Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Family ❯ A helping hand ( Chapter 16 )

By the time I'd made it to the school again it was nearly daylight. Not that I could tell, I don't have a watch, but the sky was beginning to get lighter and small amounts of traffic were beginning to circulate through the street.

The back door to the gym was unlocked and I snuck inside, closing the door behind me quietly. The air conditioner hummed softly in a low melody but at the moment I didn't care. I was freezing and an air conditioner was definitely not what I needed.

I went into the bathrooms and turned on one of the showers, stripping my cold, wet clothes and sitting under the lukewarm water for a long time. The water never gets hot in the school but it was warm enough to be comforting so I was perfectly content with it for the time being. The wound on my shoulder was oozing lazily and stung as the water hit it. I couldn't see it but knew it was probably not a good thing considering I couldn't breathe without that side of my chest hurting. Oh well, as long as it stopped bleeding I could wrap it later.

The water began to get colder and I stood slowly, turning off the shower and opening the plastic bag so I could get dressed. I pulled on my shirt and sighed loudly as I realized that the beer Shimate had thrown at me had leaked into the bag and gotten on my clothes. Great, now I smell like a keg and look like I've been drinking all night as well. Today was not going to go well…

Tossing the back in the trashcan and pulling my backpack onto my non-injured shoulder, I walked quietly into the gym and sank down into a corner, resting my head on my knees and allowing myself to fall into a light sleep.

 

I opened my eyes slowly as someone started to gently shake my shoulder.

“Cye? Are you alright?”

The room swam into focus and I found myself looking up to see a very concerned Sage standing above me. “Hey…” I managed intelligently, unhappy with how scratchy my voice sounded.

“What are you doing in here? School doesn't start for another thirty minutes.” He said, looking around the gym to see if there was a legitimate reason as to why I was here. None to be found.

I started to reply but then stopped. “Me? What are you doing here this early?”

“I'm a nurse's aid and came to see if the gym needed anything from the front office before school started. You look like hell…”

I wanted to make some kind of remark but knew I was in no place to reply. He was probably right anyway. Sage seemed to give off the aura that he knew what he was talking about.

I pulled myself to a standing position and winced as my back scraped against the wall.

“Are you alright?” Sage grabbed me to keep me upright and looked at me worried. “Jesus, you're bleeding…” A long smear of blood streaked the wall behind me like some kind of morbid graffiti and there was a spot of it on my jeans from where my hand had been sitting. “What the hell happened, Cye?”

I gritted my teeth and swallowed as a wave of dizziness washed through me. Sage held me a little tighter and watched me worriedly. “Cye…are you alright?”

I struggled to find a suitable lie. Nothing sounded right. To everyone that knew, there was no reason I shouldn't be home with my new family and enjoying spending time with them. But to me it was the last place I ever wanted to be for any length of time. Think Cye, think! Lie for God's sake before it raises more questions.

“I was mugged…” Crap! That's never going to work!

“Are you serious?” Sage asked his lavender eyes transfixed on me.

I forced myself to be believable and nodded. “Yeah…on my way home last night. I was afraid they would follow me to my house so I ran in here to hide out.” Please work, please work, and please work.

Sage contemplated it for a second and watched me closely. “Did you report it?”

“Um…n-no…I never had time to go to the police station…”

He nodded slowly after a second and looked around to see if anyone else was in the gym. “Come on, I'll help you get cleaned up.” He took my backpack and made me lean into him so I wouldn't fall. With his help I managed to make it out of the gym and to the nurse's office without any unnecessary falls or stumbles. God knows I'd had enough of that today.

 

 

Sage's POV

 

A thick coat of blood had completely soaked the back of Cye's shirt by the time I'd gotten him to the nurse's office. He was gritting his teeth but refused to say anything as I carefully began to pull the fabric away from the wound.

Mugged my ass. This kind of injury doesn't happen in a typical mugging incident. And before you ask, yes I know what typical mugging injuries look like. We have several different gangs at our school and they're not above ganging up on someone to steal their wallet. Busted lips and black eyes sure, even the occasional broken rib was pretty common but this wound wasn't. A deep gash stretched under his shoulder blade, maybe about an inch deep and about 3 inches long. Dried blood smeared around it and fresher blood oozed it's way down his back. Also, his skin felt hot and feverish and a soft sniff emitted from him every once in a while.

“ Jesus, Cye…”

The younger boy didn't say anything but let me poke and prod at it gently. Occasionally he'd gasp of his shoulder would tense if I hit something sore and I'd have to back away.

I rested my hand over it gently and concentrated, closing it slowly so the muscle and tissue that had been damaged would heal more naturally. I knew what kind of injury this reminded me of but I was almost afraid to suggest it.

“ Cye…is everything alright at home?”

The boy's shoulder seemed to tense a little but I couldn't tell whether it was from my comment of the wound healing. “ Everything's fine…why do you ask?” he questioned softly, his voice raw and ragged, glancing at me over his shoulder.

“ Well, I was just wondering if you were having any problems because of the move or if there was something else going on. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but I don't like seeing my friends get hurt…it bothers me.”

Cye nodded slowly after a second and took a slow breath as the last of the wound stitched itself together. “ Everything is fine, really. There's no reason to worry.”

Easy for him to say. I turned and began rummaging through one of the drawers in the desk to find a spare shirt for him. All of the school's lost and found come to the nurse's office for some odd reason but it also ensures that we have spare clothes for any such occasion.

“You know…Rowen's father used to beat him.” I pressed gently and carefully, trying not to alarm Cye.

He sat up a little straighter and thanked me softly as I handed him the clean shirt. “ What did he do about it…?”

“ Well, he went to the police finally and they were able to apprehend his father before anything else happened. He lives with his mom now so it all worked out alright.”

Cye hung his head a little and laughed humorlessly. “ I'm happy for him. I'm glad he's alright.”

My eyes softened and I put my hand on his shoulder gently. “ Cye, listen. I'm not telling you what to do nor am I saying I know what you're going through but I do want you to take care of yourself. We're your friends and none of us want to see anything bad happen to you…I'll let you handle this your own way but I can tell you that if you come in here hurt this badly again I will be forced to intervene and call the authorities.”

The room was silent for several seconds but then he nodded, looking at me and smiling softly. “ Thank you Sage. Thanks for everything.”

I smiled in return and helped him stand just as the bell rang. “ I'll write you a note for class.”