Please... (Mavi/PTX)

4

I abruptly stopped the car when I saw him. He hugged his body to protect himself from the icy winter air nearly lifting him off of his feet. I could barely see him, the snow fell heavily and he had a hard time walking. His head hung low while he stomped through the slightly thick layer of snow on the ground. His skin had turned blue and his bruises glowed black and red. I jumped out of the car and run towards him, not caring that I had left the car in the middle of a buys road. Luckily for me Kirstie crawled over to my seat and parked the car somewhere. I approached him but he didn't seem to notice me because instead of stopping he kept walking. My eyes started to burn due to the snowflakes and I tried to cover my own body. How could he still move his limps with the storm biting his skin? I made a final attempt to make him stop ,so he could ride with me in my warm car, and jumped right in front of him. Shock was plastered on his face but he didn't scream, he stopped dead in his tracks and hugged his body tighter.

"I don't want to hurt you. Please let me drive you home."

Without even thinking about it he shook his head and quickly passed by me, practically running away so I wouldn't help him. I looked after him, the image of his face still in my head. Blue trembling lips, pale nearly white skin, the black bruise around his one eye, his eyes bloodshot and nearly closed, his hair white from the snow. The scratches and bruises around his neck, red. He looked even worse than this morning. I watched his silhouette getting smaller and smaller while he walked away. College was, from where I was standing now, more than ten minutes away. The fact that he was still walking meant that his home was nowhere near.

"Kirstie start the car!"

I practically yelled while jumping inside the car, closing the door and immediately warming my hands by rubbing them together.

"Why didn't he want to come with us? It's freezing out there."

"I don't know.. he seemed..scared of me.." 

That silenced me. What happened to him that he wouldn't get any help even if he was nearly frozen down to the bone? It must've been something even before he got beaten up by those bullies. He was skinny before that, he had bruises before that, he hadn't talked before the incident. There must be so much more. 

"Should we follow him?"

Kirstie asked, her voice cutting through my thoughts and bringing me back to reality. A part of me wanted to help him badly, follow him and make sure that one day he would be alright. Another part of me said I should leave him alone and act as if nothing ever happened but then.. He had no one in college. He needed help, didn't he? Why didn't he seek out help? Why didn't he scream for someone to save him?

"Don't get caught."

I whispered, leaning my head against the window so I had the change to spot him in the storm. A few streets later I finally saw his fragile body. Eyeing the neighborhood I noticed that it was one of the poorer ones. No big houses with gardens, no luxurious cars, no shops or malls. Nothing. My parents always told me to stay away from that part of the city but today I would break my promise. Kirsties grip around the wheel tightened when she saw a gang in an alleyway playing with a knife. I reached out and rubbed her arm, telling her that we would leave as soon as we knew where he lived. We've been driving for around thirty minutes now, stopping the car here and there so he wouldn't feel observed. Why didn't he take the bus to go to college? Or why didn't he ask his parents to drive him? I could understand that he might wanted to walk all the way in the summer, but in the winter? With no proper clothes while freezing? He surely didn't choose that by himself, that couldn't be. He stopped and looked down onto the ground. I saw him sighing and tucking at his clothes before he walked towards a small house nearly at the end of the road. Kirstie parked the car behind a few dumpster, hoping that no one would break in to steal it, and got out with me. My hands started to shake as we approached the small house, hiding behind a tree. Dilapidated. That's what it was. The window on the roof was broken, snow fell through it. No smoke rose from the chimney, it must be really cold in there... A small light shone through one of the dirty windows, most probably the living room. 

Their walls were thin because Kirstie and I heard a low growl, a man shouting and then a loud smack emerging from the house. 

Thank you for reading, voting and commenting! <3

#Yanie