Disclaimer: I do not own any WWE superstars or the WWE.
A/N: Thanks for the great reviews! Here's the next chapter as promised.
Jeff pounded down the stairs, scared beyond belief. He'd never heard Amy's voice sound like that before. He came up short at the sight of his brother curled on his side halfway up the stairs trembling violently. Freezing, Jeff was almost afraid to go near him. Matt was shaking so badly he almost appeared to be in the grip of a seizure and Jeff was terrified of what he might find. Advancing slowly, every step torture, he crept toward his brother.
"Matt?" his voice shook and he prayed Matt would answer him. "Matt, say something!" Fear for his brother overriding fear OF him, Jeff suddenly dropped down next to him reaching out and giving him shake. "Matt!! Matt, please, say something!"
Matt's eyes opened, pain-filled and despairing, and reached a shaking hand out for his brother. "Jeff, go call Adam. Go now." He whispered the words unable to do more.
Jeff nodded. "I will. I will. What is it? Get up, Matt, come on..." He took his brother's arm and tried to pull him up, jumping back at the ungodly screech from Matt. Eyes huge, never having heard anyone scream like that in his life, he grabbed onto the banister for support feeling himself beginning to black out. Biting his lip hard, he managed to bring himself to some sort of alertness and knelt down again. "Matt, tell me what happened."
Matt's voice was nearly inaudible. "Call Adam, Jeff, I can't move. I can't move. I really hurt something. You have to call him......" his voice trailed off as his eyes closed and Jeff shook him again.
"NO, MATT! Stay awake! I'm calling him right now! Just stay awake! Shane!" He called out to the house hoping he was there and soon saw him running towards them. The sight of Matt collapsed and bleeding on the stairs and Jeff pacing wildly, eyes frantic, froze him to the spot. Jeff shook him roughly making him jump. "Talk to him, Shane, just keep him talking! Just do it!"
He ran into the kitchen to call Adam leaving Shane alone with Matt. Shane sat next to Matt shaking him gently. "Matt, you awake?"
He opened his eyes struggling not to scream at the pain Shane's touch had caused him. "Yeah, Shane, I'm awake. Don't do that. It hurts."
He nodded. "Did you fall down the stairs?"
Matt glanced up at his face. "No, Shane. Hush now, please."
"Jeff said to keep you awake."
He sighed a little. Nausea was licking at the back of his throat. He was afraid an extra word might tip him over the edge. "I'll stay awake, I promise. But don't make me talk."
Shane nodded noticing he'd gone considerably greenish. "Matt, you look like you're gonna throw up. You're not are you?"
He whispered faintly, "I don't know," then fell silent knowing that if he uttered one more word, Shane's question would be answered.
Matt's mind wouldn't let him go. Over and over, playing itself out in his head. All of the words between him and Amy. The pain in his back and neck was as unrelenting as the nausea welling in his throat, and his thoughts giving him no rest. He suddenly just couldn't take it anymore. Shoving Shane away, he hauled himself upright, unable to suppress the shriek that suddenly ripped out of him. He'd never felt pain like this before. God, how could this kind of pain not mean he was dying? His eyes met Shane's and he saw fear there, that fear making up his mind. He was doing it to him now. Now it wasn't just him, and Jeff, and Adam, and Amy, and Chris, it was everyone. He was ruining everyone. This was all too much. He pushed away Shane's concerned hands and dragged himself to his feet. Not sure he'd be able to walk and not really caring, he stumbled the rest of the way down the stairs continuously brushing off Shane as he attempted to restrain him.
"Jeff!" Jeff heard Shane yell and stuck one finger in the ear not already blocked by the phone. "Jeff! Jeff get in here and help me!"
Sighing, he hollered back in to him. "Shane, just hang on!"
"Jeff!" Panic in his voice suddenly brought Jeff to attention. "Jeff, he left! Help me!" Jeff dropped the phone and ran but by the time he got to the front door, his brother was already gone.
