The world darkened. His eyelids dragged themselves down against his will; the voices grew cloudy, a jumble of faint sounds in his mind. It was a pain like no other he'd felt before, though as the minutes passed, the agony intensified so much that the wound started to feel numb.
"Stay awake!" One of the voices pleaded. "Come on, keep your eyes open mate!"
Another voice sounded a little more frightened. "Hello? I need an ambulance, like, right now. The docks. My friend has been shot."
The pleas for him to stay awake were getting quieter now, as the numbness faded away. Groaning in unimaginable discomfort, he succumbed to the blackness.
Waiting is pretty unbearable, as it goes, but waiting in an empty hospital for news on your friends condition after a shooting is worse. Kevin Chalks nails were now almost non-existent due to nervous chewing, and the intense atmosphere couldn't even be broken by small talk, either. The only other person in the room was Barry Barry, brooding angrily in the corner.
The minutes passed as slowly as hours, with no news at all coming from the doctors and nurses who passed. The silence was excruciating, making Kevin all the more grateful when the door to the waiting room burst open. Daniel entered first, followed by Christine, both looking weary and flustered.
"Kevin!" shouted Daniel, pulling the lad into a well-overdue hug. "Are you okay? Look at the state of you! We've all been so worried... what's going on? Where's Connor?"
Kevin looked at Barry. "I thought you told them? I told you to tell them!"
"This is your mess, not mine." said Barry, though he looked uncharacteristically shaken. "You tell them."
"One of you, tell us." said Christine. "Tell us!"
"Miss, I'm so sorry... but, erm, the man who kidnapped us.. he had a gun. We were down at the docks and.."
"And what?"
"And Connor got shot."
When the police seemed to have no idea how to get the boys back, Christine thought it couldn't really get any worse. She was wrong. Hands beginning to shake, she took a seat and said: "Is.. is he going to be okay?"
"They haven't really told us much." Kevin explained. "They just rushed him in and told us to wait here."
Chalky noticed a tear rolling down the English teachers cheek, and immediately sat down and put an arm around her. He couldn't decide which of the thousands of questions floating around in his head to ask. "But what happened? Why were you at the docks? And how the hell do two seventeen year old boys get kidnapped? You only ever see that sort of stuff in the films!"
"It was Steve-O's brother. Thought taking us would make Dynasty change her mind about pressing charges, and wanted us to drop the charges of harassment, as well." The anger that was constant but hidden in Kevin was surfacing again. "It's all that idiots fault." he spat, gesturing to Barry, who glanced up with annoyance when he realised he was being discussed.
"If this is anyone's fault, it's that mouth of yours! If you had kept quiet and let me deal with Nicky, instead of getting cocky, your little mate wouldn't be in a hospital bed right now!" The time spent brooding miserably in the waiting room had destroyed his patience. It meant he had time to dwell on things - to dwell on the fact that Nicky managed to escape before the police arrived. He needed to call Dynasty. He needed to make sure she was safe. And most of all, he needed to get out of here before the police came to interview Kevin, and Connor when he came to consciousness; there was no way he could get involved with that side of things.
"You could have brought the police with you! If you had more than half a brain cell, you would have brought them with you. Connor would be fine and Nicky wouldn't be god knows where, would he?" The words fell from his mouth in a pool of bitterness. "You think of yourself as this big criminal mastermind. You're not. You're just a waste of space!"
That was it. Barry stood up, honoured Kevin with yet another punch, and left. The boy hardly felt the blow; after the past couple of days, he was used to it. All he was focused on now was his injured friend, and wondering when he would be able to see Dynasty.
"That boy needs to learn to control his temper." mumbled Chalky.
"He's right, though."
"About what?" asked Christine; the tears had dried up, and the strong façade she wore whenever something like this happened was back on.
He took a deep breath, trying to fight back the tears that burned in the back of his own eyes. "It was my fault. All of this is my fault. Connor would never been at the docks in the first place, he was only there trying to look out for me, and look where that got him, a cell!"
The teenagers unadulterated fury at himself sparked the teachers quickly sparked the teachers' sympathies. "Kevin-"
"At the flat, it was Connor who got the worst of it. He was unconscious more than he was conscious, and again, it was me who was getting cocky, it was me they were angry at! He was asleep when I called you, he had nothing to do with it. He got the brunt of that psycho's anger, though. And then he got shot! It's all my fault, and if he dies," said Kevin, his voice cracking, strained with sadness. "if anything happens to him, I'll never forgive myself."
"Kevin, stop it. Just stop it." The English teacher commanded. "Listen to me. My son is an idiot. You are an idiot. Barry is an idiot. No-one is to blame here, but Steve-O and his brother, but they will get what they deserve. Connor will be fine, he's always fine, he just likes to keep us waiting. I don't want to hear any more of whose fault it is. Now, you need to get those cuts and bruises checked over.
AN: Considering how long I've taken to update this chapter is ridiculously short. I apologise.. next chapter will be Kevin/Dynasty reunion, and possibly Connor/Imogen if the poor lad wakes up. I couldn't decide who to have shot so I went with him 'cos he never has an easy ride of it, does he? Haha.
Anyway. Series finale was top, but so sad! Poor Tom! Remember watching the very first series with him in!
Oh yeah and to the Guest who reviewed the last chapter - the fact that you had a dream about this story is unbelievably amazing! Tell me more!
Hope you enjoy Xx