Another Lifetime - 9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kyle awoke in a bed, with glaringly bright fluorescent lightbulbs shining in his eyes. His immediate first thought was something along the lines of, Huh, what? But the memory of what had happened and where he was came back to him sooner than he would have liked.

The pain came back too.

Kyle sat up, grimacing from the pain in his torso, and looked around. Stanley was asleep in the chair beside him, and Art was asleep in the chair next to Stanley. He was surprised that his mother wasn’t there, until he spotted two purses on a chair on his other side. He guessed that his and Stanley’s moms had gone to get a drink or something.

Stanley twitched in his sleep, and made a sound that reminded Kyle of a kitten. Kyle reached over and gently shook Stanley’s shoulder.

Stanley opened his eyes, but it was a few seconds before he was actually conscious. His eyes rested on Kyle, and when he realized Kyle was awake, he jumped out of his chair.

“Oh my god!” he screamed.

“Ah! What now?” Art yelled as he was rudely awakened by Stanley’s scream.

“He’s awake!” Stanley exclaimed, moving to hug Kyle, but Kyle put his hands out to stop him. Stanley looked at Kyle with a confused hurt look on his face.

“I’m really sore Stanley,” Kyle said gently. “But thanks anyway.”

Just then, the mothers walked into the room. Kyle’s mom saw that he was awake, and she dropped the bottle of Coke she was holding and ran to his side, engulfing him in a bear hug before he could even think about stopping her.

Every inch of Kyle’s bruised torso called out in pain. His eyes bulged out, and his mouth hung open in a silent scream. His lungs gave a hiss from his sharp intake of breath, but it went unnoticed by his mom.

“Mrs. Omara…” Stanley said, trying to get her attention. She’d begun rocking Kyle in her arms, which was doing nothing more than making it hurt worse.

“Mrs. Omara…” Stanley said louder, again to no effect.

“Pam! You’re smothering the boy!” Art yelled, snapping her out of it. She looked into Kyle’s eyes, and released him when she saw the pain he was in.

“You’re awake!” Kyle’s mother exclaimed. “I was so worried about you!”

Kyle’s body was slowly returning to normal, his battered torso no longer paralyzing him with pain. He was able to breathe normally again, once he’d had time to catch his breath. Strangely, Kyle didn’t really feel all that bad. He was sore, especially where his mother’s arms had been wrapped around him, but otherwise he felt he’d been lucky.

“How bad am I?” Kyle asked, fearing that he was hurt worse than he felt.

“Nothing broken,” came the voice of Dr. Richardson, one of the Doctors who’d worked on Leo after the attack. “No internal bleeding, either, which is surprising seeing how many hits you took. Overall you’re pretty lucky, and all you’ve got is some pretty significant bruising.”

“And now we get to call you ‘Punching Bag,’” Art joked. Kyle laughed nervously, along with everyone else, but there was no shaking the fear he felt deep inside himself.

Who’d done this to him? The obvious answer was Ethan, and since Kyle couldn’t identify any of the attackers, it could have been anyone. What threw him off was the female voice. Kyle hadn't been coherent enough to tell much more than it was female, but as far as he knew he hadn't done anything to piss off any girls.

“You okay?” Stanley asked him, studying his face. It was clear that Stanley had been really shaken up about things.

“Yeah, considering,” Kyle said. “Worried.”

Stanley only nodded in response, but Kyle’s and Stanley’s mothers exchanged a glance.

“Don’t you even dare think about pulling something like this again,” Stanley’s mom said. It was funny, seeing how she’d been supporting them earlier in the night. Before the party.

“I don’t plan to,” Kyle said. “I don’t think my body could handle another ‘party’.” He made exaggerated finger quotations when he said “party”.

Kyle glanced back over to the doctor.

“Any change in Leo’s condition?” he asked.

“Surprisingly yes,” the doctor stated. Kyle’s heart leapt to his throat. “There’s been a significant increase in brain activity. With a little luck, there’ll be more improvements.”

“I want to see him,” Kyle said, jumping off of the hospital bed, and immediately wishing he hadn't. He was unsteady on his feet, and would’ve fallen if it weren't for Stanley’s steadying hand.

“Whoa there, tiger,” Stanley said with a smile. “Dizzy?”

“Just a little woozy,” Kyle admitted. “I’ll be ok in a second.”

“You need rest, Kyle,” his mother told him, placing her hand on his shoulder next to Stanley’s.

“Don’t,” Kyle said. “I’m going to see Leo, even if I have to limp there by myself.”

With that, Kyle started walking out of the room. He moved with slow, painful steps, but the more he walked, the more the pain faded into the background. He got to the hallway outside his room and looked around.

