An earsplitting scream permeates my shock as Sollux curls up on the floor. Crimson is leaking into the carpet, way too quickly. Silas stares at his hands before flicking off the blood, and leaning down to jerk the blade out of Sollux.
A horrible cough wracks the Sollux's body as blood drips down his chin. Then I'm free from my bonds of shock, and I hear myself screaming at my dad, I see my fists punch him to the ground, but I feel nothing, even as my knuckles split and blood drips down my fingers to drip onto the carpet.
Gasps rip their way through my chest as I collapse on my knees next to Sollux. I roll him over and he winces, his face too pale for comfort. His breathing is labored and all too quickly my hands are stained with the horrible candy red. My numb hands slide my phone out of my pocket and I hear my voice telling the operator to hurry, that my dad had just stabbed my friend.
Then I'm left to wait, and I don't know what to do. Tears are sliding down my cheeks and I all I can do is whisper, "Don't die, don't you dare fucking die on me Sollux" while gripping his hand. After a few minutes, I can hear sirens, but Sollux's grip is getting slack, and by the time the paramedics reach me, I'm screaming at him to stay awake, because now his chest is barely rising and falling.
I'm forcefully picked up by a police officer, but I go kicking and screaming, begging them to let me go. He guides me down to the police car, but instead of forcing me inside, he lets me get into the back of the ambulance. Then we're speeding, but nothing could be fast enough. The shouts of the doctors sent sharp pangs of fear through my chest, especially when silence falls, but then the shouting begins again, snapped orders and movement making my head begin to ache.
I sat beside him, clutching his hand tightly, and the lightest pressure of him barely holding onto my grip barely quelled my fears.
And then the hospital building was in view, and he's taken away from me, I can't go after him, the same cop who'd guided me before now forcefully gripped my shoulder as I attempt to pull away.
"Kid calm down alright, you need to answer some questions before you can go see your friend," He growls to me, and I finally come to my senses to look up at him.
"What fucking happened? MY DAD FUCKING STABBED MY BEST FRIEND! MY FRIEND TOOK THE KNIFE, THAT WAS MEANT TO KILL ME!" I scream at him, my vision blurring once more. Silence falls through the room we were standing in, and the cop sighs in almost exasperation as he grabs my arm and guides me somewhere in the hospital. The harsh smell of antiseptic makes me wince, and by the time my vision clears, I see that he's taken me to some sort of cleaning room.
"You've got blood all over you, at least try to clean up a bit," he says gruffly. I look down at my hands, spreading my fingers. They were stained, it brought a fresh wave of tears, but I ignore them as I walk over to the sink and wash off my hands then my arms. The knees to my jeans are stained, and I know there's blood all over my shirt too, but I can't really do anything about that.
"Ok, kid-" He begins to ask
"Karkat, my name is Karkat," I snap, feeling my nerves begin to fray even more than they already are.
"Karkat," He corrects, speaking calmly "I need you to tell me why this happened."
I bite my lip, hard enough to draw blood, but slowly begin to speak, "My dad can be rather...unstable and me and Sollux were just hanging out at my place and Silas wasn't supposed to be home for another week and he just threatened me, but when he made a move... Sollux, that FUCKING IDIOT TOOK THE FUCKING BLOW!" I'm unintentionally screaming by the end of my explanation and the hot sting of tears makes me angrily backhand at my face.
I hear the officer sigh before rubbing my shoulder awkwardly.
"The other officers took your dad to the station, he's still unconscious, I'm assuming you did that," I jerk out a nod, "So we will question him, do you want to contact your mom and your friends' parents?"
I shudder slightly, but shake my head no, "My mom is out, she won't be back for awhile," I lie, not even hesitating, "But you can contact Sollux's dad..." I trail off as he nods.
"Ok then, you can just go in the waiting room then, don't do anything rash ok? And if you need me, my name's Harper," The officer smiles gently at me, and I seem to finally notice how young he actually is. He can't be more than twenty.
"Thanks Harper," I mumble, trying to fix my tear stained face before following him out to the waiting room. I ignore the various looks I'm getting as I sit in the abandoned corner of the room. I almost bring my knees up to my chest before I remember they're still stained. Shuddering again, I instead draw the hood to my jacket over my head and cross my arms, chin hitting my chest.
My phone buzzes a few times, but I don't bother checking it. I end up completely zoning out, panic setting in as I went over various possibilities of what can go wrong. Over and over I see the still form of Sollux lying in a coffin, and my shoulders begin quaking with un-shed tears.
A tap on my shoulder brings me out of my horrifying fantasies. I slowly raise my gaze until I see Deithelm gazing worriedly down at me, his bright blue eyes shining with concern, not the hatred that I expected.
He silently sits down next to me and draws the hood back from my face, still not saying a word. I only stare wide-eyed at him as he scans me over, the frown on his face deepening as he looks at the bloodstains.
"It'th not your fault, and I don't blame you," he says quietly after the lengthy silence. He makes a poor attempt at a smile as he brushes away a stray tear from my face.
