Chapter 6

Aaron toyed with the screw in his hand, debating what to do. With a couple of deep breaths he lifted his shirt and slowly slid the screw across the healing stiches from his ordeal. The stitches began to fray and bleed slightly and Aaron smiled as he felt a sense of relief mixing in with the pain. He did it again, the one on his chest this time, gently running it across the 6 inch gash just below his nipple. The sound of a car engine shocked him. The screw ripped harshly across Aaron chest, ripping open the wound totally. Blood ran down his body as he desperately tried to stop the flow. He gently stood up and looked out the window. Adam had parked his quad bike outside and was heading into the garage. Aaron pulled his overalls back up, desperate to cover his now blood stained t-shirt.

"Aaron?"

"In the office, Adam!"

"Mate I bought my quad bike round. The engine's rattling. Reckon Cain could check..." Adam stopped as he saw a dark stain on Aaron's overalls. "Mate what the hell is that?"

"What's what?"

"You've got a stain on your overalls Aaron."

"It's...It's nothing..." Aaron gasped, the pain taking over his body

"Aaron what the hell have you done? Have you split the stitches? Be honest with me I wont yell at you just tell me!"

All Aaron could do was nod his head. He brought his hand from behind his back and showed Adam how it had happened "I just want it all to go away Adam!" Aaron sobbed as he dropped the bloodied screw to the floor

"Oh god mate..."

"Please don't tell anyone Adam!"

"You need to get to hospital."

"You take me. Please? I don't want an ambulance or anything Adam you can't tell anyone I've done this!"

Adam sighed and rubbed his forehead "Alright fine. Come on, get on the bike."

Aaron climbed onto the bike with Adam's help and he raced his fgriend to the hospital. Aaron was starting to feel light headed from the blood loss but fought to keep his eyes open.

It had taken longer than Aaron thought it would but they were finally outside Hotten General. Adam burst the doors open and ran to the desk "My friend's stitches have split open. He was in here a few weeks ago with stab wounds."

The nurse nodded and immediatley ushered Aaron into a cubicle "Take your shirt off please."

Aaron did as instructed, wincing slightly "That looks quite deep. How long ago did you do this?"

"About half hour."

"Do you feel light headed, had any sickness?"

Aaron nodded "A bit light headed, yeah."

The nurse nodded and began cleaning Aaron's wound "Any idea how this happened?"

"I was helping my friend carry stuff from his car. I guess I just picked up something that was too heavy."

"You were supposed to be resting. You can't risk lifting heavy things, Mr. Livesy. Now I csn patch that up for you, but it means more rest than what you were orginally meant to have. At least another week."

Aaron nodded "I'm sorry. I just hate lying aroung not being able to do anything."

"I know how frustrating it must be for you, but after an attack like yours Mr. Livesy, rest is mandatory."

Aaron nodded his head and winced as the nurse began stitching the wound back up. She wiped it over with an antibacterial wipe and placed a bandage over it. "There you go. That'll be ok now. Remember what I said. Take it easy. I'm not expecting you to lie in bed and not move but you need to understand while you are still this sore there's a limit to what you can do."

Aaron nodded his head and left the cubicle and searched for Adam in the waiting room.

"You ok mate?"

Aaron nodded his head "Yeah. I'm alright."

"Promise me you'll never do that again, Aaron."

"I can't mate...It's not just going to go away."

"Aaron it has to! If your Mum ever found out about this you'd end off going to therapy or something! Is that what you realy want? Talking about everything, telling a random stranger what happened to you? It only took luck that we found out ourselves!"

"Adam I can't stop...I just...I can't.. Please mate...don't tell anyone."

"If I don't and you end off in here again..."

"I never meant to cut that deep Adam! I just wanted it to hurt!"

"Aaron for god's sake you tried to slash open your stitches! You could have bled to death!"

"It's all I deserve."

"You don't deserve anything! You don't deserve to be like this Aaron!"

"Ed didn't seem to think so..."

"Ed's dead! Ed is dead Aaron and he is still controlling your life! You've got to let go!"

"I can't..."

eeeee

It had been two hours since Aaron had came home from the hospital. He walked to the garage and found Cain sitting at the computer. "Oh hello Nancy. Thanks for leaving me in the lurch."

"Cain I'm sorry ok? I was an idiot and tried to lift something that was a bit too heavy and split my stitches open. Adam was just dropping off his quad bike so he ran me up to the hospital. Thanks for caring, by the way."

"Don't get cheeky. Tell Adam his quad bike's gonna cost him. It needs quite a lot of work doing to it. You might aswell just head home."

"Am I still ok to come back tomorrow?"

"Yeah. And this time I'm making sure someone else is here incase you try acting daft again."

Aaron nodded his head and disappeared around the corner, trudging up to the cafe. Jackson was on his way out of the Woolpack and ran over to him "Aaron! Adam's just told me what happened, are you ok?"

"Adam told you?"

"Yeah he said he came to the garage and saw you trying to lift something you couldn't manage and you split open one of your stitches! Are you daft or what?"

"I'm sorry Jackson ok? I'm sorry I just hate sitting around doing nothing!"

"I know. Come on. I'll let you buy me a coffee." Jackson smiled, gesturing to the cafe.

The boys walked in and placed thier order and sat down. Brenda came running over immediately "Oh Aaron are you ok? Have you heard?"

"Heard what?" Aaron asked

"This" Brenda replied, holding the Hotten Courier infront of Aaron. His skin turned pale as he read "Rape Claim Rocks York Sharks Days Before Crucial Game" and Ed's picture just underneath. Aaron took one final look at Jackson and ran out of the cafe, tears flowing down his face.

TBC