-Sky-
When Mr. Peterson was taking me to the hospital, I thought it would be just a couple of stitches and I would be done with the incident. I tried my best not to think about what had happened, or about the dark water. With Max by my side, I thought I could get over it just like that.
But I was wrong.
It took twelve stitches, a hysterical mother and an angry father, two cops, a social worker, a counselor, a newscast group, an angry principal and a hysterical homeroom teacher, a board meeting, two suspended students, three expelled students, a lawyer, then another lawyer, two more interviews and flu medicine for me to even begin to start getting over it.
It was horrible. Max was by my side the entire time, but all I wanted to do was cry from exhaustion. I was in pain. I was scared. I had almost died, and for what? For two days after the incident I kept asking myself, why? Why me? Why did I have to go through all that? Why didn't they just leave me alone? I didn't want to talk about it over and over again. I had to relive it over and over again, and all I wanted to do was to forget.
Then I learned why.
On Thursday afternoon, when my father helped me out of his lawyer's office, there was a woman with a teenage girl sitting in the hallway. I recognized the girl from school – I was pretty sure she was a junior – but I didn't remember her name.
She was quiet and shy, her brown bangs were hanging in front of her eyes, and she held her arms wrapped around herself, like she was trying to shield herself from harm. She stood up and gave me a shy glance.
"S-Sky?" her voice was nothing but a tiny whisper.
"Yes?" I said in confusion and glanced at my dad.
"I... I want to t-thank you," the girl continued quietly, and I turned to look at her again.
"For what?" I asked as kindly as I could – I could tell she was a nervous wreck.
"For stopping him," the girl said and rolled up her sleeve.
There was a big bruise, shaped like a handprint, on her thin arm.
"Did he do that to you?" I asked in shock.
The girl nodded shortly, and her eyes started watering up. "H-He... He t-thought i-it was funny... I was too scared to tell... for two years..." she trailed off and started to cry. Then she suddenly hugged me, and whispered, "Thank you."
I patted her back gently and waited until she was ready to let go. She gave me a tiny smile, and I had the feeling it was her first smile in a long, long time.
"I'll tell them now," she sniffed, and her mom put her arm around her shoulder before they stepped into the lawyer's office.
"Come," my dad said quietly.
"Did you know about her?" I asked while we walked out of the building.
"I heard this morning," he said. "And she's not the only one. This Cain has been bullying and hurting a lot of people without anyone knowing about it. Because of you, his victims have decided to speak up."
"Oh," I muttered and stopped next to my dad's car.
"You ended their hell," Dad said with a proud voice.
"I didn't do anything really..." I muttered.
"You spoke. You gave all those interviews. You were strong enough to go through it all. The others found courage when they watched your example. You did a lot," he said and hugged me. "You gave them hope, which was exactly what they needed."
That was the moment when I really started to get over it.
Being held underwater had been the scariest moment in my entire life, but something good came out of it. On the next day at school, the same girl – Klara – waved at me when she passed me by on her way to class, and she looked stronger. Another girl came to give me a hug, and without saying a word, she ran away. A boy with a scar on his cheek came to talk to me, and he told me that Cain had done the same thing to him three times in the past. He, too, had been held underwater for so long he was sure he was going to die. And then one of the boys in the football team came out as gay to the entire school. After he had quieted down, two girls – one from the cheerleading team and one girl from advanced math – informed that they had been going out for a year.
I had no idea the school had been bearing so many secrets. It was amazing to see how many people supported me and the others. There were also those who didn't, but they kept a low profile.
Luke and Troy both got suspended for fighting. For two days. Cain and his two friends got expelled for good. On Friday morning, Troy and Luke were back, and from that moment on, I found myself being surrounded by two or three big jocks almost every second of the day.
"Okay – seriously...!" I gasped when I got squeezed between Max and Troy in the busy hallway. "I can't breathe!"
Max was, of course, the worst of them. He wouldn't let me even use the toilet without him standing behind the door if I didn't shoo him away with my crutches. It was getting almost annoying. Most of the time I found it funny, but sometimes the lack of personal space was getting on my nerves.
"No one's going to jump on me here!" I sighed in frustration and hit Max and Troy on their ankles with my crutches – those had turned out to be the best weapon against them in my battle for free space.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Troy asked, taking a step away from me.
"I need room to walk!" I whined in frustration.
"No, you don't," Max said, but I could tell he was partly joking – he was holding back his smile.
