This was a short story for the One Chicago appreciaton week on Tumblr - Day 3: "I think you´re bleeding". Will is missing and while Jay is searching for him, he remembers the past.
Dislaimer: This fanfiction is just for fun. No money made, no Copyright infringement is intended. All characters belong to their respective owners. Diese Fanfiction-Geschichte wurde lediglich zur Unterhaltung geschrieben und es werden keine materiellen Vorteile durch sie erlangt. Mit ihrer Veröffentlichung im Netz werden keine Verletzungen der Copyrights beabsichtigt.
The Climbing Tower
/
Jay was just getting out of the shower when his phone rang unexpectedly in the early morning. He looked at the display and realized that Natalie was calling him. He frowned in amazement.
"Nat, are you okay?" he asked immediately after answering the call.
"Hi Jay.", she sounded nervous, "I'm sorry, I know it's early. I'm not sure if everything is okay. I can't get a hold of Will and he was supposed to pick me up for work half an hour ago."
"Okay...", he immediately felt the concern for his brother rising.
This was not like Will. He was extremely reliable and he would never forget to pick Natalie up.
"When did he want to pick you up?" he asked.
"He said that he´d be here at a little after seven and that we would drive to work together. Our shift starts at eight. Owen is already in daycare."
"You go to work now, and if he shows up there, let me know. I'll head over to his apartment and check it out."
"Good." Natalie confirmed. "Thanks, Jay."
"I'll be in touch." he merely replied as he began to get dressed.
Suddenly, a variety of scenarios were playing out in his mind. Had there been a break-in at Will appartment during the night? Could he be injured? Or had his brother gotten sick? Was he unable to reach his phone? Had he even come home after his last shift?
Only minutes later, he left his own apartment and got into his car. He still had time before he had to go to work himself, and he hoped that things would clear up quickly and none of his fears would come true.
It wasn't long before he arrived at Will's home address. With his spare key, which he used for emergencies and during Will's vacations, he entered the front entrance and took the stairs.
He knocked on the door first, hoping that he would either hear his brother's voice from inside in a moment or that he would sleepily open the door for him. But nothing happened. Jay's heart began to beat faster. He hesitated for a few more moments, then he opened the apartment door. He stepped inside and closed it behind him, not wanting to disturb the neighbors at this early hour.
"Will? It's me!" he then exclaimed loudly.
Silence greeted him. He noticed that everything was clean and tidy, so there was nothing to indicate a burglary or robbery. Partially reassured by this fact, he nevertheless opened the safety catch on his gun holster and continued his way in. In case of emergency, he could draw his weapon.
It occurred to him that Will might have spent the night somewhere else. But that wasn´t like Will. He and Natalie were a couple at the moment. Nevertheless, he went on to the bedroom first. The bed was empty, the blankets and pillows already neatly folded. On the bed, however, were jeans and a sweater, probably laid out for later.
He quickly searched the rest of the apartment. The last thing he noticed was the brown leather bag, that lay already packed in the kitchen. Quite obviously for work, because Will had packed some sandwiches.
He walked over to the coffee maker and touched the pot. The coffee was still slightly warm. Will had definitely been here that morning.
So Will had gotten up early, had a cup of coffee, and had gotten everything ready for work. Jay's next guess was, that Will had went for a jog before showering.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Natalie's number.
"Any news?" she asked tensely.
"Will's not at home but I suspect he was going for a jog this morning. Do you happen to know his route?"
"I'm afraid not," she said thoughtfully. "But he brings bagels from this little bakery quite often. What´s the name? Bake for... It´s not far from the apartment."
"Bake for me? Halsted Street?" he asked.
"Yes. Yes, that's it!" exclaimed Natalie with relief.
"Okay, I'll go out and keep looking for him. You report back if he shows up at the hospital, and if I don't find him by nine, I'll talk to Voight."
"All right."
They ended the call and Jay left the apartment.