He really didn't know where he was headed. No particular destination in mind. He only knew that it seemed like it was taking forever to get there. Wherever there was. He had to stop once to throw up and it had left him shaking on his knees gasping for air, his breath coming in short bursts and whistles. His chest felt like it was caving in and he was pretty sure his eyes were going to swim away. They were watering so much. His head pounded and he rubbed them desperately trying to rid his vision of the stars that sparkled on the edge of his vision, not realizing that the rubbing was only worsening the condition. He felt so weak and was almost afraid he would collapse before he reached his destination. As it neared closer, he suddenly knew exactly where it was his body was leading him. The house was only a few hundred feet away but each step he took towards it made it feel like it was getting further away.
He stumbled in the driveway and very nearly didn't make it back onto his feet. The struggle to make his limbs work was almost shutting off his breathing. God, his back hurt. Had he broken something? He could barely breathe. He reached the door and weakly pounded with a limp fist. He rested his forehead on the door and nearly fell inside when it was pulled open. She looked down at him. He was panting, literally. His tongue was slightly hanging out of his mouth and his breathing was shallow and labored. Shocked at the dried blood around his mouth, down his chin...the bruises forming in bluish patches on his face. She didn't say a word. Merely grabbed him by his arms and pulled him to his feet dragging him inside.
Matt fell against her whimpering at the pain in his back aware that she was taking all his weight but unable to help it. It hurt too much to stand upright. Trish looked over his head toward Adam. What she saw scared her. The shock on his face had flitted briefly to anger and then to nothing at all. As she watched, he sank down onto the sofa and dropped his head into his hands. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Matt. She'd deal with Adam later on. Stepping back slightly, she made him look up at her. "Come on, Matt, let's go get you cleaned up and you can tell me what happened." He nodded mutely and let himself be led into the bathroom.
"Tip you're head back, Matt, a little bit...there you go..." Trish watched water from the hand shower sluicing the dried blood away from her friends face. The marks underneath all the grime were clearly finger marks. Sighing, she tried once again to find out what had happened. "Matt, c'mon. Who did this to you?"
His answer, delivered in monotone devoid of all emotion, was the same one he'd been giving for ten minutes. "Nobody. I fell down the stairs." He curled himself up tighter, arms around knees, head on arms. It wasn't making it very easy to get him cleaned up. She'd tried to go with a wet cloth but the dried blood in his hair and the fact that he'd at some point thrown up all over himself had convinced her to just put him in the tub and shower him down. She'd tried to get Adam to come help but Adam had just waved her away.
Matt finally told her, "Trish, I really don't care..." and had pulled off his clothes. Or tried to. Moving at all made him cry out and she wondered if something was badly enough injured to warrant a doctor. She'd helped him out of his clothes, making him leave his boxers on, and into the tub where he'd discovered that he couldn't reach up over his head to wash the blood out of his hair. Finally she'd taken the shower away from him and snapped.
"Just don't even move, I'll do it." Now, trying to get the soap out of his hair with him curled in a ball, the last strings of patience washed away. "Matt, for heaven sake. Sit up! How am I supposed to do anything for you if you're all in a knot?"
He glanced at her uneasily and uncurled himself very slightly. She sighed, feeling bad. Being yelled at was probably the last thing in the world he needed. She finished rinsing him off quickly and shut the water off.
"Can you dry yourself off or do you need help?"
He shook his head. "Trish, I don't even know if I can stand up."
Frowning, she took his arm now wet and slippery and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, just hold on to me. Last thing you need is to fall and bash something open on the tub." He started to step up then froze, attention riveted behind her. Before she could turn, Adam was standing next to her reaching past her to grab hold of Matt much more securely than she had been.
"I've got him, Trish. Can you find him something to put on?" She nodded and took off out of the room before he could change his mind.
"Lemme have your foot, Matt." Adam waited while Matt got his foot off the floor and stuck it out for him to dry off. "It's taking you longer and longer to move, Matt, you really need to get checked out."
Matt shook his head. "No. I'm okay. Can you hurry up? I'm freezing."
"I could let you do it yourself. You'd be a lot colder then." He stood up and reached for the clothes Trish had brought in. "Here, get your arms up." He stopped at the gasp of pain from Matt when he'd tried to cooperate. "Aw, Matt, damn it! I know it really hurts...just move really slow and easy. You have to get something on. You can't walk around in your wet underwear."
