Part 11

In the afternoon...

I decided to go to the skate park, but when I got there I was alone. Nobody was there. Now I'm sitting on one of the picnic tables and I'm bored. The smell of food reaches my nose and my stomach immediately starts to growl, but I don't have enough money to buy anything.

"Hey Maria." Sean appears.

"Hey!"

"You waitin' for somebody?"

"Nope, I was just hoping to meet someone here."

"Well, you got me. I'm on my way to Billy's. He called us because he has some great news. Wonder what it could be. You want to come with me?"

I don't want to go to Billy's, but I'm afraid that the great news relates to Michael. And if I'm right, then I have to know what happened. "Sure."

"So…" I start after a few minutes, "what do you think the great news is?"

Sean shrugs. "I don´t know."

"Maybe it has something to do with the Bandits?"

"Yeah. That may be. Uh… by the way, are you okay?"

I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Does he really care?

"Yes, totally alright," I assert.

"And Rath really didn't ..."

"He didn't touch me, Sean, I promise."

I feel sick, when Sean knocks on Billy's door. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come here.

"Hey, Dude!" Billy greets Sean with their typical handshake and gives me a cold look.

We enter the apartment and meet the rest of the gang. "Hey Maria, how're you doin'?" Brody asks.

"She´s fine!" Billy answers for me.

"So what's the big news?" Ryan wants to know.

A big, evil grin appears on Billy's lips. "I got my revenge!" he announces proudly.

I hold my breath in horror but Billy is too busy with his ego to notice.

"What'd you do?" Brody asks, curious.

"Today, fate was on my side; I spotted Rath alone in a small, empty alley."

"Did you blow him away?" Ava asks.

"You can count on that. I'm not sure he'll ever see the sunlight again."

"You killed him?" I scream.

"I'm not sure. When I left him he was unconscious and bleeding like hell."

"I'm gonna be sick!" I hold my stomach, run to the bathroom and throw up.

Oh my God, he probably killed him. This morning he held me and now he's probably dead. No, no, it couldn't be true.

I pull myself together and go back to the living room. I have to be strong now. To my surprise everyone except Billy is gone.

"Weak stomach?" he asks.

I nod.

"So..." He closes the distance between us and presses me against the wall, "...what do you say, Babe? He got what he deserved. He'll never lay a hand on you again."

Billy rubs his body against mine, and I could easily throw up again.

"That was really brave of you!" I force a smile and slide my hand through his hair. I have to pretend to be happy otherwise he would lose his mind. But I have to get out of here soon.

"You´re right. And I deserve a little pleasure from you now, huh?"

What, now? I try to find an excuse, but I can't think of anything logical.

Suddenly there is a hard knock on the door. "Billy, open the door!" Sean shouts.

I sigh with relief; that was salvation at the last second.

Billy pulls the door open. "Damn it, what's up? I'm busy right now."

"Brody..." Sean pants, "Max retaliated… he took him down hard."

"Son of a bitch!" Billy shouts and leaves the apartment with Sean.

For a moment I stand there in silence. What happened to my life? Will things get worse and worse? I leave the flat still in shock.

***

I have to think about Michael the whole time. How can I find out if he's dead or not? I have to know!

Maybe I could ask Liz? I try to remember the name of the restaurant where she works. It was something with Crash... Crashdown!

I run to the next payphone and look for the address in the yellow pages. It's not too far. If I hurry I can reach it in a few minutes. Hopefully, she'll be there.

8 minutes later….

I walk into the Crashdown, breathless. "Please be there!" I whisper to myself and look around nervously.

There isn't a lot going on. I recognize a man in a suit eating a muffin and a group of teenagers. Suddenly someone taps me on my shoulder. I turn around, alarmed. I freeze when I see an old woman with a tablet in her hand.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

"Uh...,yeah, I was looking for Liz."

"Oh, her shift starts in twenty minutes. She'll be here soon. Would you like to wait?"

I nod.

"Okay, have a seat. Do you want a hot chocolate?"

I shake my head. "No, thank you. I don't have any money on me."

"It's on the house" She smiles at me.

***

Liz enters the Crashdown about ten minutes later. She looks horrible; her eyes are red and swollen.

He´s not dead. He's not dead. I repeat it to myself over and over again.

"What do you want here?" She asks weakly. "If someone from my gang sees you here..."

"Is he dead?" I blurt out.

She takes my hand and drags me along with her to the back room.

"Are you talking about Michael?" she asks angrily.

I nod.

"Why don't you ask Billy!" she snarls sarcastically.

I want to say something, but my lips move without making a sound. A bitter sob escapes my throat and I lay a hand over my mouth. I´m such a big crybaby lately. "I met him this morning," I begin. "I was at the park and he was jogging. We talked and ..." I have to calm down a bit, before I can go on "... I was upset and he... cared for me. He hugged me… I can't imagine that it was the last time I'll see him... I warned him about Billy´s revenge, but…."

"You care about him, too, don't you?" Liz notices.

I nod without hesitation.

"He's not dead, Maria."

"He's not?" I blink away my tears and my hope awakens.

"No, but Billy hurt him badly. He stabbed him four times. Fortunately, he missed all of the important organs. Max found him just in time. They operated on him for two hours this morning. I think it must've happened shortly after you met him."

I sink down against the wall. My hands shake. "He's not dead!" I whisper.

"You have to get out of here now, Maria. And make sure nobody from my gang sees you."

"Where is he?" I ask.

"He's at the hospital near the basketball court. But you can't go there, Maria. It´s too dangerous."

But I've already made my decision. "I don´t care!"

***