Things were returning to normal, and I enjoyed it. I had been at the center of attention for two days, and I didn't like it at all. But now it seemed like what happened at the river was yesterday's news, and I could finally concentrate on studying.
If only I could see if I was even going to the right classroom.
"Could you guys not walk so close?" I asked for the hundredth of time.
"Come on – give him some space," Max said to Troy.
He seemed completely oblivious of the fact that he had his hand wrapped protectively on my shoulders, and he was tightly squeezing me against his chest.
"You are the worst!" I sighed.
"But I'm your boyfriend," Max protested.
"And that gives you the right, huh?" I asked him.
Max stared at me like I had gone crazy. "Yes!"
I shook my head, but I couldn't help my laughter. I guess I would always let him do whatever he wanted if he kept referring to himself as my boyfriend. It was almost scary to realize what kind of power he had over me – almost, because I trusted him.
"I won the argument," he smirked at Troy, who giggled lightly.
"Sure you did," he replied.
I laughed at both of them until it turned into a throat-burning cough. I had to stop walking and lean against Max when my knees started to give up. I had been coughing ever since I escaped from the river. My doctor had checked up my lungs three times already to make sure there wasn't any water left, and I was sure if he knew about my cough, he would ask me to come again to get checked – he was just as worried about my health as Max and my parents were.
"Are you all right? Should we take you to see a–"
"Do not say it!" I gasped, and when he tried to continue, I slapped my hand over his mouth. "Do. Not."
I coughed a few more times until it calmed down. Max and Troy were both staring at me worriedly.
"No," I said sternly, knowing what they were thinking about, and continued walking towards the stairs. "We'll be late!"
I could hear them following me while I limped to the stairs. I didn't need to see the nurse. I just had a cough. But they didn't seem to give up.
"Sky – they said you need to take it easy for a couple of days," Max said, and I turned to look at them.
"I am taking it easy," I said in frustration. "It's just a cough."
"But–"
I wasn't going to stay and listen to them. I turned around and continued my way to the stairs. I wished they would stop patronizing me. I wasn't a little kid! I was almost sixteen!
"Sky, please," Max called my name and followed me.
I shook my head and saw Luke walking up the stairs. I just nodded to him as a hello and passed him by on my way down. Of course, I somehow managed to trip myself after the first step. My heart skipped a beat when I realized I was going to fall all the way down. I had fallen so many times I already knew it was going to hurt. A lot.
But then someone grabbed me by my hoodie and literally lifted me up from the ground. A second later, I was standing back on top of the stairs, right next to Luke. I couldn't do or say anything in the first two or three seconds – I just stared at the first floor so far, far away. It all had happened way too fast.
"Slow down," Luke said nonchalantly and moved away when Max hurried to my side.
"Sky! Oh my god, are you all right?!"
"You should be more careful!" Troy continued, stopping by my other side. "You could've gotten seriously hurt!"
"Why did you do that? You could've gotten yourself killed!" Max continued.
I had no time to say anything. I opened my mouth, but Luke beat me to it.
"Shut the fuck up, both of you," he said with a deep frown. "The fuck you think he was doing? Throwing himself down on purpose?"
Both Max and Troy were about to say something, but Luke shook his head angrily and turned to speak to me. "Are you suicidal?" he asked. I shook my head, and he turned to look at Max and Troy. "Now shut the hell up – that shit is annoying the crap out of me. And Shrimp."
I guess Shrimp meant me. Max and Troy looked at me apologetically. Luke was about to continue his way to wherever he was going, but I suddenly felt the need to hug the guy. So I did before he could take another step.
"Uh. What are you doing?" he asked, and I looked up at him.
He had a deep frown over his shocked eyes, and it reminded me of a bald eagle. "Hugging you?" I said innocently.
"I don't do hugs," he grunted.
"Too bad for you," I said and hugged him even tighter before letting go of him.
He just stood there for a moment, glaring at me like I was some sort of alien. I gave him a smile and took a better hold of my crutches before making my way down the stairs – and this time I watched my step carefully. I heard Max and Troy following after me, and thankfully, they did keep their mouths shut.
"So uh..." Troy muttered when we were all safe and sound at the bottom of the stairs. "What are you guys doing after school?"
"We have a date," Max said slowly, like he was wondering if I had already changed my mind.
"Date? To the waterfalls?" Troy asked.
"No," I smiled. "We decided to go there another time."
"Then what?" he asked.
"We're going to see the kittens!" I said, and the familiar wave of excitement washed over me.
"The kittens? The ones you found behind the gym?" Troy guessed.