As he stepped outside into the cold air of that morning, he remembered an incident from their school days. He didn't know why that memory had come back just now. But back then, he had also gone looking for Will after an argument with their father...
/
Their dad had been in terrible mood that morning. He had been drinking the night before and had fallen asleep in his armchair in front of the TV. When Will and he had gotten up that morning to make breakfast before school, they had accidentally woken him up with their brotherly banter and the sounds of the dishes. They hadn't even noticed that their father wasn't in his bed.
"Do you two idiots have to be so loud all the time?", Pat Halstead had shouted as he had risen heavily from his chair and as he had clutched his aching head. "I swear, you're good for nothing!"
"Sorry, Dad.", Jay had immediately relented, knowing all too well the mood his father was in. "Go over to your bed, we'll be quiet now."
"Oh! You're going to tell me what to do now?", Pat had approached him, still angry.
"No, Sir." he had replied.
Jay had wanted to show respect for his father even though he knew that he had done nothing wrong. He just wanted to avoid an argument in the early morning, since his father couldn't think clearly at such moments anyway.
"No, Sir.", Pat had mimicked him.
"Dad...", Will now joined in as well. "We'll be gone in a minute anyway. Let it go."
Their father's gaze had turned hatefully on his older son.
"You!" he pointed a finger at him. "You're not telling me how to act!" he had shouted. "You think you're the man in the house now, huh?"
Jay had been frozen, not really noticing how Will had protectively positioned himself between him and their father at that moment.
"You know I don't," Will had replied tensely. "but Dad, it can't go on like this."
Pat Halstead's eyes had narrowed to little slits.
"Shut your mouth!"
Will had taken a step towards their father. "I know you're angry about everything that's gone wrong in your life. But you can't keep blaming Jay and me every time you feel like shit!", he yelled. Jay guessed that Will just couldn´t take it any longer. "Stop getting drunk every night and making our lives Hell!"
Fear had spread through Jay's body at that very moment. They had never said those words to their father before, even though that was exactly what Will and he had been feeling like for the past few weeks and months.
There was silence for a moment, but then their father had grabbed an empty beer bottle from the table next to the armchair and he raised it at Will. The latter had backed away, startled, and he bumped his back against Jay.
"Dad!" Jay had shouted in panic as he buried his fingers in Will's sweatshirt and pulled him back some more.
Pat had humiliated and insulted them in many ways, but he had never gotten physical with them. Jay was afraid that that would change from this moment on.
Without hesitation, their father threw the bottle at them. It landed at Will's feet, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. Jay had felt that Will had flinched, and he feared that Will might have gotten hurt.
"Get out of here! Get out, you ungrateful little bastard!" their father had yelled at his brother.
Will had immediately started to move. Jay had let go of the sweatshirt and Will had stormed out of the house without another word, out into the cold.
Jay struggled to shake off the memories. He had other things to worry about now. He briefly considered taking his car for the search, but then he discarded that thought. If Will had started from here, he could be anywhere. Even in the small alleys and passages, away from the big streets.
So he decided to start running, too. At first he would search the way he himself would have taken from here. Before he finally left, however, he called the Precinct.
Luckily Trudy was already on duty and he told her that he would be late for work. Then he asked her to ping Will's phone. Possibly this would give them a clue to his whereabouts. Trudy Platt immediately heard the concern in his voice and Jay was glad that she did him the favor without hesitation. She searched for the GPS location of Will's phone. But unfortunately, there was no trace of it either.
By now, Jay was convinced that something must have happened to Will. He always had his phone with him for emergencies and he was always available, even when he came home at the most impossible time after a 24-hour shift - and when he was dead tired.
Jay took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit. None of this was good. As he began to jog, he calculated back. If Will had wanted to pick Natalie up just after seven, he had to have been gone for almost two hours. It was a cold October morning and Jay was beginning to worry about in what shape his brother would be in, when he found him.
He himself was wearing only a thin spring jacket that he had grabbed first thing when he had left his apartment and he was freezing. He knew that exercise would warm him up quickly now, but if Will was lying motionless in the cold somewhere, then it could be really dangerous for him. So Jay had to hurry.
