Finding The Light

38

Warnings:
-Injuries after severe abuse

Reggie's POV

There was dead silence around me when I reopened my eyes. However, everything around me was blurry and there was an annoying ringing noise slowly getting worse when I tried to lift myself up.

I tried to roll myself to my side, but felt such an insane pressure on my forehead that I rolled back again and closed my eyes. I gulped, but felt a thick and metallic taste when I did. Slowly, I raised my hand up to my face and felt a substance cover it.

I reopened my eyes and looked at my hand, which I saw twice. I noticed it was covered in blood and groaned, trying to grab my phone because I knew I wouldn't be able to get up due to the explosive headache I had.

I opened my camera before trying to call someone and gasped the second I saw some of my blurry face. I held the phone right in front of me and saw the severe bruising around my eyes, fully purple all around, and blood coming from my forehead, nose and even my ears.

Hopelessly, I raised my hand and tried to feel my forehead, but the pain became even more severe the second I pressed the massive swelling. I made another attempt to sit up, but the pressure was too much for me to handle.

The longer I was awake, the worse the feeling of nausea became. I rolled to my side and curled up, trying to breathe slowly so the nausea would go down. But unfortunately, it didn't take long for my stomach to turn. I gagged, but was so empty that nothing came out, next to some bile and saliva.

Hopelessly, I went to my recent calls and looked at Clay's number. I was still pissed at him, but needed someone so bad that I clicked his number again. Yet, the first time he declined me, the second time he did the same thing and eventually he ignored all of the calls coming in.

I started crying, which made the pain even worse and clicked his name to call one last time. I gasped when I saw him picking up and rolled to my side in an attempt to speak, but for some reason, the words weren't coming to me the way I wanted them to.

'Hi, Reggie. It's Clay's mother. Clay isn't in a good mood and he told me he doesn't want to talk to you. I think it would be better to give him some space and stop calling him as much,' she spoke with a gentle voice. I started making some hopeless noises and cleared my throat.

'Help, I need...' I whimpered, my voice slow and unclear. 'Clay, not, you, help.'

'Dear, are you alright? You have slurred speech. Are you drunk?'

'No, head. Help,' I tried again, but I couldn't find the right words to explain what happened. Instead, the headache kept progressing and it felt like my head was about to explode.

'Your head? Honey, did you fall?' she asked with a concerned tone. 'Can you try to send me a location?'

'Fall...' I repeated, trying my hardest to figure out how to send a location. I managed to figure it out and heard a car door opening.

'I'm coming to you. I'm going to call you with my own phone and I'll be there within five to ten minutes,' she promised.

I grumbled and sobbed softly. She hung up, but called me back the second she did, the sound of her motor running in the background. 'I'm in the car, I'm coming as quickly as I can.'

I mumbled quietly and closed my eyes again, just waiting in silence for her to save me from the awful pain...

Luckily, it didn't take too long for her to arrive and she parked the car and jumped out of it. Without a second of hesitation, she ran up to me and gasped, grabbing her phone. 'I'm calling an ambulance, right now!'

I sobbed again and reached out my hand, but was aware of the blood covering it, so I pulled back before she grabbed it. However, she didn't mind and grabbed my hand regardless of all the blood while calling the ambulance.

'I'm next to a sixteen year old boy who suffered severe head trauma. I'm unsure what happened, but he's bleeding from his nose and ears, his eyes are swollen and surrounded by purple bruises and there's a massive swelling and a bleeding on his forehead. His hands are tied with ropes.'

She listened to what the person replied and squeezed my hand. 'Honey, do you remember anything? Did you pass out, throw up or have anything weird happening?'

'I... pass,' I mumbled as I pointed to my eyes to sign that I had blurry vision. 'Throw up...'

'He is speaking really unclearly, but I think he's trying to tell me he passed out and threw up. Oh, he's also pointed to his eyes, holding up two fingers. Blurry or double vision? Yes, he nodded. Thank you, miss.'

~~~

The ambulance arrived with high speed and loud sirens. I was lifted onto a stretcher and a neck brace was applied to stabilise my neck. Clay's mother was allowed to come with me in the ambulance and sat next to me as they drove me to the hospital and a paramedic was taking care of me.

I got an IV in my hand to give me painkillers and fluids, my hands were freed from the ropes and they stuck a bandage under my nose to catch the stream of blood. Hopelessly, I looked at Clay's mother and saw her react right away, grabbing my hand as gently as she could.

'Oh, honey. I'm so glad I picked up the call and got to talk to you,' she said honestly. 'Has someone done this to you?'

I shrugged because I knew that if I would betray Tobias, and he would find out, everything would get even worse and he would tell everyone what I had done to my teacher. 'No...' I eventually lied, just because I was too scared to tell the truth and go to jail for severe abuse...

'But, you haven't tied your hands like that on your own, honey,' she replied, which made me turn my eyes away. 'You don't have to tell me the truth, but I really hope you dare to ask for help if you need it.'

I ignored her and shivered from the cold. The nurse raised a blanket up and smiled at me. 'We are close to the hospital, dear. The medical staff will make sure you're going to feel a lot better again!'

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