Matt nodded and together they managed to get him dressed although the effort had caused enough pain to wear him out more than once and to bring back nausea. Seeing him go white, Adam had cautioned him. "Breathe it out, Matt. If you get sick now, we have to do this all over again. Don't give in." Matt had nodded fighting it off and finally looked up into Adam's eyes. Adam smiled slightly and reached down to help him up. "Come on, Matt, we need to figure this out." Matt winced but followed Adam into the other room.
Adam paced, phone pressed to his ear. Jeff's hysterical ranting went on and on. He'd long since given up trying to break in. He would just have to wait for the flood to taper off on its own. He'd just sat down to try to talk to Matt when the phone had rung and he'd picked it up to hear Jeff's voice raving at him. He'd listened while Jeff relayed his opinion that Amy had lost her mind, that she'd tried to kill Matt, that she was gone and he didn't know where she was, that Matt had run off and nobody knew where he was, that Matt was hurt and someone had to find him. In the background, he could hear yet more hysterics from Shane, scared to death. Thoroughly sick of it all, he glanced at Matt wishing for the moment that he'd never heard of him. Matt's idiocy had uprooted and scrambled the entire household. Turning his attention back to Jeff, he broke in loudly.
"Jeff! Jeffrey!"
"What?"
"It's okay. He's here." The flow of words cut off.
"He's there? Oh god, Adam, is he okay?"
"I don't know, Jeff. But he's here. We'll take care of it."
"I'm coming over."
"No!" not meaning to shout, he lowered his voice. "Jeff, you have to stay there. Don't come over here. We'll be home soon."
Jeff wasn't pleased about this and Adam tuned out the rash complaints again looking over at Matt who was watching him fearfully. What the hell did he have to be afraid of? What was up with that? Adam's patience slipped another notch. First he was sick, then he was scared, then he was in some sort of breakdown, now this. It was just too much. God, how he wished they'd just left him in some hospital someplace. He'd just had it.
"What, Adam?" Jeff's voice was puzzled and so was Adam.
"What? I didn't say anything. We'll be home in a..." He was cut off by a vicious cuff to the head hard enough to make his ears ring and, shocked, he dropped the phone turning to stare at Trish who's eyes were flashing.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
He shook his head baffled. "What? What did you hit me for?!"
"Why'd you say that?!" She started out the front door, shooting him a death look. He stared after her, retrieved the phone, and found Jeff frantically asking him the same thing. Clueless, he broke in again.
"Jeff, what are you talking about?"
Jeff sighed, exasperated. "You can't mean that, Adam. You shouldn't say things like that. What if he heard you"
"Said WHAT?!?!" he was by now thoroughly sick of all of them.
"That you wished we'd left him, Adam, that!"
Adam suddenly felt sick. Had he said that? He'd thought it. "Oh my god, Jeff...did I say that?"
"Yes, you did."
Without another word, Adam slammed the phone down and ran after Trish. He hadn't realized he'd said it out loud. He found Trish standing on the front porch, furious. "Trish, where did he go?! I swear to God, I had no idea that came out of my mouth. I was thinking it...where is he?!"
She nodded down the road. "He took your car. I tried to stop him. See what I got for my trouble?" She turned to him and he saw her lip was gashed open.
"He hit you?"
She nodded. "I tried to take his arm. He hauled off and belted me one and took off with your car. Now what the hell do we do? Why'd you say that?! Adam, how could you have said that? He's already so scared..."
"I know. I know. I didn't mean to. It just came out. I was thinking out loud..." Panic set in as he realized what he'd said and what condition Matt was in. "Trish, we have to find him."
She shook her head. "No, not us. I'm calling the police. You better get home and...no. No don't. The police will want to talk to you. Go call them from the cell phone. Damn it, Adam. That was the stupidest thing you've ever down!" She stalked into the house stopping to grab and throw him the cell phone. He caught it and started to dial thinking only that this time, they were going to lose him forever and it was his fault.
