The first thing Gavin was aware of when he woke up the next morning was the sound his alarm clock made and the intense headache it caused. He rolled over and hit it tiredly with his hand until the offending noise stopped.
His head was spinning, and when he sat up, he realized how sore his body felt. Images of what happened the previous night flooded through his head and he barely had enough time to sprint to the bathroom before being sick. Throwing up was a fairly common occurrence for Gavin, due to his weak stomach. However it didn't mean it was any less unpleasant. His hands gripped the side of the porcelain rim so hard that his knuckles turned white. His eyes involuntarily watered and his face went from ghostly white to a deep red in a matter of seconds.
Once he was sure his stomach was empty, Gavin slowly moved to the sink and rinsed the horrid taste from his mouth. He caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror and groaned. He had dark bags under his eyes from exhaustion and a few minor scrapes on his forehead. They must have come from him being repeatedly pushed against the brick of the wall when-…he didn't even want to think about it. Upon further inspection, he found similar scrapes on the heal of his hands and small crescent shaped cuts which must have been left by his finger nails. Great. He was a mess.
As he turned to leave the bathroom, he noticed his ruined clothes from last night sitting on the floor. He would have left them there had the Ramsey's not been coming home later that day. He dropped them straight in the trash can with crumpled up napkins and paper to hide them from the world. He never wanted to see them again and he especially didn't want Geoff or Griffon finding them.
He went back to his bedroom and worked on getting dressed for the day. He thought about calling in sick to work today, but he knew he couldn't for two reasons. One: Geoff was already gone, and that would leave the team two guys short. Two: Gavin almost never called in sick, and the group might get suspicious.
He opted on wearing an old pair of jeans and an oversized hoodie. The sleeves came down past his hands, so hopefully he could keep his injuries a secret. Walking was much easier today, so at least he didn't have to deal with covering up a limp. However, his head was another story. Maybe if he was lucky, his hair would just cover it up and no one would ask questions. It was the only thing he could do seeing as he was already late. He made sure to lock the door as he stepped into the cold January air and headed off to work. He Knew he was expected to act like his normal self, he could only hope he could pull it off.
Gavin thankfully wasn't the last one to walk into the achievement hunter office that day. Michael was running late too, which he was thankful for. It took some of the attention off of him. He Walked into the room and immediately went to his desk. The button clicked as he turned on his computer, ready to start editing. Normally, the task was somewhat tedious, but he was eager to have a distraction.
"Hey Gavin." Ray greeted, not taking his eyes off what he was doing on his computer screen.
Gavin gave a quiet 'hello' In response and kept his head down, trying not to draw attention. But of course, nothing could be easy for him.
"Rough night?" Jack asked with a slight laugh as he looked over his disheveled friend.
"Ugh…yeah." Gavin said, trying to keep his cool. "I stayed up to talk to Dan for a bit last night. Didn't get much sleep." It wasn't uncommon for Gavin to do that, so jack shrugged and went back to his work.
"So how is Dan the Man?" He said, trying to start a conversation. He wasn't looking at Gavin anymore, for which he was thankful.
"He's good….over worked, but good." He responded, saying the first thing that came to mind. Luckily, jack didn't ask any more questions and he was able to work peacefully.
He shifted around in his chair often, trying to relieve some of the pressure on his sore muscles, but for the most part, was able to relax a bit. He let his mind become fully focused on the editing, allowing his headphones drown out everything that was going on around him.
It lasted for a good 20 minutes, until Michael burst into the room. He was rushing to get to his desk as quickly as possible and managed to hit Gavin in the back of the head with a bag he was carrying. It was a complete accident of course, but it made Gavin nearly jump out of his chair. The collision caused a wave of pain to spread from the already sore bump. But what was worse was the memories which came rushing with it.
Rough hands grabbed him as something hard collided with the back of his head. He was disoriented, but he could feel the hands on him, grabbing and pulling. They lingered on his skin too long and made him tremble in fear.
"Gavin? Man, are you alright?"
The sound of Michael's voice brought him back to reality. He was confused for a second. He could have sworn he was back in that alley just a second ago, but now he was safely back in the office. The memories seemed so real. The smell…the feel. He quickly shook his head, shaking the memories away with it.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He muttered. Upon seeing the curious look on Michael and Ray's face, he added a snarky: "Watch where you're going next time you doughnut."
Michael chuckled and ray went back to whatever he was doing on his computer. Probably setting up for their Let's Play. They had been waiting on Michael to start, but now, they had no reason to wait.
They were in the middle of filming a Minecraft Let's Play. Before Geoff left, he had set up a huge relay race. Team Lads vs team Gents, with Caleb filling in for Geoff. The whole point was to Make it through various death traps wail passing along pieces of the tower of pimps from team member to team member. The first team to erect the tower on their respective blocks won. Gavin had been unusually quiet for his normal self. He laughed at the appropriate times and cursed when something bad happened, but not much more.
It was towards the end when it was Ray's turn to carry the second to last gold block to the end when things took a turn for the worse. He had to run through a field of Skeleton Archers and Creepers. Is tactic from before of him simply sprinting his way through and weaving around enemies was working, but he soon ran out of food, making it impossible to sprint. He let out his iconic Ray: "YOLO!" as he tried his best to pass through, but then Michael just had to start talking.
"Ray is totally getting fucked by Creepers!" he narrated, making everyone in the room, but Gavin, laugh. Gavin had set his controller down on his desk, trying to take a deep breath to calm himself down. Michael was just joking, it was only a poor choice of words. He knew he was just being overly sensitive, so he tried to ignore the fast pace of his heart as images of the alley tried to breach his mind.
Michael burst into another fit of laughter as a creeper blew up right next to Ray, leaving him with only a half a heart of health left.
"Oh my god Ray's totally getting raped!"
Hands. Hands everywhere. He was being held down and he could feel his attacker's breath on his skin. He could hear him moaning from behind him. The taste of blood was invading his mouth and he was breathing so fast he though he may pass out.
Without warning, Gavin abruptly got up from his desk and ran outside. The office was too small. Too cramped. He moved to the side of the building where he emptied his stomach. His heart was pounding and his head was spinning.
Once he was done, he leaned his hand on the building wall and wiped his mouth. He was still doubled over and trying to regain his breath.
"Gavin!" Michael shouted somewhere behind him. His head instantly snapped up and turned around to look at him. He soon regretted the action as he was blinking away purple spots od dizziness in his vision.
"Are you alright?" Michael asked, closing the gap between them and standing beside him. He looked genuinely concerned.
Gavin laughed slightly and put on his best fake smile. "Yeah. Sorry I ran out like that. I just kinda feel like shit today." He wasn't lying. His head hadn't stopped hurting since he woke up.
"Do you wanna go home?" Michael asked.
Gavin was just about to answer when he saw Ray and Jack were jogging up to them.
"Bollocks…" Gavin muttered under his breath. "I'm fine guys. Really. I'm just sick." He didn't want any of them to ask questions. He wasn't sure he could answer them.
"Well, let's just take a break and see if you feel better in a bit." Jack suggested as he pated Gavin's back. It wasn't meant to be anything but comforting, but it still made him flinch.