Chapter 31

How much time has passed? Fifteen minutes? Thirty minutes? One hour? Carter wasn't sure anymore, and he hadn't been paying attention to the time as well until now. He was anxiously sitting in the waiting room, bent over, leaning on his knees, fingers intertwined and staring at the flooring. He had called his parents as soon as he was able to get to a telephone, and had asked them to call the parents of Alyssa, Chris, Paxton and Melanie as well to inform them about the situation.

Right now, Josh was undergoing surgery to stop the internal bleeding that the beating had caused. A doctor had come up to him right after Carter and the man who drove them delivered him to the ER.

Josh had a minor concussion, broken collarbone and needed stitches right above his eyebrow.

Even though the doctor had told Carter that he'd be alright, he still couldn't help but worry. The only thought that comforted him, was that they had given Josh anesthetics, so at least he wasn't in pain anymore.

Doctors and nurses passed, but Carter barely noticed them. He had cried a little while waiting in the waiting room during the first few minutes, but after the doctor had spoken to him he felt a lot more at ease.

Carter had also called the police to inform them about the situation. He wasn't entirely sure if an arrest would be necessary, but he wanted the police to be aware of the fact that Steve Marson was violent, and that maybe they could try to keep an eye on him or at least have him stay away from Josh.

It didn't take long until his parents arrived. As soon as he saw them, Carter raised from his chair and could see the all too familiar concerned look his mother gave him. She rushed towards him and swung her arms around him to pull him into a tight hug.

Not being able to control his emotions, Carter returned the hug and closed his eyes, feeling the impact all the tension and anxiety from the past hour now coming to surface. He now noticed that he was slightly trembling in his mother's hold and realized how much he had needed this affection.

"Where's Josh? Is he alright?" Mrs. Raymore asked her son after she let pulled away from the hug, yet still kept her hands on his shoulder.

Carter's eyes flickered from his mother's to his father's face, seeing that he wore the same concerned expression as his mother did, before looking back. "He'll be alright," he said after having inhaled deeply, "but he is really damaged." Carter sat back down on the chair, his knees feeling weak, and looked up at his parents. "He has a broken collarbone, minor concussion, and a pretty bad wound on his forehead that needs to be stitched."

Mrs. Raymore covered her mouth with her hand, something she alway did when shocked or disturbed. "Dear God..."

Mr. Raymore sat down next to his son and let out a sigh. "We should have known something like this would happen someday. This is not the first time Steve's drunken violence has gotten out of hand," he said. "I had really hoped he had changed in those five years. Clearly he hasn't."

Carter chewed the inside of his cheek, wondering if maybe they had acted sooner, they could have prevented this from happening. Either way, he was very well aware of the fact that he was in time to save Josh out of pure luck. Next time, there would not be such luck, so he knew he had to make sure that there wouldn't be a next time.

After a few minutes, the a nurse came up to waiting room, calling for Carter, and told him that Josh was able to receive visitors now.

He wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but he knew that seeing Josh again, all beaten up, would break his heart.

Carter and his parents quietly followed the nurse to the room where Josh was staying in. They were told that Josh would have to stay in the hospital for one night, for check ups on his concussion, but that if everything went good, he would be able to leave tomorrow. Carter's parents had agreed on the fact that he'd be able to stay with them until he was fully recovered. He couldn't go back to his father's house, and he couldn't be alone in his boat whilst being injured like that.

When they entered the room, and Carter laid his eyes upon Josh, he could feel his heart sinking to his stomach. Josh looked miserable. He remembered how shocked he was to see him with only a bruised eye, but that was nothing compared to this.

Even though his face wasn't bloody anymore, all the bruises on the rest of his body had gained their colors. His arm was in a sling that also covered his shoulder to support it for the recovery of the collarbone, and bandages were wrapped around his head, covering his forehead, to protect the spot that was stitched.

The look that Josh gave Carter as soon as their eyes met broke his heart. He quickly made his way over to him stood right next to the bed.

"Hey..." Carter said, flashing a sad smile. "How are you feeling?"

Josh looked up at him, not answering his question right away and took a deep breath. "...Dizzy... Tired," he answered.

Carter bit his lip before he leaned in and pressed a kiss to the space between his eyebrows. "I'm just so glad that you're okay," he said, almost feeling the urge to cry again. He shoved one of the chairs closer to the bed and sat on it, grabbing Josh's hand which was not placed in the sling and held it between his own.

His parents also went to sit down on one of the chair and Josh gave them a weak smile.