A/N: Don't worry. Matt will be okay. = )
A/N: Thanks for the great reviews! Here's the next chapter as promised.
Jeff pounded down the stairs, scared beyond belief. He'd never heard Amy's voice sound like that before. He came up short at the sight of his brother curled on his side halfway up the stairs trembling violently. Freezing, Jeff was almost afraid to go near him. Matt was shaking so badly he almost appeared to be in the grip of a seizure and Jeff was terrified of what he might find. Advancing slowly, every step torture, he crept toward his brother.
"Matt?" his voice shook and he prayed Matt would answer him. "Matt, say something!" Fear for his brother overriding fear OF him, Jeff suddenly dropped down next to him reaching out and giving him shake. "Matt!! Matt, please, say something!"
Matt's eyes opened, pain-filled and despairing, and reached a shaking hand out for his brother. "Jeff, go call Adam. Go now." He whispered the words unable to do more.
Jeff nodded. "I will. I will. What is it? Get up, Matt, come on..." He took his brother's arm and tried to pull him up, jumping back at the ungodly screech from Matt. Eyes huge, never having heard anyone scream like that in his life, he grabbed onto the banister for support feeling himself beginning to black out. Biting his lip hard, he managed to bring himself to some sort of alertness and knelt down again. "Matt, tell me what happened."
Matt's voice was nearly inaudible. "Call Adam, Jeff, I can't move. I can't move. I really hurt something. You have to call him......" his voice trailed off as his eyes closed and Jeff shook him again.
"NO, MATT! Stay awake! I'm calling him right now! Just stay awake! Shane!" He called out to the house hoping he was there and soon saw him running towards them. The sight of Matt collapsed and bleeding on the stairs and Jeff pacing wildly, eyes frantic, froze him to the spot. Jeff shook him roughly making him jump. "Talk to him, Shane, just keep him talking! Just do it!"
He ran into the kitchen to call Adam leaving Shane alone with Matt. Shane sat next to Matt shaking him gently. "Matt, you awake?"
He opened his eyes struggling not to scream at the pain Shane's touch had caused him. "Yeah, Shane, I'm awake. Don't do that. It hurts."
He nodded. "Did you fall down the stairs?"
Matt glanced up at his face. "No, Shane. Hush now, please."
"Jeff said to keep you awake."
He sighed a little. Nausea was licking at the back of his throat. He was afraid an extra word might tip him over the edge. "I'll stay awake, I promise. But don't make me talk."
Shane nodded noticing he'd gone considerably greenish. "Matt, you look like you're gonna throw up. You're not are you?"
He whispered faintly, "I don't know," then fell silent knowing that if he uttered one more word, Shane's question would be answered.
Matt's mind wouldn't let him go. Over and over, playing itself out in his head. All of the words between him and Amy. The pain in his back and neck was as unrelenting as the nausea welling in his throat, and his thoughts giving him no rest. He suddenly just couldn't take it anymore. Shoving Shane away, he hauled himself upright, unable to suppress the shriek that suddenly ripped out of him. He'd never felt pain like this before. God, how could this kind of pain not mean he was dying? His eyes met Shane's and he saw fear there, that fear making up his mind. He was doing it to him now. Now it wasn't just him, and Jeff, and Adam, and Amy, and Chris, it was everyone. He was ruining everyone. This was all too much. He pushed away Shane's concerned hands and dragged himself to his feet. Not sure he'd be able to walk and not really caring, he stumbled the rest of the way down the stairs continuously brushing off Shane as he attempted to restrain him.
"Jeff!" Jeff heard Shane yell and stuck one finger in the ear not already blocked by the phone. "Jeff! Jeff get in here and help me!"
Sighing, he hollered back in to him. "Shane, just hang on!"
"Jeff!" Panic in his voice suddenly brought Jeff to attention. "Jeff, he left! Help me!" Jeff dropped the phone and ran but by the time he got to the front door, his brother was already gone.
