I shot up in my bed, almost throwing my phone as I threw my blankets. “What? What do you mean?”
Sarah sighed. “He gave me this note with math equations and said it was your number. Took me a minute, but I got it. Are you able to meet me here?”
My pants were already up my legs. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
I’d never made it out of the apartment and into my car so fast. I was pretty sure my tank top was on backward, but I couldn’t give enough of a fuck to rectify that.
Thankfully, with this being a smaller town, I didn’t have to worry so much about cops prowling. Because of that, I was able to speed my way to the diner, park like an asshole, and run in where I could see the lights were turned on.
The moment I walked in, I saw Sarah kneeling beside an unconscious Elio. She was sweeping her hand through his hair, slowly pushing his bangs aside with each stroke. I was frozen in place, standing still at the entrance. I was scared to see his face.
Elio’s arms were covered in red marks, some starting to bruise already. Dried blood splattered his shirt. All I could think of was the boy I used to know. The kid I hung out with on the playground.
Slowly, I started to walk toward them. “Is he…” I trailed off, not completely sure of what I wanted to ask. Asking if he was okay sounded stupid.
Sarah peered up from Elio. She looked like a mess, dark streaks of mascara running down her cheeks. “I’ve never seen him like this. I mean, I’ve seen a black eye or two on him, but never like this.”
My legs trembled as I went to the floor with her. Elio lay on his back in front of us, his head turned to the side. Sarah was older—not by much, maybe in her late thirties at most. She looked much older than that now, though. Worry made pathways along her skin, making crossroads where there hadn’t been before. She looked like she was scared.
And so was I.
“I know.” Was my voice cracking? It sounded wobbly and foreign to my own ears. “How did you find him?”
I watched as her tan hand swept over Elio’s bangs again. “I left my tip money here. Didn’t even realize until I was home. I have the keys, so I came by to get it. When I got here, he was on the ground in front of the bakery.” Her voice died out, a gurgling, choking sound replacing it as she started to cry. “H-he barely got your name out to tell me about t-the note.” A shuddered breath. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t, but Sarah was just an innocent bystander in the grand scheme of things.
Elio squirmed, his body jerking as a long, pained groan left his throat. I watched, suddenly paralyzed with something much stronger than fear, while he turned his head toward us.
The name etched into the shards of my heart started to beat. It was rapid and loud, a scraping of glass against glass as it shrieked and shattered. The E engulfed me whole, barely leaving any room for anything else. The L lifted itself, rising into my esophagus, barely stopping before my mouth. The I irritated the sides of my rib cage, bumping and chafing the flesh surrounding it. The O orchestrated it all, filling the husk of my body with music, despair, and the sinister, diabolical screams of something so broken I didn’t want to listen anymore.
Nothing felt real.
Everything felt too real.
Elio’s once bright and shiny eyes cracked just a sliver, too swollen to open fully. His nose was busted, with a large scrape right on the bridge of it. His lips were caked in dried blood, his very essence bleeding out through the wounds on them. He was so swollen, I couldn’t see him anymore.
Nonsensical mumblings began at the base of my throat,trailing up it and into my ears. They came from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
“Crescent?” Elio coughed as he said it.
It fucking hurt to see. For once, I was finally able to understand why fire and the color red were associated with rage. My vision blurred, pure, hot anger clouding it. “I’m here, El. I’m here.” I shifted closer.
He whimpered. A broken, sad sound I’d never heard from him before. “Cres,” he whined.
“It’s okay, El. I promise.” His hand stretched out, reaching past me. I followed it, grasping it in mine. “I’ve got you.” I didn’t take my eyes off him, letting his image seep into my mind. I let it scar me. I let it punish me for not doing more.
For not doing enough.
For not being enough.
“Sarah, call an ambulance.” I refused to not be enough for him anymore.
Elio tried to scramble from the floor, yelping as he did so. “No! No ambulance, no police!”
“We need to, El.”
“Please! I can’t. I can’t.” Glistening tears ran down the side of his face. I wanted to dry them. Take them away and shoulder them all. Bottle them up until I drowned in them if it meant Elio didn’t have to handle them.
