Merome- Walking Alone

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Mitch's P.O.V.

I kicked at a stone, wandering down the road with my hands in my pockets and paying no mind to the world around me. I had been walking for quite a while, maybe an hour or more since I had left the house and although I knew I should probably head home, I didn't want to.

If I was at home then I would have to be working or doing something productive but I wasn't feeling up to it, I felt like shit and just wanted to get out of the house. Jerome was busy recording with some other friends so he hadn't come with me, as much as he had expressed how much he wanted to.

Both of us were sick of being cooped up inside, we were recording and editing constantly and no matter how hard either of us tried, we were both constantly tired. I knew I was on the verge of burnout and I was trying everything I could to put it off, but it was inevitable.

I had one earbud dangling from my ear and it was blasting music probably louder than the recommended level into my brain and simply continued my aimless path down the road, still paying not attention to reality. I didn't raise my head when several cars raced down the road beside me, I didn't look at the lady walking her dog in the opposite direction, I just wandered with no direction.

Blinking, I startled when my phone started buzzing in my pocket and my music cut out, a phone call coming through. I pulled it out of my jeans and saw Jerome's contact on the screen, Biggums <3, so I answered it.

"Hey Jerome." I said into the phone, looking up quickly to check that I wasn't about to run into anyone.

"Hey Mitch are you still out? You've been out for a couple of hours now." I blinked a little, not realising quite how long I had been out. I thought it had been an hour, maybe a little longer, but not a couple of hours. Time had passed so fast, even though I didn't realise it. "Mitch?"

"Mhm?" I said, coming back to reality. "Sorry what?"

"When are you coming back home?" I shrugged before realising that he couldn't see me.

"Dunno, sometime. Don't really feel like coming home." I heard him sigh on the other end of the phone but he didn't say anything more for another few minutes, leaving me to walk in silence again.

In those few minutes I thought I heard footsteps behind me and I swung my head around, it sounded like they were right behind me, but there was no one there. There was a tabby cat standing in the middle of the road but other than that there were no signs of life in the road or on the footpath.

Finally Jerome spoke up.

"Just... just stay safe alright. Don't be more than another hour please?" I smiled to myself and was about to reply again when I was jerked backwards, someone had taken ahold of my shoulder and pulled on me so hard that I thought it might dislocate.

I yelped in pain as I landed on my butt and my phone fell from my hand, landing with a resounding crack on the pavement. I swore, it was undoubtedly damaged, and I turned to reprimand the person who had pulled on me when they landed a solid punch in my stomach, knocking the wind from me.

"Oof!" I gasped in pain, I was back on the footpath and before I could say anything else the person grabbed my hair.

"Give me your wallet." Their voice was thick and gravelly and even from just looking at their shoes and legs, the only things I could see with their death grip on the top of my head, I could tell they were both huge and muscly. Easily able to overpower me.

I was in shock and that stopped me from speaking, I couldn't even think of anything to say. I opened and closed my mouth like a goldfish, startled, in a hell of a lot of pain and just in shock. They shook my head, earning a yell of pain.

"Give me your WALLET!!" They yelled, their hand delving into my back pocket to find something that I didn't have on me. I had left my wallet and any money I would normally have on me at home, why would I have it with me on a walk?

"I don't have anything! I swear!" I yelped, my voice high-pitched with fear. "Please!"

He let out a guttural growl and shook me again, my hands scrabbling to loosen his grip from my hair as I tried not to scream. I could feel some of my hair separating from the root he was pulling that hard and at this point I was being held up off the ground by my hair, putting my whole body weight on it.

While I desperately tried to get him to let me go I didn't notice the disgusted and annoyed look on his face and I certainly didn't see the kick he aimed squarely at my gut. Pain exploded over my stomach and chest as his heavy combat boot made contact with my upper stomach and I gagged, almost throwing up all over the footpath.

"Waste." He spat, finally letting me go as I collapsed to ground. "Wasting my time."

He turned away and I saw his silhouette swagger into the distance like he hadn't just attacked and tried to mug someone. He looked like he was in the middle of leisurely stroll with no cares in the world at that just made me mad, on top of all of the pain coursing throughout my body.

"Mitch? Mitch answer me!" After a couple of minutes a voice filtered into my ear and I was able to open my eyes properly and fight through the pain for little bit to work out where it was coming from.

My eyes found my cracked and broken phone which I thought would have been completely destroyed in the fall, and the faint and tinny voice echoing from it. Jerome's voice was echoing from the speaker, he was in a call with me, of course!

I crawled towards the shattered hope of a phone, whimpering in pain as I moved and collapsed on the ground only a foot from it, my hand scrabbling around on the concrete to find it.

"Mitch are you there?" I held the phone to my ear and sighed in relief when I heard my boyfriends voice, finally.

"Jerome?" I croaked, my voice breaking. The relief in his own was immediate.

"Mitch! Are you okay! Where are you, I'm coming to pick you up." I raised my head and looked around, but there was nothing that really told me where I was.

"I dunno." I mumbled weakly, my head back on the ground. "There's... a park on- on one side... and warehouses... on the other."

I was gasping for breath as I spoke, I felt like I couldn't draw enough air into my lungs to speak properly so I fell into silence as I heard Jerome sprinting down the stairs and the car engine starting.

"Mitch I'm coming, are you hurt badly? What the hell even happened?"

"Att-attached." I gasped out. "Hit in... in the stomach... can't... breathe." My eyes were flickering as I said that, the pain was growing by the second and I felt like I wanted to be sick.

"Mitch stay awake!" He pleaded with me, I could hear the car moving and knew he was on the way.

"C-can't." I mumbled, closing my eyes. "Tir tired."

"Mit-" The last thing I heard was Jerome yelling my name, and then nothing.

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"Hey babe, easy." Jerome whispered, moving the ice pack so it covered my ribs more as I tried to shift. "Stay still."

I groaned and squinted, I wanted to get up but even two days later Jerome still had me on bedrest and refused to let me get up in case I hurt myself even more. I glared at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Goddamn Jerome, I'm okay." I mumbled, taking the ice pack from his hand and moving it to the most tender areas of the bruising myself. He raised an eyebrow at that, not even mentioning my fed up and annoyed tone.

"And I know that you aren't." He leaned down and gently kissed my lips. "You will stay on bedrest until you're better, alright." I sighed, looking up at him.

"Alright." I mumbled reluctantly, sighing lightly as he ran his fingers up and down my arm. "You win."

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