Francis was trying to revive Matthew with all the strength he had. Pushing down on his chest he hopped that it was enough to bring his son back.
''One, two, three,'' Francis said as he was pushing down on Matthew's chest. After the 30th one he did mouth to mouth. Then he started again.
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later while Francis was still trying to revive Matthew. He never stopped trying to make his son breathe again. Even when the ambulance arrived he kept going. They had to pull him away to be able to get him on a stretcher.
Once on the stretcher, they brought him hurriedly to the ambulance. Francis went in along with his son. Arthur, Alfred and Gilbert watched for a few seconds as the ambulance started in the direction of the hospital.
They didn't know what to do or say. Once they got back to the car, Arthur discarded every rule of the road and drove right behind the ambulance. Gilbert was behind him almost shaking Arthur's seat and screaming at the top of his lungs to go faster. Arthur no longer cared about the speed limit. Alfred, on the other hand, was shaking in his seat trying to drown out the sound with his hands and muttering to himself ''He's going to be okay. He's alive. He's safe. Don't think about his dead body.''
Francis, who was riding in the ambulance, was trying not to freak out and distract the medics working on his son. He was shocked when they placed the breathing mask on Matthew's face and they started screaming orders at each other. He could have sworn that he saw Matthew's hands move. Seeing this he took his son's hands and whispered to him ''Everything's going to be okay. You'll survive this mon petit Matthew just like you've survived all this time on your own.''
The doctors were able to stabilise Matthew. They examined him for any other problems and then went to tell the rest of the family about the new problems that they found.
''You should sit down for this.'' The doctor said. Before they could all jump to the conclusion that Matthew was dead he continued. ''We were able to stabilise him. He is not in any danger of death. However, we found that along with the broken ribs from the CPR that you performed, he also has a broken arm. We don't know how that happened but it seems fairly recent. We also found that he has a twisted ankle which seems to be an older injury. You said that he had been living on the streets, right?''
''Yeah.'' Alfred replied.
''That explains why he has many bruises and scars. The bruises seem to be from punches that he may have received. Like you may have noticed, he has a black eye and the bruises are all over his body. It's normal for a homeless teenager to have such marks. He probably got in many fights. As for the scars, some seem to have been made with a knife.''
''A KNIFE?!'' They all yelled at the same time.
''What do you mean a knife?'' Arthur yelled.
''It's a typical weapon that teenagers use to defend themselves.'' The doctor continued. ''Matthew is also suffering from slight hypothermia and a mild concussion. We found many marks on his head which might indicate that his head was repeatedly harmed. All the problems that I've told you were physical ones that can be cured easily but with anorexia it takes a longer time. He will be in a weak state when he wakes up and in the following weeks. He will probably wake up in a couple of days as his body is extremely weak. He will need his strength.''
''But did you find any mark that wasn't related to any injury?'' Francis asked clearly referencing the tattoos that gang members get during initiation.
''Fortunately, there were no such marks on his body. But now we have no clear idea what happened to your son. He must have been very well hidden if you didn't find him for over a month. It's strange seeing as how injured he is. He couldn't have been able to move around a lot.''
''Do you mean he was trapped somewhere?'' Alfred asked thinking that he had been right in his assumption many days ago.
''We will only know for sure when he wakes up. I am sorry but we can't be of any more help.''
Silence reigned over the family as the doctor left them. They wondered what could have happened to Matthew during all the time that he had been gone. It didn't seem like Matthew to have been involved in fights. He was the sort of child that absolutely hated violence. How could they have let it go this far? How could they have not noticed that he was gone? How could they have let their son get to the point of death? How?
''Do you think that during the month Mattie was gone, he could have been trapped somewhere and the bruises and scars were from the people that kept him trapped?'' Alfred asked.
''I'd rather not think about that.'' Arthur said in a very serious tone. ''We can't change the past. What is done is done and all we can hope now is that he doesn't get any permanent damage.''
Gilbert had stayed silent the whole time as he looked at nothing. His own mind was a mix of chaotic thoughts and questions. From the moment that he had seen his friend he had started blaming himself. If he had only figured out earlier that Matthew had gone missing, then he wouldn't be in this situation. He would be at the ice rink with him having another game. Gilbert would be trying to get his revenge for losing and Matthew would be laughing his head off at his friends attempt of playing. But instead Matthew was in a hospital room with a broken arm, broken ribs, a twisted ankle, a concussion and soon nightmares that will haunt him during the night for the rest of his life. And it was all Gilbert's fault.
