Continuing on with angst

Drip. Drip. Drip. Always on the same spot too, right on the side of his face. Carlos groaned, everything hurt and he couldn't figure out what hurt more, his head throbbed, his hand hurt. He tried to take a deep breath and quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. But the dripping on his cheek was what was driving him mad at the moment. He wanted to wipe away the water but immediately found himself unable to move his arms. Carlos forced himself to open his eyes, well eye, as apparently his right eye was swollen shut. Night had fallen and it took a while for Carlos to realize he was at the far end of the tourney field, behind the visiting team bleachers beyond him the vast wooded area separating the school from the township and it was raining, hard. He realized he was laying on his side in what was now a large mud puddle, his head resting on his outstretched arm that he noted was tightly fastened by his wrist to one of the bleacher supports. He tried to sit up but was in too much pain, he could only lay there, in the cold puddle forming around him with the rain. He shivered and closed his eyes hoping that someone would be around soon, with the storm and as far away as he was from any buildings, calling out for help would be fruitless. Setting his white curls back down on his arm Carlos tried to just remain awake until someone found him but it was so hard to do so.

/

Jay yawned, he was very glad to be back in Auradon. He hated away games, but at least he got his homework done, first time for everything.

"Hey C, we won." he said loudly as he walked into their shared dorm room even though he knew it was late and that Carlos was probably asleep. He didn't really care if he woke the younger boy up. But Carlos, who was usually a light sleeper, didn't wake up. Jay glanced over at the lump in the younger boys bed and shrugged "guess you're really tired tonight." he muttered and went about getting ready for bed.

Dude, who had been hiding under Carlos' bed for the last several hours finally came out and started barking to get Jay's attention.

"Dude, shhh, Carlos is asleep." Jay chided the little dog while he bent down and affectionately patted the dogs head. Dude kept barking though and finally jumped up on Carlos' bed and pulled back the blanket with his teeth. Jay stared for a moment before realizing that the body on the bed was really just a pile of clothes, and certainly not a boy.

Jay was quick to spring into actions, he reached Mal and Evie's room in 20 seconds bursting through the door without knocking.

Mal and Evie gave a shocked glare at Jay. They weren't on the Isle anymore, in Auradon you knocked. "Uh hello, rude!" Mal scoffed.

"Where is Carlos?" Jay almost yelled.

Evie looked at him confused "I checked on him couple hours ago, he was asleep."

"Are you sure? Cause there was a pile of clothes on his bed that made it look like he was in his bed."

Realization hit Evie and she glanced at Mal, "Oh Shit." the girls said in unison.

"Evie, call Mrs. Radcliffe and Fairy Godmother. Jay and I will wake up the others to go looking for him." Mal ordered authoritatively. Within minutes the entire floor was up and searching, Fairy Godmother was on her way over with extra security.

Mal and Audrey found Carlos an hour later, he was soaked through and his lips were a light shade of blue. "Carlos!" Mal screamed at the smaller boy trying to wake him up, he moaned and his eyelids fluttered but that was all she could get out of him before an ambulance arrived and he was put in, Mal insisted on going with him and no one was stupid enough to argue with her. She stayed by his side until he was wheeled into the emergency department and a nurse put his foot down about allowing her back while the doctors were working.

Evie, Jay, Jane, and Fairy Godmother arrived within the quarter hour, Ben not long after, he had stopped by their rooms and brought Evie, Mal, and Jay a dry change of clothes knowing they would be staying the night. The next hours passed with a tension in the air that could be felt by anyone that walked into the waiting room that night. No one spoke, no one had to. Mal paced the cooridoors fuming, her magic sparked off of her occasionally. Evie sat quietly and stared at a random chip in the tiled floor, nervously chewing on her finger nails till they bled. Jay stood nearby fiddling with a hacky sack Aziz had introduced him to the game and having something to do with his hands kept Jay from resorting to his isle habits of pickpocketing the other people waiting in the room.

After what felt like weeks but was only a few hours, a doctor emerged and allowed Mal, Evie, and Jay to see Carlos. "He's been sedated." the Doctor advised but wouldn't elaborate further on Carlos's injuries until the Radcliffes got there. Jay climbed into the large recliner in the room and Mal sat down on his lap as they lay back to wait, for something, just listening to the beeps of the machines. Evie immediately climbed into the large hospital bed next to Carlos, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and a cuddle. It was so odd seeing the younger teen laying so still. Carlos was always moving, he never sat still, he even moved in his sleep, sometimes from the nightmares which had him thrashing around getting tangled in his sheets, but even if it was just normal sleep he'd often wake up with his head at the wrong end of the bed or falling out altogether, so to see him laying still not moving at all, Evie couldn't help but let out a small sob and her tears quietly pooled on the pillow making it damp.

Roger and Anita Radcliffe had gotten into their car with in minutes of hanging up the phone, and managed to drive the normally 3 hour car ride in just over 2 to get to Auradon Central Hospital. Carlos was still sedated so the Radcliffes decided to meet with the doctors first, the most serious of the injuries were a bruised kidney and concussion as well as severe abdominal bruising and a couple broken bones in his hand. He'd have to stay in the hospital for at least a week, maybe two.

"We don't know who the culprits are ?" Roger asked Fairy Godmother.

"Not yet, but the police are going through all the surveillance tapes right now."

