|MY BULLY |Josh richards

Chapter 17

" Come with us sweetie, he's out of surgery" I tried so hard to avoid them but my efforts still failed. We got to the door and she gave me a smile of reassurance. What is up with all these people and their smiles? My chest clenched when I saw him. You could see his veins from how pale he was, it looked like he had gotten the life sucked out of him. I had never seen a bullet wound this bad before. I stood over his bead as I examined every bit of his face. " Hey it's me, Alex, I know you probably can't hear me right now but if you can, thank you so fucking much for what you did..." breathe Alex just breathe "For saving me, I don't know how I could ever repay you but I guess now I can say someone literally took a bullet for me, just please don't jump in front of a train for me, and y'know catching a grenade would be pretty bad too" I chuckled to myself at my terrible joke, but at least I was proud of it. It seemed like now I was the only one there for me, the only one that I could rely on and the only one that I could talk to.

Josh's body moved a little "Are you awake, move your hand if you are awake" I said placing my hand on his, I felt a squeeze on my hand and my face formed what I believe was a smile. I tear started to roll down my face but I wiped it off, this is supposed to be a happy moment. "I'm going to go get your family just don't run away or anything like that" They all looked at me nervous "Is he ok, is he awake" I nodded "he's awake yeah I'm sure he'd want to see you" They thanked me and walked off towards the patient rooms.

Friday, September 11th 

I got a call from Josh's parents saying they were going to go bring him home and I was welcome to come if I liked. I put on a hoodie and leggings and threw my hair up in a claw clip. "where you going" my mom asked me before I left "to the hospital to bring Josh home" she nodded and rushed over to me handed me a protein bar and a bag of chips "eat" she said hugging me before I left. I made it to the hospital and looked around for Josh's family. Olivia noticed me and called me over "glad you could make it" The nurse led us to his room and gave him a bag of all the things he had on him at the time. We waited for him to come back, Olivia and I shared a small talk but nothing much. Honestly, it was kind of awkward being here right now even though Josh's parents were always nice to me there were so many years where I was too scared to even stand up to their kid. He came back in and we helped him out to the car. "are you coming back to the house" Josh's voice still sounded weak "oh um, no I was just making sure you were ok" I said scratching my arm "well can you come" he asked. I nodded because I felt bad but quickly walked away to my car. What did I just do? I barely felt comfortable in a hospital I can't even imagine how I am going to feel when the last time I was at his house I was crying on the floor trying to keep Josh alive. I arrived to the house shortly after his family did. My hand was shaking as I went to open the door. Maybe I should just leave, say something with family came up. That would be the better option but I mean the least I could do was spend a little with him since he did after all risk his life for mine.

We were all sitting on the couch watching a show. Josh wasn't supposed to be up moving a lot so there wasn't really much else we could do. It felt like I was at a party and everyone I was friends with had already left so I was just kinda left with the others, except there was no party and my friends were never here. I'm pretty sure Josh noticed I was uncomfortable because I noticed him sending some text and a little later Bryce and Jaden arrived. It was a kind gesture and I was honestly thankful that there were other people there but I really just wanted to be alone. "I'm really thirsty do you guys have any bottles of water," I asked, Olivia pointed towards the garage and I thanked her. After I was sure nobody could see me I texted my mom telling her to call me to get me out of here. Nothing against Josh but I just wanted to be alone. Jaden scooted over so I could sit back down on the couch. It had been around 5 minutes of waiting before my phone rang. I shushed everyone and put it on speaker so they could hear.

Hey Dri where are you right now

I'm at Josh's house why

I need you to come home now please I forgot we had family lunch today with your aunt and we can't be late again

I told her I would be home soon then hung up. I'm glad my mom is such a girl boss. "bye Alex, I'm glad you could come" Josh said giving me a hug. I said goodbye to his family then headed for my car and drove straight home. "hey what was wrong over there" My mom asked as I walked in " I just need to be alone, I can't do all of this right now" I ran upstairs to my room and shut the door locking it. My back slid down the wall. I was alone now, I didn't have to put up a happy front pretending like I was ok. I didn't have to smile and laugh off the pain anymore because nobody was here to judge. it was just me.