slip from his eyes. It’s probably the pain, I mean he was hit by a car.

”Don’t worry. We’ll take you to a hospital.” I say. But the boy’s eyes go wide.

”N-no, y-you can’t! I won’t go!” the boy shouts at me. I look to Mike, silently asking him what to do. He just shrugs.

”What? Why?” I ask, because he needs to go. He could have a concussion or internal bleeding or…
”I-I I can’t tell you. J-just don’t make me go! I-I lied, they’ll hate me! I can’t, please. I’m sorry!” I sigh and brush a little dirt from the side of his face.

”Shh it’s okay. We won’t take you, I guess. No matter what, they won’t hate you. I don’t know what you did, but they won’t,” He just nods, probably not even listening to a word I’m saying.

”I guess just take us to the house Mikey,” I whisper, not sure if this boy is asleep and not wanting to risk waking him up. A slower song comes on, and I feel the boy unconsciously snuggle closer to me. No! At the top of our lungs, there’s no, no such thing as too young. When second chances won’t leave you alone, then there’s faith in love…

”Dude! It’s a sign from God! We were meant to be a band and spend the rest of our lives touring.” Mike whispered yelled, careful not to wake the boy in my lap.

”What is?” I ask.

”Meeting this boy!” he yelled back, as if it were obvious.

”Are you trying to tell me that almost someone is a sign from God that we are a good band?” I ask incredulously. Sometimes Mike was a little too ridiculous.

”Yeah, kinda. You almost killed him with your car and then our music like brought him back to life. Look at how happy he looks!” Mike yells, causing the boy to shift in his sleep.

I just shake my head and wait for us to get to the house. As soon as we do I unbuckle my seat belt and open the door. Shifting awkwardly I grab him and carry him towards the house. Mike opens the door for and then give me a curious look.

”Where are you going to put him?” he questions me.

”In my bed of course.” I roll my eyes at Mike.

”Wow Vic, don’t you think it’s a little early in your relationship to be sleeping with him?” I can tell he’s holding back a laugh.

”Haha, Mike, you’re so funny. I’m going to sleep on the couch, asshole.” I reply, while laying the boy down and covering him with a blanket. Mike walks out of the room, not replying. I go to turn off the lights and just as I’m about to leave the room I hear a whimper. I basically run back to his side and kneel down.'

”I-I don’t want to be alone,” he mumbles, still half asleep. I grab some pillows and a blanket and lay down on the floor. It feels weird to be sleeping in the same room as him. I don’t even know what his name is. Or why he was out running at 4 in the morning. Deciding it would be better to ask the questions in the morning, I close my eyes and roll over, quickly falling asleep.