What Remains (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 32

The bouquet, which consisted of various colorful flowers, was secured in one of Alyssa's palms as she stood in the door opening. She looked shocked, tongue-tied and sad altogether. Carter could very clearly understand why she was shocked and sad to see Josh like this, but he had never seen her appear speechless before. She awkwardly stood there, wanting to say something but apparently she was lost for words.

"...I heard that you were in the hospital. My parents told me after I came back from Sasha's," Alyssa spoke hesitatingly. "I came over as fast as I could."

Josh sat up a little more and looked back at the girl. This was the first time he saw her since the Christmas dance. "Yeah..." he breathed out, nodding his head ever so slightly. He inhaled deeply before turning to Carter and his friends. "Hey, could you guys give us a moment alone?" he asked.

Carter glanced from Alyssa back to Josh before giving an understanding nod and walked out of the room along with Chris, Paxton and Melanie.

Josh watched as they walked out of the room and once they were, he looked back at Alyssa. "I didn't think you'd come," he said. "Though I shouldn't be surprised."

"Of course I came," Alyssa said, walking closer to the bed Josh was lying in. "Just because I'm angry doesn't mean I don't care about you anymore."

Josh flashed her a sad smile and his eyes traveled down to the bouquet she was holding. "You didn't have to buy me that. After everything I've done, I don't think I deserve to be given flowers."

"Just because you used me doesn't mean that you deserve to be beaten up, Josh," Alyssa spoke. "And especially not for being..."

"Gay?" Josh asked when she didn't finish her sentence.

"Yeah." Alyssa swallowed, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting the bouquet of flowers on the side table. "What happened exactly?"

Josh looked away and took a deep breath in. "Well, when I got home after having spent the night with Carter, my father acted all strange before suddenly started yelling at me. He called me a fag, a disgrace, a... fucking sinner... and he started to beat me with a frying pan which was still on the stove. He threw another pan at me before I escaped to the living room. My entire body hurt, I was so dizzy I fell over," Josh pushed the hair back that fell over the bandages wrapped around his forehead. "He started beating me again as soon as I had fallen to the ground, and I gave up on trying to escape. And... right at that moment, Carter showed up. I don't know where he came from, nor how he got in, but he showed up with a knife in his hand and pushed my dad aside. Everything was so vague after that. I just remember waking up in this hospital after that."

"Sounds like Carter saved your life," Alyssa said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Josh said. "My father wouldn't have killed me."

"Maybe not if he was sober. But was he?"

Josh looked back up at Alyssa. No, his father wasn't sober. Josh could tell from the minute he got home and saw numerous of empty beer and vodka bottles on the coffee table. One vodka bottle was still half-full.

"Look, it doesn't matter anymore. The others said the exact same thing but there's no point in arguing about that now."

"That may be so, but I think this is enough proof for you to know that you need to stay away from your father," Alyssa said. "Not just for your own sake, but for Carter's as well. Things won't go back to how they were now that he knows about you two. I hope you do realize that if we don't do something, the next person ending up in this hospital might be Carter."