He thought about what lap they had walked together with Will´s dog when he had been living in Will´s apartment for a while. They had sometimes also passed the bakery back then. So he turned left, down the next street and then he took the little path that they had walked then, too.
It led past a park that he knew from when they were kids. He looked at the place that had served as a refuge for Will and him in the past. But the climbing tower from back then was no longer there...
He noticed a few teenagers gathered on the benches here. Jay hoped that they were just on their way to school, but he couldn´t be sure. They could also be gang members who were dealing here... So he approached them and he identified himself as a Police Officer by pulling his jacket up a bit to show his badge.
"Chicago PD. Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I just want to ask you some questions," he began. "Did you observe anything unusual here in the park this morning?"
The teens looked at him with wide eyes. They probably hadn't expected a Cop here in the early morning.
"What do you mean by unusual?" one girl asked.
"I'm looking for a man, a little taller than me, red hair. He probably jogs here regularly?"
"Oh, I know him! See him a couple o´ times a week!" a boy replied. "He always runs in that alley over there."
"This morning too?"
The boy shrugged. "School starts later today. I don't know. Haven´t seen him today."
"Okay, thanks a lot.", Jay started moving again and also ran into the alley the boy had shown him.
It was a shortcut that eventually brought him to Halsted Street. It was still some distance to the bakery, but if something had happened to Will here, pedestrians should have noticed something. Jay stopped and therefore looked around. He felt like he was on the right track. If these kids knew the path Will always took, then maybe others would too.
Jay continued walking until he reached the bakery and he went inside. He learned that Will had been there shortly after six o'clock, right after opening time. But no one knew where he had went after that.
Jay left the building. He stood in the cold morning air and looked around. Again, that moment brought back memories of the past...
/
"Clean that up!" his father had yelled at him after Will had stormed out of the house.
"But... Will doesn't even have a jacket!" he had answered.
Pat had stepped toward him and had menacingly leaned over him.
"You'll do as I say! Now!"
His father had smelled of beer and cigarettes, and Jay had known that he was no match for him physically. Not yet. Even though the concern for his brother was driving him crazy, he gave in and finally began to pick up the larger pieces of broken glass from the floor.
"I better not get a splinter later!" his father added, before he had finally walked over to his bedroom.
As quickly as he had been able, Jay had swept the floor, cleaning up the broken pieces of the shattered glass. His heart was racing and he had been close to tears.
It hadn't been this bad between them and their father in a long time. Jay had no idea how much longer he could take the situation at home.
After he had finished to clean the floor, he had ventured into his parents' bedroom. His father was asleep again and would hopefully finally sleep off his drunkenness.
Mom had been in the hospital at the time, so that was why their father had been so angry and obnoxious. He must had guessed that their mother wouldn't be with them long enough to take care of them until they were old enough to leave the house.
Pat Halstead was not a man who wanted to be bothered with two adolescent sons. He didn´t want to spend his hard-earned money for these reckless two boys. And he had made them feel that. Every day.
After their mother had died, he had spent Will´s and Jay's savings that their mother had set aside for them for College. He had forced them to earn money on their own, with small jobs when they wanted to afford something or when they needed something.
It would be several more years before that sad time. And in retrospect, Jay had been glad that he had no idea then, what else was in store for him in his young life.
That morning, his only concern was for his brother, who was out in the freezing cold without a jacket and without his school supplies.
Jay had put on his own jacket, shouldered his school backpack, and then had grabbed Will's school bag and his thick winter jacket. He had wondered where Will could have run off to. He knew he had to find him, because it had snowed that night and Will would surely freeze to death out there...
/
Jay was still standing indecisively in front of the bakery, thinking that Will wouldn't take the same route back. He would probably take a lap and then run back to his apartment. Again he thought of that path they had taken while walking the dog, so he crossed the larger street and took the small path that would take him in a circle back to the park.
