AN - Okay, this is pretty short too, but…I think it says a lot.
Charlie's POV
I ran from Bombay's office. Besides the usual third degree and my refusal to answer, nothing happened.
Something told me to hurry home, so I threw on my roller blades. I didn't bother with pads, but snapped on my helmet, grabbed my bag, and rolled out the door.
I'd been dismissed ten minutes early. I hadn't even practiced. I propelled myself quickly homeward. A dread-filled nervousness dimmed my senses.
I was three blocked from my house. I was reaching a climax of speed, when I hit a patch of gravel.
I tumbled a dozen feet forward. My body was badly scathed. Both my elbows were skinned. I simply picked myself up and sped towards my house.
My muscles were stunned from the fall, and both my legs cramped. It almost immobilized me, but my motivation was too great. I had to get home.
The haunting feeling of apprehension built up steadily. I was beyond emotion.
I rounded the corner. My house was in view. I darted towards it. My skate caught on something, and I hit the ground face-first. I looked to see what I'd tripped over. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes filled with tears.
"Adam!"
His body was in a heap on the ground. His hair was matted with sweat and blood. Purple lumps and crimson slits demolished his skin. His shirt hung uselessly, revealing a heaving chest, shrouded by blood.
His eyes were half-open, and so bloodshot that I could hardly tell them apart from his skin. Blood was dripping from his mouth and nose. His arm was bent at an odd angle.
I knelt over him, my eyes instantly fogging over with tears.
His pants were unbuttoned. His shoes were untied. Several peach looking threads poked from his shoulder. I could see the stitches plainly.
I yelled in anguish, and the salty droplets blurred my vision. The thing I noticed about Adam, was that his eyes weren't puffy from crying.
His black eye had shrunken and incredible amount, and his other eye was untouched. There were no watermarks and no evidence of tears.
My own tears flowed twice as freely with this knowledge.
A woman appeared in a doorway across the street.
"I've called an ambulance." She cried.
The words reached my ears, but I was too busy looking at Adam in disbelief to reply. She watched from where she stood, not daring to come any closer.
I took his head in my lap and cradled it. I stroked his damp hair and tried to muffle my wretched sobs.
He stirred and I paused, looking down at him through misted eyes. He looked up at me. A flicker of recognition crossed his expression. He quivered and tried to speak.
I put my finger to my lips, swallowing harshly through my obviously emotional condition.
"Shh…Banksie, don't talk."
He didn't listen to me. His throat made a horrendous gurgling sound and he coughed up blood.
I tilted his head to the side so he wouldn't choke. He kept trying to talk, despite my efforts to calm him.
"He…he tri-tried to-t-to…" He sputtered and looked at his pants. I guessed what he meant, as he shivered.
"It's okay, Adam. He'll never get another chance to do this."
He shook his head. His chin and throat were covered in saliva mixed with blood. He looked like the walking dead, but I could easily tell that he was in his right mind.
His spine trembled and his head knocked against my shin as a gust of sprint air bled over us. He reached for my hand, and grasped it with surprising strength.
"I love you, Charlie." His words were hoarse and he choked them up as he talked. I felt the tears in my eyes stream like rivers down my face.
Something in the way he said it made me believe that he didn't mean it like friends, or brothers.
I pressed the back of his hand to my cheek. He was cold to the touch, and I tremored with fright. He can't die! I thought.
In a hushed voice I whispered to him. Two ambulances and several cop-cars pulled up.
"I love you too, Adam."
He smiled up at me, and I felt his body go limp in my arms. The medics rushed over with their equipment. They lifted him onto a stretcher and covered his face with an oxygen mask.
By the looks on the paramedics' faces I could see that he was in bad shape.
The cops were going around taking statements. Two in uniform asked me my name. I couldn't talk.
"The kid's in shock! Get him to the hospital!"
Before I knew what was happening, I was on a stretcher, and being loaded into another ambulance. My mind reeled, and the only thing I could grasp were Adam's last words…
"I love you, Charlie."
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This is the end of : T h e G o l d e n G r a i l : . It was completed/posted very fast, but I have been writing it in silence for almost a month. On paper it seems much longer, too. =P I hope you liked it…My apologies if you didn't…