"He's not going back to school until whoever did this is caught and removed from the school." Anita said firmly.

Fairy Godmother nodded, she had expected as much "It might be a challenge depending on who is involved but I agree with your decision." She knew if some of the old royal lines were involved it would be extremely difficult to hold the responsible party accountable.

Anita nodded sadly, she knew the challenges that were presented, "If its not taken care of before he gets released he's coming home with us. I'll homeschool him for the rest of the semester if I need to. Mary can teach my classes."

"Mary would be a good choice I'll contact Cinderella about it." Fairy Godmother agreed. "Don't worry Anita, we'll find out who's to blame and make sure they are held accountable, it might take a while but we'll figure it out. Hopefully when Carlos wakes up he'll be able to give us some insight as well."

Fairy Godmother and the Radcliffes entered Carlos' room to find Evie lying on the bed playing with Carlos' curls and Mal and Jay in the reclining chair almost asleep.

"You three should head back to the school. There is a car outside that will take you back."

"No." Evie said.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not going, I'm staying right here with Carlos."

"Let them stay tonight." Roger interviend and Fairy Godmother relented once the doctors said there was no harm in the teens staying.

/

Jay woke up with a kink in his neck from sleeping half sitting up with Mal snuggled on his lap, he groaned and tried to stretch making Mal pout at being woken up by his movement. Fairy Godmother and the Radcliffes arrived back to the room not long after the three teens woke up.

"You should go get ready for your classes." the woman said in her overly bubbly voice.

"I'm staying." Evie said firmly.

"That's hardly necessary."

"I don't care, I'm staying with Carlos. I'm not leaving." The blue haired girl crossed her arms stubbornly.

Jay watched the interaction with some interest, if Evie was staying he felt ok going back to classes today, he knew she'd text him if anything came up. Mrs. Radcliff ended up relenting and saying Evie could stay after Evie assured everyone that her missing a day of classes wouldn't hurt because she had straight A's. Mal and Jay couldn't use that argument and they were shooed out the door a few minutes later. Fairy Godmother cancelled their Goodness class so they'd be able to come back as soon as they were done for the day.

Mr. Boyle passed out the tests and Jay had to smile when he read over the questions, he quickly began to answer them and was pleasantly surprised that he was for once, able to finish on time. His other teachers also were surprised that he actually handed in his homework that he had done on the team bus the night before. Mal just gave him a curious look, he'd rarely done homework before, but he managed to have it done for every class today and didn't seem too stressed out about the chemistry test. The day went surprisingly fast for Mal and Jay and before they knew it they were headed back to the hospital to see how Carlos was doing. Evie had sent them a text around lunch saying that the doctors planned to wake him up tonight.

In an effort to stay out of the way Jay and Mal reclaimed the recliner in the corner as they slowly waited for Carlos to wake up.

"He might be out of it and not himself for a while" the doctors warned them.

Carlos groaned a bit as he started moving around while he was waking up, he clearly was in a lot of pain, his groans slowly turning into desperate pleas of "Stop momma", "It hurts", and "I'm sorry"

"Its okay Carlos, she can't hurt you." Evie whispered as she held his hand although it didn't do much good. Carlos slowly opened his eyes which seemed a bit glazed over from all the medication he didn't seem to recognize Evie for a while as he looked around the room clearly terrified and no idea where he was.

Anita came forward "Oh Carlos, we were so worried." she said as she reached a hand out to move some of his curls out of his eyes, a move that she'd done many times since she became his guardian, however Carlos flinched away and began to scream as if she were hurting him terribly.

Jay and Mal exchanged worried glances, Evie was trying desperately to calm the boy down but he didn't even seem to recognize her as Carlos started to call for, of all people, his mother.

"Its like he forgot where we are and… us." Mal whispered but Jay couldn't hear her over Carlos' screaming.

"Carlos," Mr Radcliff finally spoke up in a deep authoritative voice that made everyone in the room freeze. Jay's heart started to pound, his dad always sounded like that right before it got really bad at home, "That is enough of this tantrum, young man." Carlos stilled and his eyes wide with what could only be described as terror as he stared at the tall man in front of him who's deep voice clearly told him he'd be in trouble if he kept screaming. All eyes in the room were on the boy in the bed and the man standing over him, except one other pair of brown eyes which had found the nearest exit and before anyone knew what had happened Mal found herself on the floor as Jay stood up and bolted from the room.

Jay wasn't sure where exactly he was going, he just kept running through the halls of the hospital trying to flee. His heart pounded in his ears so loudly that he couldn't hear the orderlies and staff calling at him or Mal's voice behind him as she tried to catch up. He finally ducked into a small room and tried desperately to hide cursing himself for having grown to big for all the good hiding spots.

"Jay!" Mal yelled she saw a flash of red and yellow and quickly followed into the room where she found her first friend huddled in the corner with his hands covering his head. "Jay, it's Mal. Its ok." she carefully took his wrists and pulled them down a bit so that he could see her, "It's ok." she told him again as she sat next to him and pulled him into a hug as best she could. She was so much smaller than Jay her arms didn't fully reach around his broad shoulders. After a while his shaking stopped and the strong, confident Jay returned, if not slightly embarrassed by being triggered by Mr. Radcliff of all things.

Let me know what you think, pretty please.