"WHERE IS HE?! Is he alright?!"
"Edwin, please. You can't-"
"Move damn it! I have to see him!" a door slammed open and Ben sat up straight; a flash of light greeting him before he hit the pillow again, his head spinning from his sudden movement. He mumbled curse words before pulling the breathing mask off.
"Ben, oh God!" Edwin ran in as he pushed passed a nurse, he'd gotten much taller and his hair was a mess of black swept about his face, no longer kept up by jell. He threw his arms around the brunette boy in an almost sob, holding back his tears for fear of loosing his appearance.
"Good to see you too, Eddie. Now get off, you're crushing my ribs!" Ben gasped the last bit and the black haired boy let go quickly, he almost had the tears in his eyes roll down his face, but he kept them in, and was mortified for his friend to a physically alarming state.
"I'm sorry," he choked out, his eyes red and puffy and he stood next to the bed, taking Ben's hand for that secret greeting handshake. He smiled weakly at his hurt friend and sighed.
"They... they told me you… you wouldn't wake... wake up and..." he was stuttering hysterically throughout his speech.
Ben sighed and gripped his hand, pulling him forward with what strength he could muster. "Ed, calm down," he loosened his grip and relaxed on his pillow as Edwin shook his head and then smiled weakly.
"Those two nurses, Tamy and Beny… they take care of me just fine." Ben said gently. After a moment of silence Edwin flung himself back at Ben to hug him in a furry of apologies as a friend and for missing the club meetings. Ben let him, he wasn't hurting much anymore, and Edwin always seemed to know how to make him feel better.
He let out a light chuckle, it was always funny when Edwin was hysterical like this.
With a hard slam of a door, Gorg watched Kevin storm from the room, a towel and clothes in his arms. She followed him with her eyes, watching as his face turned a brighter shade of red.
"Well, I think things are moving along quit smoothly." the snake woman said with a giggle as she turned to her companion. His dog like ears fell back as he drew his arms around her and buried his face into her shoulder.
"I love you, you know." he mumbled, Gorg laughed and ruffled his ears at his rough tone. She smiled as he whined when she moved away, listening to the curses from Kevin as he went along the hall.
The snake tail of the pregnant woman slithered between the two as she strode to the bathroom door and slipped inside. Gwen was sitting on the stool wrapped in a towel, her face red and her eyes lowered.
"Umm, that seemed like it went well?" the snake woman asked in an unsure voice. Gwen only shook her head.
"Clothes please." She said barely above a whisper, and moment's latter the brunette slithered out into the hall, which by now was emptied of the two snake creatures.
Gwen sat quietly in her new clothes, her face in her hands for a long time, her thoughts clashing. 'It was a natural effect, I was in pain. I shouldn't have had THAT big of a reaction though. But his hands felt good. Stupid, stupid! I shouldn't think like this! There has to be a reason I did it. Right?'
With an unsettled groan she forced herself to her feet. 'Maybe he'll let me go home now.' she thought in a dry amusement as she walked toward the door in her blue themed clothing.
As she pushed the door open and hurried out, she was hit in the side by a person laughing. She fell on her butt and shook her head, looking up at the standing figure. It was a young boy, he looked a lot like Kevin.. yet much younger. As the light hit his head, she could spot a few red strands through the black, his blue eyes wide and frantic.
"S-shoot!" his voice was soft but stunned, his stutter gentle and smooth. He ran past her, around his neck a pad lock that looked just like Kevin's, only older and worn. Once the shock wore off she hurried to her feet and began to chase after him.
"Hey! Wait up! Please, stop running so fast!" she called as she hurried after him. The young boy zigged and zagged through doors and hallways. Gwen always a foot behind him, the red highlights of his hair swooshed around a corner and Gwen heard a door slam.
"Ha! I've got you cornered!" she called as she came to the door with a pant. She tried opening it by the handle, but the door itself was being blocked.
Gwen sighed and held her hand out, letting a red light consume it and then punched the door off its hinges. She coughed gently as dust flew from the hinges, looking through the room for the boy.
She suddenly shivered, not only was the room empty of life, it was full of hand sown dolls. Some were hanging from the ceiling by there feet, the heads and shirts burnt off, so who they were was impossible to tell.
"Wha....where?" she took a few steps in, ducking past the hanging figures and noticed a trunk inside the corner of the room, it's lid kicked away.
Nothing was inside but fabric, a few keys and papers strewn as well. She looked around and then noticed something red under a pile of papers by the corner.
She slowly walked toward it, her body sending off shivers. She knelt down and grabbed the red object, which happened to be fabric off of a doll. With a gentle tug she pulled it out, all the papers around it scattering.
She dropped the doll instantly and started backwards with a gasp.
Pictures of her, news paper articles, the doll, it was her. Scrolled across it in sharpie was a sloppy hand writing.
'To Gwen.'
"Get out." a sharp male voice hissed. "Get out right now!" Gwen turned to see Kevin standing in the doorway, his head down.
"What the hell is all-"
"I said get the FUCK out god damn it!" he looked up, his eyes green and his hands flaming. Gwen stepped back cautiously, she felt like she was going to cry. His voice was different, not anger, but sadness. Sadness and humiliation.
"Kevin..." she lifted her hand up gently.