He looked to a sign on the wall and found that he was three floors beneath Leo. He moved down the hall to the elevator, a little annoyed with the fact that everyone was following him and staring at him as if he was going to drop dead any second.

“Come on guys,” he said, his annoyance showing. “You all heard Doctor Richardson, I’m not even hurt all that bad.”

“We’re coming with you,” Stanley said, smirking. “Just in case.”

“And I need to check in on Leo anyway,” Dr. Richardson said.

They reached the elevator, and Kyle waited impatiently as everyone got on board. Music was playing in the elevator, and he thought to himself how stereotypical of it. He recognized the song, but couldn’t put his finger on which one it was.

The elevator made a faint “ding” with every floor it passed, throwing off the rhythm of the song. Finally, they slowed to a stop, and the doors opened. They all followed Dr. Richardson, as he was the first out of the elevator. Kyle was last in line this time, and found it funny that a minute ago they were all so concerned about him, and now Stanley was the only one walking slow enough for Kyle to keep pace.

They reached Leo’s room, and found Leo’s father at his bedside. He stood the moment he saw Kyle, and moved forward to embrace him. Once again, Kyle had to back off, and they shared a chuckle as Kyle recounted what his mother had done when she’d discovered him awake.

Kyle walked to Leo’s bedside, and leaned down to whisper so that no one else would be able to hear.

“Leo, I could really use your help right about now,” he said, a tear escaping from his eye. “If you were waiting for the right moment to wake up, now would be a good time.”

* * * * *

Kyle was released later that day, but most of the rest of the day was spent with Leo and his father. They chatted, mostly about small things, trivial things, but eventually Kyle shared with the man his fear over what the future might bring. And although they never voiced it aloud, neither of them were sure anymore that going after Ethan was a smart move. But when Kyle looked over at Leo, his chest gently rising and falling with each intake of breath, he knew his work was far from over.

Hours later, Kyle said his goodbyes, and called his mother to come pick him up. It was late on a Saturday, and he knew he had a lot of homework to complete before school on Monday. He could have easily taken the next few days off from school, but he knew the longer he waited, the worse things would be. Better to face his attackers without fear.

If he was going to survive, he had to send a message.

Sunday passed without too many problems. He got caught up on his homework, and only had one run-in with his father. Kyle looked up as his father entered the room, but the man didn’t say anything. He just stood there for a moment, then sneered and turned away, leaving Kyle in silence. Kyle let out a breath he didn’t know he’d held.

His brother was gone for most of the day, and when he finally came home, he asked Kyle if he was alright.

Kyle, being stunned by this question, answered, “My torso is still sore, but I’ll be okay in a few days.”

“That’s good,” Justin said, then slapped Kyle on the stomach hard enough to make him double over in pain, wheezing as the air didn’t want to enter his lungs.

“There’s one thing back to normal,” he mumbled to himself when the pain died down.

His mother dropped him off for school the next morning, and for the first few hours of the day he couldn’t help but scrutinize nearly everyone he saw. Looking for anything that might give him a clue as to who it could have been.

Stanley kept asking him if he was alright during their art class, because Kyle simply wasn’t into it. On the fourth time Stanley asked if he was sure he’d taken his pain pill, Kyle snapped at him.

“Yes, damnit! I’m fine!” hurt, Stanley looked away and didn’t try too hard to engage Kyle in conversation for the rest of class.

He felt guilty about the way he’d treated Stanley, but he couldn’t help it. He was on edge. But as he walked into his English class, and found a substitute teacher sitting at the desk, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. He hated Mr Bright with a passion. At least something was going right today.

“Do I still have detention today?” Kyle asked the man, deciding to get it out of the way before the class started. The man looked about two sizes too big for the pants that he was wearing. His belly jutted out over the top of his pants, and the buttons on his shirt strained from the pressure of holding the shirt together. He had thick glasses that were held together with tape on the center and on the left side. This was a nerd if ever Kyle saw one.

“Umm…let me check…” he said, his voice nasally. He flipped through some papers, then, not finding what he was looking for, started looking through another stack. He knocked over a jar of pens, spilling them across the floor, and one rolled behind Kyle. He turned, and bent down to pick it up. When he went to put the pen back into the cup, he was thoroughly disgusted to find the substitute’s eyes running all over his body.

Kyle cleared his throat, fighting off the shudder that was threatening to rear its head, and the man snapped out of it.

“It looks like your teacher didn’t leave any instructions about that,” he said. “However, if you would like to stay…”

“That’s alright, I’ll just talk to Mr Bright tomorrow,” Kyle said, turning around and leaving the nasty man at his desk. Kyle quickly took his seat, but not before one or two kids snickered at him. They’d seen what had just happened, and it made Kyle’s face glow red.

