Hold Me (Jercy)

P̃ẼR̃C̃Ỹ II

(A/N Be sure to read the whole ending A/N. Thank you, that is all. Carry on.)

I woke up on the floor of my apartment, with new bruises and cuts littering my body like garbage in a landfill.

My nose was bloody, possibly broken. Something felt really messed up in my chest, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. My head; god my head. It felt like someone had dropped a dresser on it.

I could vaguely remember Gabe flinging a whiskey bottle straight at my head. It scared me; Gabe had never done that before. He must've been satisfied with the effect, because as I staggered to get up from the floor, clumsily bumping into everything around me, Gabe gave me one last kick in the gut. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep me on the ground. He spat on me and left, muttering a few words under his breath.

I didn't realize it at the moment, but I remember tears falling down my cheeks as a few hushed sobs escaped my lips. It wasn't that long ago that I was having fun 'studying' and laughing with Jason.

Jason. The only reason I'm still alive. He was the one person that liked me, that cared about me. He was so kind, so gentle, the perfect escape from the hell of reality. It had been five years since we had first met at the start of seventh grade.

I was just starting my first year at Goode, and I couldn't have come at a worse time. Once the second year of middle school has begun, all the friend groups and cliques have already been cemented, so for twelve year old me, who was and still is an antisocial and hopeless cause had, for lack of a better term, a rough time trying to find friends.

Every day was just another struggle to find somewhere to sit at lunch. Everywhere was full, so the antisocial in me was already cringing, but then the fact that when I did so much as look at a lunch table and received only glares and weird looks..... well, the hopelessness in me just increased as I sat on the toilet of the handicapped stall eating my sandwich listening to some music or reading.

One day, while I was munching on my turkey sandwich in the bathroom, I heard the door open and immediately silenced myself and lifted up my feet just enough that nobody could see them from under the stall. Sometimes they came looking for me, you know, the bullies, but as long as they couldn't see me, those half-wits decided I just wasn't there.

Well, this time the boy who had entered the bathroom was not looking for someone to punch. Instead, Jason, what I would soon learn is his name, was rushing for a sink.

"Oh my god, I'm such an idiot! And of course it had to be in front of everyone....." Then followed a few hushed curses  and 'oh my god's as I heard the sink turn on.

I slowly and quietly looked under the stall and saw a pair of red converse tapping impatiently on the ground near the sink. I keep watching and notice little drops of water splashing onto the ground, but they had a red tint to them.

Suddenly I hear the sink turn off and a few sniffles follow. I decided that I didn't care if he could be a potential bully, I had to help him. I quickly set down my food and opened the stall. The boy at the sink gasped as he turned around. His eyes were slightly red, but he didn't look too bad. When he saw me he quickly turned around and started to grab for some paper towel.

"Hey, it's fine. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Are you hurt? Let me see, I can help." I tell him quietly as I walk over. He looks down and shakes his head, turning his elbow that I didn't realize he was holding cautiously away from me.

"Is it your elbow? Come on, I could really help.  Just show me." I plead as I carefully take his elbow and turn it towards me. He doesn't stop me but he keeps his head down. I carefully inspect his elbow only to see a small scrape and a rug burn. I didn't blame him for getting teary eyed, rug burns hurt.