While he was running around the next corner, Jay caught a frozen puddle of water and before he could react, he fell and he landed on his hands and knees. The gritty asphalt dug into his palms and his right knee exploded in pain.
He suppressed a curse and pushed himself up a little, then he sat down, with his back leaning against the nearest wall of a building.
His jeans were torn and he had scraped his knee. It was bleeding, just like his scraped palms. He wiped the dirt and blood on his jeans, which were ruined anyway.
He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. Tears formed behind his eyelids. But it wasn't the pain, it was the frustration and worry that was slowly getting to him. Damn, why couldn't he find Will?
/
The freshly fallen snow had initially pointed Jay in the direction that Will had gone after the argument with their father. Packed with the heavy bags and with the second jacket in his hands, it had not been so easy for him to fight his way through the masses of snow. He reached the next larger street and had found that Will's tracks here were mixed with those of other pedestrians.
Frustrated, he had stopped and had looked around. This wasn't the way to their school, but he knew it wasn't far from here to the park and to the small playground where they had played when they had been younger. He wondered if Will had gone there. At least there would be some possibilities to find a halfway dry place there. He himself would have gone there.
So he had decided to try that place next. The streets were still mostly deserted and so he had met no one on the way to the park. Once there, he discovered fresh tracks in the snow and the hope that he had guessed correctly had given him new energy.
"Will?" he had called out as he had continued walking.
There had been no answer, but as he headed for the climbing towers, he had spotted his brother inside the snow-covered wooden structure. Relieved, he had run on, heading for the small ladder that led up into the tower.
"Will!"
He had quickly removed his brother's bag from his shoulder and had lifted it over his head to place it on the wooden floor of the tower. Then he´d climbed up and had squeezed the thick winter jacket through the small opening that led inside.
He had wondered how Will, with his height, had even fit through here. Will had quickly wiped his eyes when he had seen Jay coming, but Jay had been aware that his brother had been crying. Now Will was helping him to pull the things he had brought, over to him.
Jay had noticed immediately that his brother had been shivering with cold.
"Your jacket." he said.
Will smiled bravely. "Thanks." Quickly he had put the jacked on and had closed the zip. "Was it bad with Dad?", he had asked, still shivering.
Jay had shaken his head. "He's asleep now."
"I shouldn't have left you alone with him," Will had looked at him with red, teary eyes.
They were silent for a moment. Jay had wanted to tell him that Dad would have definitely hit Will if he hadn't left and that he had done the right thing.
He had wanted to tell him that he shouldn´t worry about him. That he would find a way to fight their father, if necessary. But he just couldn´t make this promise to him because he felt so small and helpless sometimes.
"I'm just glad I found you," he said instead.
"If Mom was here, he wouldn't be so angry," Will had sobbed all at once, new tears streaming down his cheeks.
"She'll be home soon," Jay had replied immediately. "She promised."
He hadn't been able to interpret Will's sad look and tears properly at that moment.
But later he had realized that his older brother must have already guessed what would follow. He must had guessed that their mother wouldn't be coming home at some point, and that things would get worse with their father after that.
"Come here.", Will had said and Jay had moved closer.
His brother had pulled him into one of their rare hugs.
"If something happens again and we have to run, we'll meet here, okay?", Will had said. "This is our meeting place."
Jay had just nodded, hoping it would never come to such an occasion again.
"And when we're old enough, we'll get our own apartments. We'll have good jobs and won't have to see Dad as much," Will had then said.
"And Mom can live with us then," Jay had added. "Then she'll finally be happy."
Will's hug had strengthened a little more at that moment.
"Yes, Jay. I'm sure she will be happy." he had murmured softly in a voice choked up with tears...
/
Jay pushed back the emotions and waited briefly untild the worst of the pain in his knee had subsided and for his breathing to calm down. Then he ran the back of his hand over his eyes. He couldn't give up. Will was here somewhere, he could feel it.
The abrasions on his hands had already stopped bleeding and he pushed himself up. Carefully, he put weight on his knee, and he was relieved to find that it seemed to be okay.
