Little Red

Back Again

     You open your eyes, a familiar white light blinding you as a familiar steady beeping fills your ears. You look around the room to find it's empty. You can't help but let out a groan before muttering to yourself.

     "Why the fuck can't I ever have a normal week. Fuck smiling bastards. Fuck emo clowns. Fuck strange men in masks," You sigh before quietly muttering, "and fuck my life."

     You sigh again. No point in bitching about it. You manage to keep surviving all of this bullshit, so why give up now? With one final sigh, you look around the room. It's still empty. You sigh once more. 

     A few hours later, Kye and Ace come running in the room. Ace looks distraught, fear visible on their face. Kye looks worse. Tears flow freely, wetting his cheeks. He hugs you tightly, before quickly backing away, incoherently muttering apologies, while also looking over his shoulder and making sharp remarks at seemingly nothing. Ace looks just as concerned for Kye as he does for you. 

     Kye looks at you before kneeling by the bed, grabbing your hand as he leans his head down to press his forehead against your hand. He begs for forgiveness, his words unintelligible through his tears. 

     You speak softly, gently patting his head as you speak, "Hey. It's okay. Calm down, Kye. No one is mad at you."

     He lets out a choked sob at your words. He continues to stammer before snapping at what seems to be nothing again. You and Ace keep watching.

     Kye likely had schizophrenia. You knew it. Ace knew it. Val knew it. Maria knew it. Kye knew it. Jaime and Onyx had known it too. He never went to get diagnosed. He thought it would be too much trouble, but not trouble on his part. It would be too much trouble for the people around him. That was never true, but Kya refused to believe it. He had always been told he was too much trouble. Why would that change with his new friends?

     There had never been a time where you had seen Kye in such a horrible state. The stress must be getting to him. Dealing with this bullshit is tough, but already having hallucinations on top of it? It must've been hell. You've seen small slivers of it before. Bouts of paranoia, strong mood swings, outbursts, reclusiveness. You thought you've seen it all. But you haven't. You only saw what he allowed you to see. Carefully crafted scenes that Kye painted to make everything seem alright. He wasn't. He never was. He never will be. But then again, nobody is alright. 

     You continue to comfort Kye, your words only partially working. After a while, he stops crying. He gathers his wits for long enough to stop acknowledging the figure bothering him. He explains that he saw you. He saw you, Maria and Josh, but thought it was a hallucination. He blames himself.

     Once again, you comfort him. It's not his fault. Kye turns his head ever so slightly before abruptly standing and leaving the room. Once he's gone, you turn to Ace.

     "He's...were all fucked right now...but Kye's taking the worst of it," you say, your eyes lingering on the door to the hospital room that Kye left through.

      "I feel bad for him. The guy already has it rough. All this bullshit must be driving him crazy," Ace responds, as they glance at the door before looking back at you.

      You give a weak smile. "Don't let Kye here you say that. He'd be pissed. You know how he feels about pity," you say. 

     Ace nods. They know that Kye hates pity. He doesn't want people to pity him and he rarely pities others.

     "Where's Val?" You ask, trying to change the subject.

      "With Maria. Where else would she be?" Ace responds with a small shrug.

      "How is Maria?" You ask. Flashes of seeing Maria bloodied and passed out, leaning against Josh fill your mind. 

       "She's doing better. She's stable," Ace replies. 

       Silence falls over the room again. 

      "Did the kids dads come pick him up?" You ask, breaking the moment of silence.

      "Yeah. They're worried as hell. I think they went to see Maria yesterday," Ace responds.

       You nod as a reply. You knew the drill. Soon there would be police questioning you. You were planning to say someone broke in. You were praying to any god there is that Maria would think to do the same. Josh would tell the truth, but that could be brushed off. Kids have overactive imagination. They would figure he's just dealing with the trauma. That makes it easier.