"We were really worried when we heard what happened, Josh," Mr. Raymore said. "The nurse told us you'd have to spend the night here."

"I do...?" Josh asked, giving a sigh and looking up at the ceiling. "I really hate hospitals."

"It's just to make sure that your concussion is under control," Carter said. "You took quite the beating. Better not take any risks." Josh turned his head to look at him and Carter could read from his eyes that he really did not like this situation at all, which was understandable. He hated hospitals as well. They were depressing and always smelled the same. "Don't worry, I'll stay with you as long as I can, alright? Tomorrow as well, until you are released."

Josh lightly nodded his head, to show his appreciation, and closed his eyes. "Thanks."

Carter gave a glance at his parents, who looked just as equally worried as him. Josh would be fine, that was for sure by now. But the question that remained was; where would he go from here?

+++

Josh had gotten an extra shot of medicine to help against his nausea caused by the concussion. Even though his injuries weren't all that serious, they did have to be checked up on each hour. Mr and Mrs. Raymore were currently having lunch in the hospital's cafeteria, but Carter wasn't hungry. His parents would bring up a sandwich for him when they'd return to have him eat at least something.

"Is the nausea gone?" Carter asked Josh after having taken a sip from his glass of water.

"Yeah, mostly," Josh answered, sitting up a little more. "The anesthetics numbed the pain in my collarbone, but as soon as that's expired, it'll hurt like a motherf-"

A nurse walked in and Josh quickly stopped himself from finishing the sentence. She greeted the two males before checking up on the IV. The medicine was being inserted into Josh's body through a vein on his hand, and Carter figured she would be removing the needle from the skin now.

He couldn't watch her doing that. Carter really could not handle needles, blood, or anything related to those two. He looked out of the window while listening to the nurse telling Josh that if he started to feel sick again, he'd be able to call them and they'd come check up on him.

"Visitors hour ends in one hour," the nurse told Carter and he gave her a nod. He didn't want to leave Josh, but knew that he couldn't stay with him all the time.

Then, Carter saw a group of people entering the room and he immediately recognized them as Chris, Paxton and Melanie.

Melanie's mouth practically fell open upon seeing the injured male in the hospital bed. "Josh, oh my God!" she said.

"Jesus, man," Paxton said as they walked up to him. Carter raised from his chair, almost having forgotten that he had asked his parents to call them.

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks," Josh tried to reassure his friends, though Carter wasn't so sure about the truth behind his words.

"Dude, you don't know what you're saying. You're probably high on all that shit they put into your body," Paxton said. He turned to Carter when he stood next to him and said, "What happened? Is he going to be alright?"

Carter chewed on the inside of his cheek and wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question. He gave a glance at Josh and inhaled deeply. "...His father found out about our relationship. He was furious and beat him up. My mother told me she had told him, and I rushed over to their house. I was just in time."

Josh averted his eyes. Carter knew that he wasn't comfortable with the topic, but his friends had the right to know the truth.

"He has a broken collarbone, minor concussion and a cut on his forehead that needed to be stitched. So yeah... only the bandage around his head makes it look worse than it is. But the rest is exactly as bad as it looks."

"Oh my God," Melanie said again. "That's horrible. Why would he do such a thing? That's just awful."

Josh bit his lip and shook his head. "He... He was just angry, alright? It happens."

Carter frowned at his words.

"No it's not alright, Josh. That doesn't just "happen"," Chris said. "No parent should beat up their children. And especially not for being gay."

"Look, it doesn't matter anymore, alright? It happened and there's nothing to do about that now," Josh spoke, his voice hinted with frustration.

Chris gave Carter a look and Carter wasn't entirely sure what to do. He now realized that there was a part of Josh that still didn't want to accept that his father's actions were horrible and that he shouldn't stay with him any longer. But then again, it was understandable. He was his father after all, the man who raised him. Coming to terms with the fact that your own father is a horrible person must never be easy.

"Josh, just focus on recovering for now. We can worry about the rest later," he said.

"There is nothing to worry about!" Josh said angrily. "Everything will go back to normal after this. I will talk it out with my father and it will be alright, okay? So just... stop it. Just stop it."

Carter wanted to say something, but knew that he best not. Josh was frustrated, in pain and put into a difficult situation. Even though he desperately wanted to help him, he had no idea how to.

"...Josh?" A voice was suddenly heard. Carted looked up and his expression turned to surprised when he saw a blonde haired girl standing in the door opening with a boquet of flowers in her hand.

Josh sat up a little and looked back at her.

"Alyssa..."