The shards of glass from the window had scratched Matt in various places, and a chunk was stuck in his stomach. Not bothering to pull it out, he ran away from the window. His bare went over cool grass, then reached rough pavement.
Matt turned around, and looked back at the window with tear-streaked eyes.
His mother was at the window, bloody hands grasping wildly at the broken pieces of glass still in the window frame. She raised her arms, trying to push herself out the window that her shoulders could barely reach. Seemingly giving up, her arms fell onto the lower frame. Her right wrist hit a sharp shard, and the glass went all the way through. Barely seeming to notice, she turned around. The glass broke off, with the shard still embedded in her wrist.
Matt couldn't take any more of this sight. Tears flowing freely now, he turned his back to the apartment and ran, with no direction in mind.
Rocks dug into his soles as he ran through the residential area next to his apartment. Ignoring the pain, he tried to convince himself that he was still dreaming. Maybe he had never really awakened at 3:05 AM, and was curled up inside half a dozen blankets, even though it was the middle of summer.
For a second, his mind allowed him to believe this. But this was a luxury that he couldn't currently afford. Wandering around believing that he was dreaming wouldn't help him one bit.
So he stopped, and found himself in the middle of Oliver Street. One of the busier roads.
But there were no cars.
Granted, it WAS three in the morning. But this road always had a car or two on it, day or night.
Dismissing this as a road being closed for repairs, he finally got down to thinking about what to do.
He weighed his options: finding medical help, and return to his mother, or roll into a ball and huddle there in the middle of the street at night in his boxers.
Fetching help had a happier ending in his scenario. Besides, the hospital wasn't too far off. He could just run there, and get them to send an ambulance to his home, pronto.
And possibly one of those wagons that acted as buses to a lunatic asylum.
Wiping the last of the tears away, Matt jogged down the street, hoping that he got to the hospital in time.