In The Dark

Chapter 8

Dominick

I burst into the house and yelled, "Cory, is the doctor here?"

"Yeah. He's in the basement. Who got hurt? Is it Zach?" he asked and rushed into the front hall.

"Nope. Guess again," I said. "Kais got caught in the crossfire. He was caught in the shoulder and his abdomen. We need to stop the internal bleeding."

"What are you freaking waiting for, dude? Get him in here!"

Nathan struggled to carry the slouching 21-year-old. I stepped up to help, making sure not to hurt his shoulder. Cory led the way to the lab, making room for Kais on a gurney. We put him down and let the doctor do his work.

Kais settled into a coughing fit and coughed up blood. He leaned off the gurney a bit before the doctor pushed him back down. Nathan kept running a hand through his brown hair and pacing the small space. I tried to calm him down, but it seemed to make him even more stressed.

Cory pulled me from the room and demanded to know what happened and where Zach was.

"We were almost caught in an ambush. Zach caught the enemy in the act, but Kais was caught in the crossfire. Zach told Nathan and I to come here, so we wouldn't lose him."

"How's he been holding up?"

I froze and let out a small sigh.

"All he's been doing is telling the truth about things he's lied to each of us. Did you know that a couple years ago he--"

"Cory!" Kais yelled, then coughed. Cory and I hurried into the room. "Remember the time when--the time when I nearly--nearly died and I blamed it on you?" he asked. Cory pursed his lips and nodded. "It was because you were the last one to give me my meds that day."

"K-kais, what are you--"

"I tried to kill myself, because Ian and Jae had died. I thought that I--that I had no reason to live. So, I--"

Cory ran over for the boy and put a hand over his mouth. The doctor poured peroxide on his wound. His surprised cry was muffled. Nathan stopped pacing.

"Cory, what was he going to say?" he demanded. "Why didn't you tell us he'd done that?"

Cory removed his hand and offered a small smile.

"I didn't think it really mattered. We were all broken that week. That entire month, in fact," he tried explaining. "I-I didn't--I didn't mean for it to be a-a-a secret. I just never found the right time to explain. Plus! His parents were worried for him. They didn't know what was going on."

Cory stepped away from the boy as Nathan lunged at him. I tried pulling him back, but he was faster and had his hands around Cory's throat in a matter of seconds.

"Any last words before I kill you?" he growled.

"...Don't--don't mess me up too bad," Cory joked. "I want God to recognize me when I get ready to go to Hell."

I couldn't help but laugh at his stupidity. The doctor's hand slipped as he got the joke.

"Yo, don't kill him," I warned. His shoulders shook with silent laughter as he continued his work. Nathaniel let Cory go and shook his head. He couldn't pretend to be angry any longer. Not when no one was going to take him seriously after that little joke.

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Hours ticked by slowly and the sun went behind the clouds. The doctor said that Kais should rest and not do anything that would cause him to reopen his wounds. The boy never listens. All he did was move. He was taken up to his room to sleep better, but he didn't even do that.