"Yes! I heard they're doing really well, and they'll let us come see them!" I spoke hastily, getting overexcited.
"Perfect date," Max said with a smirk.
"Definitely!" I chirped. "I can't wait to see them!"
"Just a few more hours," Max chuckled. "Then we can go."
"I know," I said. "I'm just so happy to get to see them again."
"You will soon," Max said and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
I gave him a wide smile. Going to see the cats was his idea – he truly was the perfect guy. Well, maybe a little too overprotective, but I guess that's just who he was, and I didn't mind that. Not really.
*****
Max's father took us to the animal shelter. I had technically met him already, but I didn't remember much about him. Mainly because Cain had tried to drown me just a moment earlier and then I'd bled all over his car.
Frank Peterson seemed like a nice man. He kept the conversation going, asking me if I was all right and telling me he had read the two articles about me in the newspapers.
"You're a brave kid," he said quietly and shook his head. "This world can be a bad place..."
"I'm fine now. Max found me," I told him from the backseat of his car.
Max was sitting right next to me, and he touched my hand lightly, and I gave him a smile.
Max's dad didn't know that we were dating, so we couldn't be openly affectionate in front of him. But if he had really read the interviews, he knew I got bullied because Cain hated gays. I had told only the police and my dad's lawyer that I indeed had a boyfriend, but I hadn't admitted it to the interviewers to protect Max. There weren't any mentions about me being gay in the articles, but the way they had described Cain's hate for gay people... It wasn't too hard to do the math.
In school, everyone knew Max and I were dating. The funny thing was that almost no one believed it was true. Not Max Peterson – he couldn't possibly be gay. I didn't mind, of course, but it was annoying to see how the girls kept winking at Max.
Max was doing a great job ignoring them all, so I didn't have to worry about anything. It was just annoying.
"Here we are – I'll come pick you up in an hour, okay?" Mr. Peterson spoke when he parked his car in front of the animal rescue center.
"Okay, thank you," I chirped cheerily while Max got out of the car.
I opened my door and Max was already waiting there to help me up. He gave me the crutches and closed the door for me after we both said our goodbyes to Mrs. Peterson.
Then I turned to look at the front door of the two-story building, and there were two ladies in blue uniforms walking towards us.
"Skyler Jenkins?" The other of the two looked at me with a warm smile on her lips, and I nodded. "Welcome to our shelter," she continued and offered her hand so I could shake it. "I'm Felicia Miller, and this is my coworker, Juanita Torres."
Max had called them and asked if we could come see the kittens. The staff had been more than glad to have me visit their shelter. They had heard my story too because the news had mentioned the cats in the articles about me.
"Thank you," I said, and managed to drop my crutch as I tried to shake her hand.
"You were really brave," the other lady, Mrs. Torres, continued. "We heard what happened. You are a true hero."
I blushed lightly at her words. "I didn't do much..."
"And so humble, too," Mrs. Miller said with that same warm tone. "We have six souls here who don't quite agree with you."
I frowned, but then I realized she was referring to the cat family. "Are they all right?"
"You'll see for yourself in a minute," they said and gestured for us to follow them inside.
Max gave me my crutch back, and we followed the two women to the door, and stepped inside to the shelter.
The lobby was clean and had two rows of seats right in the middle. There were a couple of other blue-uniformed people who gave us a friendly smile when we walked by. I forgot them when I heard the barking and meowing, the scent of the animals filling my senses.
I felt like I was home. I was getting really excited by the second, and I think the ladies noticed it.
"So we heard you love animals," Mrs. Miller said when she opened one of the doors on our right.
"I do!" I said enthusiastically. "And not just cats and dogs! I love them all!"
"That's true," Max told them. "Sky has told me a lot about all kinds of animals and insects," he said and ruffled my hair.
"Well, the cat family is grateful," Mrs. Torres smiled. "They were lucky you found them. The mother was in a really bad shape when they were brought here. She wouldn't have lasted the night."
I was horrified by that. If I had let Max take me to the hospital right after Cain's attack, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to come help the cats anymore after that. They would have died before I could have returned to them.
I guess my mood was obvious to the others, because the women hurried to continue, "You will notice the difference now," Mrs. Miller said, opening another door, and the meowing grew louder.
There were cages piled up on top of each other, and there were at least a dozen cats in them. Most of them came to the door to ask for treats or attention, but some were just sleeping with IV lines attached to their legs. I wanted to take them all home with me.