He really didn't know where he was headed. No particular destination in mind. He only knew that it seemed like it was taking forever to get there. Wherever there was. He had to stop once to throw up and it had left him shaking on his knees gasping for air, his breath coming in short bursts and whistles. His chest felt like it was caving in and he was pretty sure his eyes were going to swim away. They were watering so much. His head pounded and he rubbed them desperately trying to rid his vision of the stars that sparkled on the edge of his vision, not realizing that the rubbing was only worsening the condition. He felt so weak and was almost afraid he would collapse before he reached his destination. As it neared closer, he suddenly knew exactly where it was his body was leading him. The house was only a few hundred feet away but each step he took towards it made it feel like it was getting further away.
He stumbled in the driveway and very nearly didn't make it back onto his feet. The struggle to make his limbs work was almost shutting off his breathing. God, his back hurt. Had he broken something? He could barely breathe. He reached the door and weakly pounded with a limp fist. He rested his forehead on the door and nearly fell inside when it was pulled open. She looked down at him. He was panting, literally. His tongue was slightly hanging out of his mouth and his breathing was shallow and labored. Shocked at the dried blood around his mouth, down his chin...the bruises forming in bluish patches on his face. She didn't say a word. Merely grabbed him by his arms and pulled him to his feet dragging him inside.
Matt fell against her whimpering at the pain in his back aware that she was taking all his weight but unable to help it. It hurt too much to stand upright. Trish looked over his head toward Adam. What she saw scared her. The shock on his face had flitted briefly to anger and then to nothing at all. As she watched, he sank down onto the sofa and dropped his head into his hands. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Matt. She'd deal with Adam later on. Stepping back slightly, she made him look up at her. "Come on, Matt, let's go get you cleaned up and you can tell me what happened." He nodded mutely and let himself be led into the bathroom.
"Tip you're head back, Matt, a little bit...there you go..." Trish watched water from the hand shower sluicing the dried blood away from her friends face. The marks underneath all the grime were clearly finger marks. Sighing, she tried once again to find out what had happened. "Matt, c'mon. Who did this to you?"
His answer, delivered in monotone devoid of all emotion, was the same one he'd been giving for ten minutes. "Nobody. I fell down the stairs." He curled himself up tighter, arms around knees, head on arms. It wasn't making it very easy to get him cleaned up. She'd tried to go with a wet cloth but the dried blood in his hair and the fact that he'd at some point thrown up all over himself had convinced her to just put him in the tub and shower him down. She'd tried to get Adam to come help but Adam had just waved her away.
Matt finally told her, "Trish, I really don't care..." and had pulled off his clothes. Or tried to. Moving at all made him cry out and she wondered if something was badly enough injured to warrant a doctor. She'd helped him out of his clothes, making him leave his boxers on, and into the tub where he'd discovered that he couldn't reach up over his head to wash the blood out of his hair. Finally she'd taken the shower away from him and snapped.
"Just don't even move, I'll do it." Now, trying to get the soap out of his hair with him curled in a ball, the last strings of patience washed away. "Matt, for heaven sake. Sit up! How am I supposed to do anything for you if you're all in a knot?"
He glanced at her uneasily and uncurled himself very slightly. She sighed, feeling bad. Being yelled at was probably the last thing in the world he needed. She finished rinsing him off quickly and shut the water off.
"Can you dry yourself off or do you need help?"
He shook his head. "Trish, I don't even know if I can stand up."
Frowning, she took his arm now wet and slippery and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, just hold on to me. Last thing you need is to fall and bash something open on the tub." He started to step up then froze, attention riveted behind her. Before she could turn, Adam was standing next to her reaching past her to grab hold of Matt much more securely than she had been.
"I've got him, Trish. Can you find him something to put on?" She nodded and took off out of the room before he could change his mind.
"Lemme have your foot, Matt." Adam waited while Matt got his foot off the floor and stuck it out for him to dry off. "It's taking you longer and longer to move, Matt, you really need to get checked out."
Matt shook his head. "No. I'm okay. Can you hurry up? I'm freezing."
"I could let you do it yourself. You'd be a lot colder then." He stood up and reached for the clothes Trish had brought in. "Here, get your arms up." He stopped at the gasp of pain from Matt when he'd tried to cooperate. "Aw, Matt, damn it! I know it really hurts...just move really slow and easy. You have to get something on. You can't walk around in your wet underwear."