"Shut up!" his voice screamed and he stormed toward her, before she could retaliate with any kind of spell he had pinned her to the wall by her shoulders. His hands felt warm to the touch through her shirt, her hair still dripping slightly.
"K-Kevin! That hurts, let go!" she gasped out, trying to pry his hands off of her shoulders. His black hair flew back, his eyes dulling so she could see his pupils.
"Why? Your nothing but little miss perfect. Everything for you is always great, you can get away with ANYTHING!" his voice was on the verge of screaming, his rage now apparent; she'd struck a nerve.
This was the kind of man she knew him to be.
"Kevin let me GO! You're hurting me!" she shouted back, thrashing under his grip as she tried to pry him off.
"No. Your going to stay right where you are you saintly little bitch." his eyes glowed red now, his grip tighter, his hands burning her skin.
"Everything you do is perfect. EVERYTHING you touch is worth something. Why you, huh? What the fuck is so great about you and your fucking cousin!" he was shouting now, his voice echoing off the walls.
"Kevin stop it! You're losing control!" Gwen gasped, pulling desperately at his hands, her mind coming up blank for a spell to save her.
"Stop?! STOP?! You don't think I've tried that. Everyone thinks I'm losing control. Even my fucking PARENTS! Do you know how hard it is to be beaten by the people you idolized, huh?" he pushed her into the wall again.
"Of course you don't! You're miss FUCKIN' PERFECT aren't you?!" she screamed in pain, whimpering under his grasp.
She pulled gently at his arm. "Kevin... please... it... it hurts." she whispered slightly, wincing as her skin started smoldering slightly before any real harmful damage could happen.
He glared at her, pulling his hand away, the heat leaving as well and she whimpered as it cooled. His eyes discolored and tears poured from them as he just looked at her. "Why didn't you yell at me?" he asked her, holding her arms gently as she collapsed against him from the burning pain.
"Be… because, you needed to scream." she whispered, her hands trying to sooth her burnt arms. Kevin only sat in the floor, bringing her down with him.
"I won't say I'm sorry." he barked out in an angry tone. She only shook her head and began to heal her arm slowly.
"Tell me why you're angry, Kevin." she said after a moments silence. He huffed and pulled her into a sitting position so she could lean against his chest, her breathing was slow as she recovered.
"You're afraid of me. Everyone hates me." he barked. "You only say you want listen, no one ever really does... Especially not you." he looked away, but she could still hear him, his breath was stiff, sniffles.
"You know I'll listen, Kevin. I have to." she said simply, leaning against him until her arms regained strength. Once she felt them, she'd kill him.
"Whatever. My parent's were fucking bastards, ok? I had a fucked up childhood and my parent's blamed everything on me, you know that." he said, clenching his fists.
"How so?" she asked, she could move her pinky on her left hand now, but Kevin only scoffed.
"My dad beat me since I was three, my mother died trying to give birth to my young sister. A lot of good that did, my sister died too. My dad blamed me, beat me more, and got remarried. After that, I stopped going to school, my dad sent me to a councilor to 'work out my issues'." he sighed and rubbed her arm, it seemed like a habit he had. And this all seemed familiar to her.
"The fucking git never really listened, my dad paid him big money to really just watch over me. He told my dad I just was being a child, I got beat for that. At age six, I was introduced to drugs and alcohol, I also got my powers worked out around then… My dad left state the day after I showed him without a word to me." he sighed and scowled.
"I kept going back to that house for two months, waiting for him. Then the house was bought and I lived under the track. I was a junkie, sold stuff I stole." his other hand wandered to his pad lock.
"What is that thing for anyway?" she asked as he ran a circle around it with his thumb. Kevin held it up and smirked.
"It was the lock to my mother's gun cabinet, she gave it to me before she died. She was going to give me a gun, but my dad sold them all the day she went into labor." he sighed and shook his head.
"This is fucking stupid, why the hell am I telling all this shit to you again?!" he growled, still rubbing the sore spot from her arm. She only leaned against him, a tear rolling down his cheek as she looked up.
"Kevin… do you have a brother?" she asked him in confusion. Who was that boy then, maybe Kevin knew?
"A brother? No, I'm an only child. I got her black hair, my moms." he sat back and rubbed the other arm.
"So… no family members about, middle school age?" she asked, confused now.
"No. I already fucking said that! What the hell are you getting at?" he barked, his temper had been punched, his vocabulary was settling in to make up for it.
"Well, I saw a boy running around here. He led me to this room..." she cut her sentence off as her mind wondered to the photo's and articles of herself.
"A boy? Hinu?" he asked, lifting her to her feet. She shook her head and rubbed her arms.
"No, he was wearing a pad lock like yours… snd he looked just like you, but a lot...softer around the edges." she said, hitting his shoulder with what strength she could before wincing.
"Owwwie!" she whined, only to have Kevin begging to rub them again.
"God, your so worthless." he said, rolling his eyes. A glint from his lip ring and Gwen pushed her knee upward to hit him in the groin, but he backed up and caught her as she fell forward.
"You realize you're making my point more obvious right?" he asked as he lifted her up bridal style. Her face blushed deep red.
"... Put me down." she said slowly.
"As if." he smirked.