Matthew was in a state of bliss. He felt like he was floating in nothing. He felt safe for the first time in a week. Here, nothing could harm him. Nothing could hurt him. He felt as if he was an angel looking down at the world. Nothing could reach him. He was further away from reality than he had ever been.
He had felt pressure on his chest but when he had looked down there had been nothing. All he could see was his thin body. He felt a breeze on his face but thought nothing of it as the pressure had been lifted but then it came back. Eventually it left all together and the only thing he felt was the breeze on his face.
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the most beautiful place in the world but when he opened them he was in a white room surrounded by strange figures. He looked around not knowing where he was. Then, he saw a tube with a needle at the end sticking out from his left arm.
No, he thought, this can't be happening. I thought that I'd escaped them. I thought that I was safe. Why are they trying to destroy me? Why are they drugging me?! I need to take it out. I need to run. But he felt weaker than he had ever felt in his entire life. He looked at the figures that didn't seemed to have noticed that he was awake and started tugging on the tube.
He was trying to get it out but his hands were so weak that he couldn't do much. He feared that when they turned around they would see him tugging at the tube and beat him again. As his heart started beating faster he heard a beeping get faster. What was going on? He pulled harder not doing anything and then they turned around. He could almost feel his heart stop beating as they noticed him pulling at the tube inserted in his arm.
''No!'' Yelled the figures. ''Don't!''
He pulled hard one last time before two of the figures took his arms and pinned him down on the bed. Panicked, he began to fight back but didn't do much. He felt the two other figures grab onto his legs and he could no longer move. He was trapped as he had so often been in the past month.
''No please.'' Matthew whimpered fighting back his sobs. ''I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I won't try to run away ever again. You can do whatever you want with me. But please don't hurt me again. I'll do whatever you want. I won't go to the police. I won't say a word. I just want to go home one more time. Please just let me go home and see my family again. There are people I haven't said goodbye to.''
Why did I run away? Why couldn't I accept the fact that I was invisible? Look at where I am now. Stuck in a place I'll never escape. Why couldn't I have been invisible to them? All I ever wanted was for people to notice me but right now I'd give everything to be invisible again. Why couldn't I just wait it out for a little while? Everything would have been fine then. Gilbert would maybe have never come back but at least he would have kept talking to me. As for my family, even with the fact that they forgot about me and thought I was invisible why couldn't I have been content with those few moments when I wasn't? Why was I so selfish? Couldn't I have kept going with those few moments? Those few moments were more than I ever deserved. Now, I'm going to become a criminal and there's nothing I can do about it. I won't ever be able to repay my debt. They took me in even when they didn't have to. And what did I do? I threw all that out the window like some selfish bastard. I am nothing. It's a good thing they forgot about me as I'm not worth remembering. I hope they are happy without me. Like the last time, I saw them. They seemed happier with me gone. I hope they never remember. I hope I'm able to forget the life I would have had if I hadn't left. I hope I'm able to forget Francis cooking. I hope I'm able to forget Arthur and his awful cooking. I hope I'm able to forget all the times that Alfred acted like a brother to me. I hope I'm able to forget all the times I joked around with Gilbert. I hope I'm able to forget all the good times. I don't have the right to think about my past anymore. I have to live with all the mistakes I've made. But still I wish I could be able to say goodbye one last time.
''I'm sorry.''
He heard sobs that were not coming from him and a scream. The pressure on his arms and legs were no longer there. Then there was the loud sound of a fist colliding with a wall and people flooded the room.
There were four men sitting in a waiting room. Three of them were crying and one of them looked like he was about to murder someone. Then a doctor came along. He said only one thing.
''I am so sorry but we found traces of drugs in your son's bloodstream.''
A/N Can you even imagine how difficult it was for us to write this chapter? This is the most emotional chapter that we've written in our entire lives. Are we proud of this chapter? Yes, we are. Like always the next chapter will be uploaded next week.
We would really like it if you reviewed this chapter. Not because we want the attention or the compliments but because this chapter is the one we put the most effort in and the most heart. At the end, we were both just sitting there silently just writing.