There Was A Boy I Can Recall

“AND DON’T COME BACK AGAIN YOU FUCKING QUEER TWAT” The last words I’d heard from my mother were running through my head. I was slumped on the floor of a bus shelter, my holdall that had been thrown at me by my side. I felt numb and didn’t know what to do. I checked my phone. It was past twelve at night. Too late to ring Shane to come and save me. Plus he was probably with Drew anyway. Besides, we had college tomorrow; I could talk to him then. There was no one else to turn too. Everyone at college hated me because I was different, but I’d made friend with Drew and Shane pretty quickly and we stuck together. When I was with them, the whole world didn’t matter. We were all like brothers and they understood my situation perfectly. Drew and Shane had been dating for 3 years now. Their families were homophobic as well so they’d moved out and gotten a place on their own pretty quickly. They’d helped me come out and accept my sexuality. The only difference is, they had each other in all this. I had no one. Not anymore.

“Hey up queer boy! What you doing out here then? Thought you’d be having a sleep over with your girly faggot friends” I looked up and saw Jim. Jim was in my group at college and got his kicks by making my life hell. He was tall, about 6ft3 if I had to guess and had a more muscular build than me. Behind him were two of his friends. Smaller, but even so, they were still scary.

“Go away Jim. I’m not in the mood” I mumbled, pulling my knees to my chest and trying to hide the best I could.

“Relax Kemp. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to play a little game with you and my friends here” He lent down and pulled me up to my feet by the collar of my jacket and squared himself up to me. “It’s called, punch the faggot”

I tried to yell for help but Jim’s fist made contact with the side of my face. I felt my head crack against the side of the bus shelter, followed by a pain in the side of my stomach. The punches and kicks continued until I couldn’t stand any longer. My knees buckled from under me and I sunk to the floor. I felt the blood trickling down my face and I gasped in pain. It was all I could do not to let the tears that were building up escape. “Not in front of Jim, Kier” I told myself.

Jim knelt down and looked me in the eyes. “Don’t cross my path in college tomorrow. If you do, I’ll fucking punch you, you twat” And with that he left, leaving me to curl up in pain and weep. Why didn’t I walk to Shane’s straight away? Why did I go to the bus stop? And worse, nobody would find me until the morning. I was stuck like this all night, unable to move without a burst of pain shooting through my limbs.

I heard footsteps coming down the street. I was sure it was Jim coming back to finish what he had started. I started to feel myself shaking, anxiety washing over me. The world started to spin and my mouth was dry. I saw two feet in front of me. “Don’t hit me. Please, Jim, no more” I gasped out. I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw the figure in front of me crouch down.

“It’s ok. I’m not going to hit you. You don’t look too good.”

And that was all I heard him say before the world plunged me into darkness.

                                                                                *

I woke up to the sounds of machines beeping. I was feeling groggy and my body ached. I took a glance to my side and saw Shane and Drew sat on a chair next to me, curled up with each other, asleep. On the other chair was a guy I didn’t recognise. He was tall and well built. He had raven black hair, styled so that his fringe just brushed along his forehead. From what I could see he was wearing a small amount of eyeliner. And he was beautiful. I knew it was rude to stare but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He saw me look at him and smiled.

“Hello there. I didn’t realise you’d woken up or I would’ve woken your friends up earlier. Kier right? I’m Laurence” His voice was quite low and husky.

“Yeah. Where am i? What’s happened to me?” I answered him. My voice was quiet.

“You must have had an accident last night. I found you at the bus stop quite badly bruised and bloodied. I tried to talk to you but you blacked out, so I called an ambulance. You’re in hospital but they say you can be discharged if you feel well enough this afternoon. You’ve broken a couple of ribs though. Now you’re awake and well, I can leave. Its 5 in the morning, Luke will wonder where I am. It was nice meeting you Kier. Look after yourself” He smiled before he left. I wanted to shout him back but I couldn’t. And with that, the most beautiful man I had ever seen just walked out of my life.