"But it is, I couldn't stop my dad from doing anything and it was too late by the time I could do anything," I choke out, gripping my hands together tightly enough for my knuckles to turn white, then I feel the scabs break and my own blood starts to pool in the crevices on my skin. I only stare at it until Thelm grabs some tissues from a side table and hands it to me.
We both sit in mutual silence until a nurse walks out with a clipboard handing it to Thelm.
"Please fill this out for your son," she states,then makes her way back behind the desk to assist others. I watch various people walk into the waiting room, silently cataloging their injuries as I listen to the click of pen on paper from Thelm.
A young boy with a broken arm.
A woman limping along with her husband supporting her.
A teen clutching a bleeding hand with a wince engraved on her face, a boy holding her wrist in assurance.
A young girl with her mom and dad, sobbing as she holds her side.
There are more, so many more. I'm reminded why I hate hospitals so much. Not just the smell, but the people. I don't have anything against sick people, it's not like they can even help it, but the people bringing the sick and injured. I wince at the scene and twitch when Thelm stands to walk the papers over to the desk.
When he sits back down, he doesn't look over at me, and we both fall into silence again. My phone buzzes against my hip so I jerk it out, then pale at the bloodstains on it's case. Unlocking it, I see that quite a few people have tried to contact me. Gamzee, Roxy, Mom, and even Tavros.
As I begin to return a few if the texts, my mom calls again, and I answer.
"Karkat where are you, I'm back at the apartment and oh please tell me you're ok," She's clearly sobbing and I feel guilty for not answering right away.
"I-I'm fine," my voice cracks and I wince before clearing my throat, "He went too far this time, he came home early an-and Sollux was there," I can only stare blankly ahead of me, I'm all out of tears at the moment.
"Karkat...where are you now?" Her voice is horrified, and I can almost imagine the look on her face.
"The hospital, um, Derse Hospital I think, and Sollux's dad is here with me," I can feel Thelm's gaze on me, but I ignore is as my mom continues talking.
"I'll be there soon Karkat, don't worry, I'm...I'm so sorry Karkat," her voice breaks on the last word and I feel even worse.
"Ok mom, bye," I reply quietly, ending the call quickly. That was one conversation I didn't want to have, but now I look at the other conversations.
TC: HeY wE aLl Up AnD dId AmAzInG :O)
TC: dOnT yOu ThInk So?
[Stopped pestering 7:18 pm]
[Started pestering[8:00 pm]
TC: KaRbRo?
TC: ...
[Stopped 8:01 pm]
[Started 10:30pm]
TC: yOuRe ScArIn Me BrO
[CG responded: 11:32 pm]
CG: CALM YOUR SHIT DUDE
CG: AND DON'T TALK TO ME
CG: I CAN'T MENTALLY DEAL WITH YOU RIGHT NOW ON TOP OF ALL THIS
[CG stopped 11:33 pm]
TC: WaIt BrO!
TC: :O(
[Started 10:33 pm]
AT: hEY, uH, gAMZEE'S REALLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU
AT: hELLO?
AT: oK THEN...
AT: }:(
[stopped 10:35]
I don't bother answering, there's no point
[Started 10:43]
TG: Yo dude
TG: what's going on at your apatmrent?
TG: *apartmnet
TG: *apratment
TG: fuck it
[CG responded: 11:33 pm]
CG: I CAN'T DEAL WITH YOU RIGHT NOW ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR SHITTY FUCKING QUIRK
CG: FUCKING BYE
[ceased pestering]
I sit there staring at the screen of my phone, really wishing I could talk to someone, but at the same time I don't want to deal with them. I feel like the worst person on earth right now, like I somehow managed to start a new world war and murdered my best friends family.
"Karkat?" I look up as I hear the familiar voice, seeing Porrim walking quickly towards me. She has a worried look on her face as she leans down to be at my eye level. "You're here for Sollux aren't you," She says sadly, trying to meet my gaze as I keep glancing away.
"Yeah," I mutter quietly. I try not to look up at her, my mind beginning to wander in dark directions.
"I was just in to see him," She begins, gaining my attention, "They told me that the surgery went well, he's still unconscious, but they're pretty sure he's going to be ok. "
"Can I see him?" I ask anxiously, guilt flooding my again. She taps her fingers on a clipboard being held against her hip.
"I can sneak you in probably, he isn't supposed to have visitors until...I don't even know actually, most likely tomorrow," She glances over at Deithelm, registering the small nod of approval before grabbing my hand. She begins to lead me out of the room into an adjoining hallway. "Just look like you have a purpose and no one will question you," she mutters, almost as an afterthought as we pass through a few crowded hallways. She releases me once there are less personal walking about.
I run into her back unexpectedly as she stops, stooping down to peer into my eyes. "When you see him Karkat, I can get you around five minutes, but I want you to remember that he's going to be ok."
AN:
You guys terrify me Jesus Christ but i couldn't help laughing at the reviews. I bet those of you that read it before are just sitting back smugly, bein all like 'I know what's up'.
Still, love you guys that read this story :D