He straightened up fully and his eyes fell on something bright behind a bush. He moved closer to it. If he hadn't fallen down, he probably would have missed it. But now he realized it was a paper bag. He bent down and picked up the bag. It was from the bakery, still filled with 4 fresh bagels.
Startled, Jay looked around. Will had been here! He had lost the bag or had thrown it away. But why? Had he been followed? Had his brother perhaps fallen at the same place as he had?
"Will?" he called out loudly now, but he was once again only greeted by silence.
He searched the ground, the area behind the bush. Then he spotted some churned-up earth next to the paved path. Could these be drag marks? He continued in that direction and rounded the corner of a building.
His gaze immediately fell on a figure with red hair and his heart stopped for a moment. He realized that he had finally found his brother.
/
That evening, their mother had actually been released from the hospital and had returned home. Jay had been so happy that the frightening incident of the morning had even been forgotten for a few hours.
Mom had looked tired, but they had all been in such a good mood because she had been back, that their dad had even ordered them a large pizza.
It wasn't until Jay had lain in bed later, that the incident crossed his mind again. Jay had known something had to change.
Their dad was becoming more and more erratic. He had decided that he needed to get stronger, so he could stand up to their father himself. Will would be in College someday and then he had to be able to protect Mom and himself from him.
The next day, he had signed up for classes at a Boxing Center. He had also realized that he wanted to help people. He wanted to help those who were treated unfairly or couldn't help themselves.
Maybe that has had been the day, when Jay had decided that he wanted to be a Police Officer one day...
/
"Will!" with a few steps, Jay was with him.
He hadn't thought his worry could get any worse, but now his body sent a rush of adrenaline through his veins that made his breathing frantic. Quickly, he let his gaze slide over Will. His brother was unresponsive, lying motionless on his side.
Jay crouched in front of him, first feeling for a pulse with trembling hands. While pressing his fingers on Will's carotid artery, he realized that Will was still breathing. Then he felt a strong pulse and a wave of relief spread through him.
Carefully, he examined him for external injuries. One of Will's cheekbones was bloodshot. He had received a painful blow recently. Will had a laceration on the back of his head, but it was no longer bleeding. Was that the reason for his still lingering unconsciousness?
Only then did he notice the damp patch on Will's dark jacket. He ran his hand over it and glanced at his fingertips. They were red...
Without hesitation, he unzipped the jacket and pulled it open in the front. Will was bleeding from a wound in his right upper abdomen. Now Jay also pulled the gray T-shirt up a bit. He discovered a puncture wound with a steady trickle of fresh blood coming from it.
"Damn.", Jay quickly pulled out his phone before placing the t-shirt and jacket back over the wound and gently pressing his hand on it.
With his other hand, he dialed 911 and alerted an ambulance. Then he put the phone on the ground beside him and turned back to his brother.
With his free hand, he cupped Will's face. His skin was cold, and only now did Jay realize that Will was supposed to be shivering from the cold. But he did not move.
He took off his jacket and spread it over Will. He tucked the sides under his body as best he could. He didn't dare to move Will because he feared that the wound would start to bleed more. He placed his hand under the jacket again to put some pressure on the stab wound. Then he checked Will's pulse and breathing again.
He noticed that his brother's eyelids opened briefly at that moment and that Will was muttering something, barely audible. Jay's own heartbeat quickened.
"Hey, Will?" he asked softly, hopefully. "Wake up. Can you look at me? Come on, open your eyes."
It took a moment, but then Will finally opened his eyes. His gaze didn't find Jay´s immediately. It was lost in nowhere at first, before he finally looked at him with his dark, brown eyes. Jay felt Will's body move under his hand.
"Hey, lie still," he said. "How are you feeling? Are you in pain?"
"Jay?" Will returned incredulously. "Where...where are we?"
"Near Halsted Street. You went jogging this morning, remember?"
Will eyed him for a moment, then he nodded cautiously.
"There were two guys..." he said then.