He took attendance, and then just let the students have a free period. They talked amongst themselves, and Kyle pulled out a book and tried to lose himself in it. But the nagging suspicion that someone was watching him kept him too alert to fully enjoy his reading. He kept looking up suddenly, thinking he saw something out of the corner of his eye. But when he’d look at the person, they’d be focused on something else. It was beginning to frustrate Kyle.

His next few classes were no better, any time he tried to relax, his frayed nerves got the better of him. He was becoming a nervous wreck.

Kyle sat down to lunch at the table he and Stanley usually shared. With the way he’d been acting, he expected to eat alone today, but was pleasantly surprised when Stanley sat down across from him.

“Hey,” Stanley said, hoping not to anger Kyle again.

“I’m sorry,” Kyle said sincerely. “I was being an ass. It’s just that I’ve been edgy all day, and I took my frustration out on you.”

“No, you have every right to be edgy, with everything that’s happened,” Stanley said, and shyly looked away.

“Stanley, just let me apologize, please?” Kyle said with a grin.

Stanley laughed. “Okay, fine. Apology accepted.”

Michael Yates sat down at the table, surprising both of them.

“Mike, you don’t have lunch this period,” Stanley said. “What’s up?”

“Just heard that Kyle is back already,” he said. “Wanted to see if he’s alright.”

“Oh, he’s alright,” Stanley said, winking at Kyle. “A bit crabby though.”

“Hey!” Kyle said, and tried to kick Stanley under the table. He missed, but did succeed in slamming his shin into a steel bar. “Ouch!”

Stanley and Michael were doing their best to hold their laughter in. Meaning they weren't doing a very good job of it at all. Kyle glared at them, and Stanley nearly lost it.

“Did you hear something?” Michael asked Stanley, grinning. “Thought I heard the strangled cry of the dodo bird.”

“Couldn’t have been,” Stanley said, playing along. “Those are extinct. Heard they were goofy and clumsy, often hurting themselves.”

“Laugh it up, guys,” Kyle said, and then turned to his lunch, grumbling into his mashed potatoes.

Stanley laughed and clapped Kyle on the back.

“You know we’re just kidding,” he said.

“Well, I need to run before I’m too late for class,” Michael said, and left the cafeteria after Kyle and Stanley said their goodbyes.

“When we got split up, did you find out anything?” Kyle asked. “Like from Carl Ramirez?”

“Nothing concrete,” Stanley said. “All the football players have been joking about Leo, and apparently Ethan thinks he got what he deserved.”

“That son of a bitch!” Kyle exclaimed, causing many students at the tables nearby to stare at him.

“Calm down Kyle!” Stanley said. “We already figured that much out. Any ideas on who beat you up?”

“No, and that’s what’s got me so testy,” he said. “I feel like everyone is a suspect. I keep looking over my shoulder expecting someone to jump out at me.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like there’s much we can do about it,” Stanley said. Kyle groaned, knowing he was right. They simply didn’t have any leads.

“What else do you remember?” Stanley pressed on. “Anything at all?”

“The only thing that sticks out is that one of them was female,” he said. “She seemed to be calling the shots.”

“Any idea who it could be?” Stanley asked. Kyle glared at him in response.

“If I knew that we’d have a lead, wouldn’t we?” Kyle asked sarcastically.

“Right,” Stanley said, blushing. “Stupid question.”

Stanley and Kyle fell into an awkward silence, neither of them knowing how to proceed. Kyle poked at his sandwich, occasionally picking it up and taking a bite. Stanley debated taking a bite of the greasy cardboard that the school passed off as pizza, then decided to eat a few fries instead. Why schools insist on having fries as a side item for everything, the world may never know, but at least these fries were edible. Mostly.

Kyle looked up, and focused on a figure on the other side of the room. Ethan was sitting across the room at his usual table, telling a story that Kyle couldn’t hear. Everyone in the vicinity was held captive to the tale he was spinning, all looking upon him like he was a god. It made Kyle sick to his stomach, and he suddenly didn’t want to finish his lunch anymore. Stanley followed Kyle’s gaze, and frowned at him.

“We’ll get him. Somewhere he had to have slipped up.”

“Just look at them,” Kyle said in awe. Stanley turned to see what he was talking about. “Hanging on his every word. Pathetic if you ask me.”

Stanley saw it, and understood.

“They’d believe every word he told them. Wouldn’t matter what it was. Even if the truth was staring them in the face.”

Kyle nodded. “And that kind of blind loyalty scares me. Everyone loyal to him is potentially an enemy.”

Ethan locked eyes with Stanley. Stanley didn’t…wouldn’t look away. Ethan shrugged, as if to say he didn’t matter in the slightest, and went back to his conversation.

Stanley felt a shiver run down his spine.