butterfly// 5SOS

15

Michael

We were sat together in the staffroom- our group dominating the sofas in the brief time before shift started- when all of our phones beeped simultaneously.

I pulled mine out and my heart stopped.

So did everyone else's, you could tell.

New alert from: Elijah

Before we thought of a plan, or told our boss, Crystal and I had got the car keys and raced out the hospital, her telling me directions as I drove, trying to keep cool.

Elijah should've been in class by now, not in a random street.

Worst case scenario was that he'd been ditched and got lost, I was sure, so I kept a level head on.

Until it let us to right outside an alleyway. 

"Elijah!" I shouted, getting out the car, "Elijah!"

We shone our phone torches and squinted, running down the alley and almost tripping over our son on the floor.

"Hey, bud. Can you squeeze my hand?"

He did, and I did it back.

"Okay, that's how we will communicate. Squeeze my hand if your back hurts, in a non bruised way,"

No squeeze.

"Squeeze my hand if you can wiggle your toes,"

Squeeze.

"If you can move your neck?"

Squeeze.

"If you can talk to us,"

Nothing.

Gently, we rolled him over and sat him up, causing him to cough uncontrollably, also revealing all the blood gushing from his mouth and head.

Crystal stood him up and we walked to the car, the pair of them sat together in the back.

"Squeeze mum's hand if your friends did this to you,"

"He squeezed," she said quietly, "I'm so sorry sweetheart, we love you so much, you don't deserve that,"

Softly, he began to cry, and I looked back to see Crystal holding a tissue to his mouth to stop the blood going everywhere. Calum started to ring, so I answered, trying to be as fast as I could.

"We're all off schedule apart from Sierra. Have you got him?"

"We have, we're about five minutes away. I think we're headed to the girl's office first,"

Elijah started to properly sob and breathe uncontrollably, so I ended the call and continued to drive, parking by the back entrance.

He resisted getting out the car with all of his energy, and I ended up having to carry him inside to the office.

"Buddy, I need to take a look and see why your mouth is bleeding, okay? We will put gas on you and you'll have some pain relief from that," Crystal said, wiping his continuous tears, "Please?"

"No," he managed to shriek.

Against his protests, I took him into the exam room and he began clutching onto my neck tightly.

"Elijah, sweetheart, mum is going to help,"

"No,"

"After this, Ashton will take a look at your cuts and bruises. We'll only help you get better,"

I sat him on the chair and he tried to stand, filling the whole room with cries. Kay kay rubbed his back to try and calm him down, but he only quietened down when Luke came in.