Care.

-Chapter 8-

''Patient is conscious, over.''

I woke up on a stiff, uncomfortable bed and frowned in confusion as I noticed thick, blood-stained gauze bandages stretched over my stomach. What happened?

''Hello, dear.'', a woman's voice from somewhere behind me spoke. ''How're you feeling?'' I blinked, looking around the room. It was full of machinery, surgical supplies, bandages and casts.

''Umm.. Well, my stomach hurts, and I don't know where I am. I'm confused.''

The woman came around the side of the bed and smiled, looking down at me with soft eyes. ''That's okay. You passed out after getting shot at school. You're likely confused because you went down so fast.''

I stayed silent for a minute, slowly recovering everything that happened. Realization sparked in my mind as everything came together, and I felt the smoldering embers of hatred setting off a wildfire in my veins. Riley...Riley shot me. Chasity would've died if I didn't notice.

I rubbed my head thoughtfully, wondering why the hell a quiet kid like Riley would want to kill somebody. ''Okay... Well, thank you for treating me, I guess.'' She laughed light-heartedly at my response, then responded cheerfully with ''Just my job, kiddo.'' She left the room, leaving me alone in the brightly lit place. I sat up, groaning as my stomach lurched in pain. Damnit.. This is gonna take awhile to heal.

My mom stepped into the room, tears staining her rosy cheeks. ''Oh my god, honey, are you okay?!'' she asked, her voice trembling. ''Hm..? Oh. Yeah, I feel fine, other than the fact that my stomach feels like complete garbage.'' I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. She let out a breath of relief, smiling back at me weakly. ''Wanna go home? I can ask if you want.'' I almost jumped out of my bed in excitement. I've only been conscious for about 2 minutes and I already hate this place. ''Yes, please.'' I said, noticing the clear note of desperation in my voice. I nearly laughed at myself, but I find even smiling painful at the moment. ''Okay sweetie, if you can get up then we'll go ask together. I bet if you come, they'll believe you're recovering well.'' She extended her hand out towards me, beckoning me to take it to help get up. I gripped her hand tightly, using her strength to pull me into a standing position. Well, that wasn't too bad.

We walked out of the small room together and over to the front desk, and as my mom began speaking to the attendant I noticed it was pitch black outside. What the hell is the time? How long have I been here? I looked around, searching for a clock. When I found one, my jaw nearly dropped. 11:29 PM?! How serious was this shit? I shook my head dismissively, it couldn't have been that bad, as it was just a simple gunshot wound. My mom finished speaking to the attendant, and placed her hand on my back lightly. ''Sammy, we can go home now.'' I blinked in gratitude at her for getting me out of this congested place. I've always hated hospitals, and at this point I think that'll stick with me forever.

We started walking out of the building and into the cold, crisp night. I was slightly taken aback at how fresh the air felt, breathing it in and embracing it as much as I could. We headed over to my mom's car, and she opened the door for me, knowing I likely couldn't get in by myself without a struggle. She started the car, and backed out of the parking lot. ''So, uhh..What happened to me? Why was I in there for so long?'' I asked her curiously, hoping she had the answers. "Well. You currently have a concussion, and they had to operate on you to find the bullet that was in your gut. You're lucky that thing didn't hit any of your organs.'' I'd never thought about that before, that Riley could've caused my insides grief for the rest of my life- if I even lived. It only pissed me off more. ''Huh. I had a concussion from falling?'' I asked, still curious. ''Yes, Chasity said you hit your head on a desk on your way down.'' I felt my eyes widen in fear. Chasity...Oh no. I had an uneasy feeling about how this was going to go down with her. I sighed as we pulled up into our driveway, and my mom parked the car. ''Wait there for a sec.'' she said before I could even start to shift. Oh, right. My stomach.

She opened the door for me once again, offering her free hand as help. I took it, slowly pulling myself up to stand. Fucking hell, this hurts. As we walked to our door, she laughed, then said ''I'm sorry for laughing, but your expressions are comedy gold right now. You look like a mother giving birth to her first child.'' I laughed in a whisper at her sentence, trying to relax my stomach as much as possible.

I walked into the house as she turned the key into the lock and pushed the door open with her knee. "I have to go do some late-night errands, hun. Are you going to be okay?" She asked, looking at me solemnly with her pastel green eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine mom. I'll see you later."

She nodded, and I turned around to head inside, shutting the door slowly.

Well. That was a day of sorts.

As I was about to start walking through the dim hallway and upstairs to get to my bedroom, panic struck me like lightning as I heard loud, stomping footsteps echo through the house. "WHO THE HELL—" My sentence trailed off quickly as I saw Chasity storming towards me, her face beet red with rage. Without warning, she threw her hand around my neck and lifted me, shoving me against the door. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!", she demanded. I began to struggle to breathe. "I..I....Y..ou would've...d-d..i..ed.." I managed to choke out slowly, her hand pressing harder and harder against me with each second that passed. "DAMN WELL I WOULD'VE. THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, HANDING SOMEONE ELSE THAT GUN?!" I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, blurring my vision, and she saw it. With her free hand, she slapped me across the face at full force. "Ah....a-ah.." I whispered, trying to mask the pain I was feeling as best I could. "DON'T FUCKING CRY. YOU KNOW IT'S YOUR FAULT, AND BEING A CRYBABY ABOUT IT WON'T DO SHIT." I grimaced, struggling with holding in a scream of pain. I could feel my body about to burst as she continued to scold me, holding me tighter as ever against the wooden door with her icy grip. At this point, I was holding my breath because I knew if I let it go, I'd start wheezing. All of a sudden, I felt her bony fist meet my stomach, and it was as if something had...torn. Sharp, unbearable pains stabbed through me, and for the second time today I felt the world falling away. My entire body began to feel fuzzy, almost like 1,000 pins and needles. Patches of black slowly appeared in front of my eyes, and I felt one final excruciating slap across my face and the fading words ''DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING FAINT, YOU LITTLE-''  before the world fell from underneath me.