"Look who it is," Mrs. Torres cooed into one of the cages and opened the door. "Hey mama, you have a visitor."
Mrs. Miller gestured for me to come closer, so I did.
And there she was, the mom cat, with her four little kittens. She meowed at me and stretched her legs before standing up. I moved my hand closer, so she could sniff it, almost choking on my emotions. She looked great! She looked so much better, even with bandages around her neck.
The cat sniffed my hand and pushed it with her head, and let out another silent meow.
"We named her Sky," Mrs. Torres said. "And her husband here is Cloud."
Mrs. Torres opened another cage and picked up the brown male who had led me to the other cats.
"It's not usual that the male sticks around," Mrs. Torres said while the male looked at me with squinted eyes.
"He came to ask for my help," I said with a muffled voice, muffled by all the emotions I had, and petted him, too. "He led me to her."
"Oh?" the ladies said with smiles. "Maybe he knew his girl needed help and came back."
I had to take a step back to clear my head. I was getting really emotional. Both of the cats were staring at me, moving their heads like trying to catch my scent. The kittens were still really tiny, and they didn't have their eyes open, but they were meowing, too.
"You saved them," Mrs. Miller said tenderly. "We all are grateful, especially these guys."
My eyes started to water up, but I smiled. The mom cat, Sky, meowed and touched my shoulder with her paw, like asking for scratches. I petted her carefully and focused my attention on her healing wound.
"Do you know how she got that wound?" I asked in an embarrassingly cracked voice.
Max hugged me with one arm, trying to soothe me, and it worked. I felt a lot better.
"She was probably in a fight," Mrs. Torres told me. "We believe it was a dog, because she had bite marks on her back as well. They were badly infected, and she was unable to get food. She was really skinny, but now she's got a healthy appetite and the wounds are healing well."
"That's good," I said quietly while the cat pushed my hand gently.
"She likes you," Mrs. Miller said. "She's thanking you for saving her life."
Oh Christ... Were they trying to make me cry on purpose? Max tightened his hold on me, and I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down.
"We should give them some rest – she's still quite weak, but she's recovering," Mrs. Torres spoke, and put the male cat back into his cage.
"Is he all right?" I asked. "Cloud?"
"He was skinny too, but there's nothing physically wrong with him. He just refuses to leave his family, so we had to keep him here in the recovery room," Mrs. Miller explained. "He put up quite a show when we tried to take him away."
"Yeah?" I chuckled and looked at him.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe the ruckus – he kept yelling and tried to break through walls... We had to bring him back, so he wouldn't hurt himself," Mrs. Torres laughed cheerily. "I get it – he just wanted to be with his family."
I gave Cloud a smile, and he meowed back. "Take care of your lady and kids, okay?" I told him and got another meow as a reply.
"He will," Mrs. Torres said. "Would you like to see our facilities?"
"Yes!" I gasped with wide eyes. "I'd love to!"
The caretakers smiled at me and gestured for me to follow them. I turned to say my goodbyes to the cats. The mamma cat was curling up next to her kittens on a soft-looking towel and started licking one of them. Cloud was still looking at me, and meowed, like he was saying goodbye to me.
Max nudged me and gave me a smile when I looked at him.
"I'm dating a hero," he said tenderly and kissed my cheek when no one was watching.
I blushed lightly and hugged him before we followed the officers.
It was really fascinating to see the facilities. There was another recovery room for dogs, and I even saw a few parrots resting in their cages. They had a lot more animals waiting to be adopted, and I really wanted to take them all home with me.
They showed me their offices, the surgery room – which was huge – and last but not least: the holding area.
I had expected to see cages where the dogs who were ready for adoption were kept, but instead there were a few dozen enclosures, and the walls were made of glass blocks. They looked really nice – way better than bars and wire nets.
The dogs were barking and jumping around, trying to get our attention and be petted. They all looked so happy and delighted to have visitors.
"Sadly, not all of them get adopted, but after you mentioned us in the newspaper, the adoptions skyrocketed," Mrs. Miller told me. "You did us a great favor, young man."
"I just wanted to help," I said and petted a big bulldog who was standing on his hind legs, so he could reach his head over the door of his enclosure.
"And you did," Mrs. Miller said. "This world would be a better place if we all were more like you."
They all smiled at me. I turned to look at the bulldog. Maybe he would get adopted soon, too. It felt really good to know that the horrible incident at the river had such a great outcome. I would never forget Cain's laughter when he was holding me underwater, but at least something good came out of it.
And I was happy about it.