Matt nodded and together they managed to get him dressed although the effort had caused enough pain to wear him out more than once and to bring back nausea. Seeing him go white, Adam had cautioned him. "Breathe it out, Matt. If you get sick now, we have to do this all over again. Don't give in." Matt had nodded fighting it off and finally looked up into Adam's eyes. Adam smiled slightly and reached down to help him up. "Come on, Matt, we need to figure this out." Matt winced but followed Adam into the other room.
Adam paced, phone pressed to his ear. Jeff's hysterical ranting went on and on. He'd long since given up trying to break in. He would just have to wait for the flood to taper off on its own. He'd just sat down to try to talk to Matt when the phone had rung and he'd picked it up to hear Jeff's voice raving at him. He'd listened while Jeff relayed his opinion that Amy had lost her mind, that she'd tried to kill Matt, that she was gone and he didn't know where she was, that Matt had run off and nobody knew where he was, that Matt was hurt and someone had to find him. In the background, he could hear yet more hysterics from Shane, scared to death. Thoroughly sick of it all, he glanced at Matt wishing for the moment that he'd never heard of him. Matt's idiocy had uprooted and scrambled the entire household. Turning his attention back to Jeff, he broke in loudly.
"Jeff! Jeffrey!"
"What?"
"It's okay. He's here." The flow of words cut off.
"He's there? Oh god, Adam, is he okay?"
"I don't know, Jeff. But he's here. We'll take care of it."
"I'm coming over."
"No!" not meaning to shout, he lowered his voice. "Jeff, you have to stay there. Don't come over here. We'll be home soon."
Jeff wasn't pleased about this and Adam tuned out the rash complaints again looking over at Matt who was watching him fearfully. What the hell did he have to be afraid of? What was up with that? Adam's patience slipped another notch. First he was sick, then he was scared, then he was in some sort of breakdown, now this. It was just too much. God, how he wished they'd just left him in some hospital someplace. He'd just had it.
"What, Adam?" Jeff's voice was puzzled and so was Adam.
"What? I didn't say anything. We'll be home in a..." He was cut off by a vicious cuff to the head hard enough to make his ears ring and, shocked, he dropped the phone turning to stare at Trish who's eyes were flashing.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
He shook his head baffled. "What? What did you hit me for?!"
"Why'd you say that?!" She started out the front door, shooting him a death look. He stared after her, retrieved the phone, and found Jeff frantically asking him the same thing. Clueless, he broke in again.
"Jeff, what are you talking about?"
Jeff sighed, exasperated. "You can't mean that, Adam. You shouldn't say things like that. What if he heard you"
"Said WHAT?!?!" he was by now thoroughly sick of all of them.
"That you wished we'd left him, Adam, that!"
Adam suddenly felt sick. Had he said that? He'd thought it. "Oh my god, Jeff...did I say that?"
"Yes, you did."
Without another word, Adam slammed the phone down and ran after Trish. He hadn't realized he'd said it out loud. He found Trish standing on the front porch, furious. "Trish, where did he go?! I swear to God, I had no idea that came out of my mouth. I was thinking it...where is he?!"
She nodded down the road. "He took your car. I tried to stop him. See what I got for my trouble?" She turned to him and he saw her lip was gashed open.
"He hit you?"
She nodded. "I tried to take his arm. He hauled off and belted me one and took off with your car. Now what the hell do we do? Why'd you say that?! Adam, how could you have said that? He's already so scared..."
"I know. I know. I didn't mean to. It just came out. I was thinking out loud..." Panic set in as he realized what he'd said and what condition Matt was in. "Trish, we have to find him."
She shook her head. "No, not us. I'm calling the police. You better get home and...no. No don't. The police will want to talk to you. Go call them from the cell phone. Damn it, Adam. That was the stupidest thing you've ever down!" She stalked into the house stopping to grab and throw him the cell phone. He caught it and started to dial thinking only that this time, they were going to lose him forever and it was his fault.
A/N: Don't worry. Matt will be okay. = )