"Okay... You hit your head pretty bad and you've got a stab wound to your stomach. An Ambo is on the way. Are you in pain? Are you cold?"
Barely perceptible, Will shook his head. Then he blinked a few times. "Tired."
"I understand that, but try to stay awake, okay?", Jay was cupping Will's face again with his free hand. He was still ice cold. "Tell me, what do you remember?"
It wasn't good that Will didn't feel any pain or notice any of the cold. That meant that he was probably in shock. Jay knew not to take this condition lightly.
"I think you're bleeding..." muttered Will at that moment, and Jay followed his gaze to his ripped jeans and to his knee.
"I just fell." he returned curtly. "It's all right. Don't worry about it."
"You need to clean that," Will's hand slipped out from under his jacket, but Jay reached for it and pushed it gently back.
"Jay..." again, he tried to touch Jay's wound.
"I'm trying to keep you warm," he said as he clutched Will's wrist. "It's nothing."
"Your knee."
"Will, it's just a scratch. I'll clean it later," Jay promised before trying to distract his brother. "Tell me what exactly happened. What do you remember?"
Will closed his eyes again and seemed to drift away. Jay responded immediately by placing his hand back on Will's cheek.
"Stay awake. You can sleep in the hospital later."
"Hospital?", Will's lids opened again. "Natalie... I have to pick her up."
"Natalie called me. She's already at work. We'll get you to Med right away, okay?"
"To work?"
Will seemed confused and slowly Jay wondered how long it would take for the Ambo to arrive. He kept talking to Will, he was trying to calm him down.
"You don't have to go to work today. The doctors will check what's wrong with you. But I'm sure you'll be back on your feet very quickly. A few hours in a comfortable bed, some sleep and you'll be as good as new."
"At Med?" asked Will sleepily.
"Yeah. That's right, at Med. Natalie's already waiting for you. Hey Will, can you tell me exactly what happened?" he asked again. "I want to try to catch the guys who did this."
"I don't know... What happened?"
Jay pressed his lips together and took in a deep breath. He didn't like Will's condition at all. He was about to reach for his phone when he heard sirens. Finally. He looked over at the small street. Would they find them here?
"Help is coming!" he said, but Will had already lost consciousness in the brief moment that Jay had been distracted.
"Will!", Jay shook him gently, but it was useless.
Concerned, he looked into his brother's pale face. The sirens were getting closer and reluctantly he let go of his brother and stood up.
He walked back to the path to show the paramedics where they were...
/
A few hours later, Jay entered Gaffney Medical Center with a small paperbag in his hand. He headed for the room where his brother lay after he had been admitted as an inpatient.
After the initial care, Jay had been assured that Will would sleep for a while and that he should come back later. Natalie had promised him that she would watch Will and keep Jay informed. So he had finally gone to the Precinct to investigate what had really happened that morning.
Voight had fortunately given him free rein, since they currently had no urgent case. Together with Adam he had gone back to the corner where he had found Will. They rang a few doors and an elderly lady finally told them that she had heard the sounds of a fight early that morning and had looked out the window.
However, she had only seen two men running away. She had not been able to spot Will, who had been lying behind the corner of the next building. So she had assumed that it had only been a brief scuffle between the two men and she had gone back to bed.
Afterwards, they had gone back to the bakery to get a coffee for refreshment. It had occurred to Jay then that Will would certainly enjoy a fresh bagel with cheese and bacon. So he now used his delayed lunch break to visit Will.
The stab wound had been tended to and had been stitched up. Except for some mild hypothermia and a concussion, he had apparently gotten off okay. Will sat upright in his bed and was awake when Jay entered the room.
"My savior.", Will teased him, even before Jay could greet him.
His brother was obviously happy to see him. The sight immediately put Jay at ease and he grinned.
"How are you?" he asked as he stepped closer.
He was relieved to see Will with a little more color in his face again.
"Better, thanks..."
Jay pulled a chair to the bed and sat down.
"How´s the pain?"
