"Tomato-mato, Tomato-mato… Hurry up, idiot!"
"Yes, yes, I'm coming, Lovi~"
"Don't call me that. Chigi!"
Lovino Vargas was waiting impatiently for his neighbor, Antonio, who had gone grocery shopping with him. While he was waiting, he pulled a tomato out of his grocery bag, munching on it as he looked around. There was a side alley next to him that he had never noticed before. Feeling curious, he decided to explore the alley.
"Lovi, don't go in there!"
Lovino ignored his friend's shout as he went in. The alley was mostly empty; all he could see was what appeared to be a pile of rags a few feet away, against one of the walls. Upon closer investigation, he found that it was moving slightly; there was another kid in there.
"Hey, are you okay?" Lovino asked, poking the boy.
The boy did not respond; only his shallow breathing let Lovino know he was alive. The boy was covered with bruises and gashes; it looked as though he had been beaten and left for dead.
"Toni! Help!" Lovino called when he saw his friend reach the entrance to the alleyway. Antonio ran over to him. "What's wrong Lovi?"
"This kid is hurt and barely breathing and he won't wake up! We have to help him!"
"Okay, I'll call Gil's dad. He's a please-man, so he'll know what to do," Antonio said confidently, pulling out his emergency cell phone to call Officer Beilschmidt, who answered almost immediately.
"Gil's dad! We found a kid in an alley, he looks to be about Feli's age and he's really hurt and not breathing much and he won't wake up and-"
"Where is this alley?I'll send an ambulance and police officers," Officer Beilschmidt interrupted,
Antonio ran back out to the edge to see what was nearby. "It's between Tino's cafe and Maggie's, which looks like a drinking place. Please hurry!"
Antonio could hear shouting on the other end before Gil's dad replied.
"Antonio, I want you to stand at the edge of the alley so that they can see you when they get there, okay?"
"Yessir!"
"Good, I will meet you two at the hospital. You can tell the ambulance staff that you have my permission to accompany the boy in the ambulance."
"Okay!"
With that, the call was ended, so Antonio returned his phone to his pocket before watching the street intently as he waited for the ambulance. A couple minutes later, he heard sirens as an ambulance and two police cars came to a stop in front of where Antonio was standing. He began frantically waving so that they would notice him, then ran back to his Lovi and the injured boy once he was sure they would follow.
"Lovi! These people are here to take the boy to the hospital!" he said, gesturing at the men with the stretcher behind him. "And Gil's dad said we should ride with them in the amblance!" he added as the men loaded the injured boy onto the stretcher.
He and Lovino then followed the men back to the ambulance, climbing into the back with them. Both boys remained silent during the short ride to the hospital, praying that the boy would be okay.