Bit of a shorter chapter here. Should be longer next time. R&R!
Chapter 7
Connor knew he had to ask Murphy if he was ok or not but decided it would be better to wait. Instead he found himself checking his ribs for marks from Merle and sure enough there was a nice bruise right below his chest. It hurt. He wondered if he would be able to keep this a secret or not. He managed to walk ok so just wandering around the house wasn't a problem. His first test came when his mom asked him if he would take the trash out to the curb. It wasn't very enjoyable pulling the bags over his shoulder to carry outside. As he lifted the second bag to go outside he winced when he hadn't balanced himself correctly and ended up twisting to keep from falling over. That made the pain in his ribs even worse. His mom caught the look and asked "Connor are you ok?" Connor nodded "Yea I'm fine. I was just worried I was going to fall over."
He hurried outside before he became interrogated and dropped the bag next to the first. He glanced across the street hoping he could somehow tell by looking at the house if Murphy was alright. He looked up to Murphy's window and was actually surprised to see him standing there. Connor had to smile and waved. Murphy waved back and pointed at Connor and then made a questioning gesture. Connor guessed he was asking if he was alright or not. He nodded. He then made the same gesture to Murphy which was responded to with a slight shrug from Murphy. Then Murphy pulled out his iPod and pointed to it. Connor was about to pull his out too when he saw Murphy shaking his head. Murphy held up one finger on one hand, two fingers on the other and then pointed to the iPod. Connor got it then. Murphy wanted to text but he couldn't text until later. Murphy nodded as Connor understood and then made a gesture with one of his fingers in a scolding motion. So if Murphy texted now he'd get in trouble. Connor nodded again. Then Murphy raised his hand above his head to show height difference, followed by a mimic of someone sleeping, and then the one and two fingers. Connor put the whole thing together in his mind: Murphy would text him at midnight because that was when whoever was going to bust him for texting would be asleep. He had one more question and mimicked someone searching as to ask: where is the person that is watching you now? Murphy glanced behind him and then pointed to his backside. Bathroom. Connor nodded and then waved to Murphy. Murphy turned from the window and was gone.
Connor was happy though. He would be able to text Murphy later on and would be able to find out what happened after he left without having to play charades. As he walked back to the house he realized that his arm was hurting him from where Merle had ripped him onto the ground. He checked his arm and found some redness but that was it. "God dang it," he muttered. He tugged at his T-shirt sleeve to see if he could cover it and it covered most of it. He spent the rest of the day making sure to show no more signs of pain in front of his mom. It was easier than he thought. He made sure to tug on his shirt sleeve down every few minutes and whenever he was alone he tried to stretch the pain out of his ribs. By the end of the day he was feeling better and was pretty sure he would be fine by tomorrow. He made sure he had some food around ten at night so he would be able to stay up until midnight.
He hung around in his room and finally lied down and waited for midnight. At midnight he zipped a text over. It took a minute but Murphy replied with: hi. Connor was immediately typing all the questions he had had in his head all day: Are you ok? Did Merle hurt you a lot? Why couldn't you text earlier? I should've stayed. Murphy texted him back immediately saying 'No. It was good you left. I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle. My dad yelled at both of us for fighting so I wasn't technically allowed to communicate with anyone for the whole day and Merle couldn't play video games or go out driving.' Connor frowned. Nothing Murphy couldn't handle? Did that mean that he was used to things like that? He shook his head, no Murphy was strong enough, he could fend off Merle. Connor sent back 'You think you will be able to hang out later today?' He clicked his iPod off and waited in the dark for it to light up. When it did he read the message 'Yea. At your place?' Connor nodded to himself but typed back 'Yea.' Connor was almost asleep when Murphy texted him back with the last message of the night 'Cool, I'll see you later!' Then he fell asleep.