Will nodded. "They're giving me the good stuff."
"I was worried," Jay confessed. "What happened?"
"How did you even find me there?" his brother once again dodged by asking him a counter question.
Jay decided to exercise patience. "The bakery. And our old route with the dog.".
Then he remembered the Bagel. "I thought you might be hungry?"
He handed the bag to Will. The latter immediately opened it and looked inside.
"Ahhh, I love those things. Thanks. I'll eat it later."
"As I was looking for you in the neighborhood, I couldn't help but think of our meeting place at the climbing tower. Do you remember?", Jay then asked.
Will regarded him thoughtfully for a moment before replying. He hadn´t expected Jay to come back to the past.
"Of course I remember, Jay... I'm sorry that my disappearance has brought back those memories."
„It wasn´t your fault." Jay said. "I thought about Dad. About the day when Mom came back from the hospital and when we had Pizza."
„Yeah...", Will swallowed visibly. „Jay, I had no idea-"
„I... let me finish this.", he interrupted. „I know you were trying to protect us back then. But later I realized that you tried to protect me from the truth. You didn´t tell me that Mom was sick. You already knew, but you wanted me to be a kid, just a little while longer."
„Jay..."
„Thank you.", he blurted out. Suddenly he felt vulnerable and stupid that he had started to talk about it. „Thanks. That´s all I wanted to say. Okay?"
He sniffed and blinked some tears away while he avoided Will´s gaze.
„I´m sorry that you had to go through this when you were little. It wasn´t fair.", his brother said.
It was hard for both of them to talk about that time in their past. Of course, Will had been also way too young to go through any of this. But suddenly the words were stuck in Jay´s throat and he knew that when he kept talking about the past, he would start to cry. He was way too emotional on that day and he knew that this mood was a direct way into his rabbit hole of dark memories and bad feelings. So he decided that it was time to stop this and he just nodded.
„What was going on today, Will? I need to know. A woman said she heard an argument in the street.", he urged him, changing the subject all of a sudden.
Will gave him a meaningful look. He seemed to understand that they had reached Jay´s boundaries. He knew now what his disappearance had triggered. And Jay knew that he didn't have to say more for his brother to finally tell the truth.
"There were two teenagers, they were after my cell phone and the money I had with me for the bakery.", Will finally started to tell. "They must have been watching me when I left the store and put everything back in my bag."
"Did you give them the stuff when they asked for it?"
Will's expression darkened.
"No. I ran away. That made them mad."
Jay rolled his eyes. "And that's where the stab wound came from?"
"I was stupid, Jay," Will admitted now. "I should have just given them the money and the phone. I argued with them."
He was in no mood to reproach his brother, so he didn't elaborate. He took a breath to calm himself down a bit. Will knew he had made a mistake. He had also paid dearly for it.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," he just said. "Could you see their faces? Tattoos? Anything noticeable?"
Will shook his head. "It was still dark... They were wearing hoodies. Sorry, Jay."
They'd probably never catch the perps.
"Just do me a favor and make your rounds somewhere else in the future."
Will nodded. "I promise."
Jay reached out and put his hand on Will's shin. "I'll check in after work. Get some rest."
Will seemed to remember something and Jay looked at him. Maybe he could tell him something about the perps after all?
"How's your knee?"
Jay rolled his eyes again, then he playfully punched Will on his thigh.
"I don't ever want to hear about my stupid knee again, okay? Forget it!"
"But-", Will began.
"See you later!", Jay rose from the chair and fled the room.
On his way out, he almost bumped into Natalie, who was about to visit Will.
"Woah!" she exclaimed, "Are you on the run?"
"As a matter of fact, I am!" Jay replied, grinning. "I'll be back later, take good care of him."
"I will. Bye!" she called after him.
Jay left the hospital with a feeling that Will was in good hands.
He decided to visit him more often in the near future and to join him on his morning jogs until he felt safe again. This time, he would take care of Will, not the other way around.
He would make sure that something like this never happened again.
- End-