It was 12:45 a.m and Nate was doing his night run, Joe had decided to join him to get to know the place better. They had been running for about an hour and they were going by some streets the new boy didn’t know yet. “This alley was where I kissed a girl for the first time” Nathaniel said when Joe started walking in that direction “Forget it, it’s a dead end ma friend” he said still joking.
“No, look, there is someone there! Seriously Nate, I think he’s bleeding” And as he was walking towards the unconscious man on the ground he realized who he was “Matt!” he yelled as got down to grabbed his head from the ground. He was alive, Joe had checked that “Matt wake up damn!” he slapped him twice.
“I’m calling an ambulance” the other said in panic. “No! No no, we can’t take him to the hospital Joe” he said and he could feel the boy in his arms starting to move “He’ll kill me if I take him there, look, your mum is a nurse right? Can you please help me?” Nate almost begged.
And then Joe was already on the phone
“3 minutes and my father will be here, how he is?”
“Breathing.”
Mrs. Petriece was already at the door when the car stopped at their house. And once they laid him on the nearest table the middle aged woman gave him some painkillers and started taking care of his wounds. Although he was already awake the words he was murmuring were barely impossible to hear.
After some time she was finally over cleaning wounds and now she was talking to Joe and Nate “Your friend is fine, but he should get some sleep, he can stay here a bit longer” she said with a soft smile and then she and her husband took the stairs that Nate knew lead to the bedrooms.
Less than 10 minutes later Joe had fallen asleep on the sofa on the right and soon Nate was doing just the same.
But Matthew woke up soon after, he wouldn’t surely make noise, or leave alone because he could barely stand. As he laid there in pain he thought not of the last person that came into his mind before it all went black but of his is dad, and how much he missed him.
He didn’t know for how long he had been there by himself thinking but suddenly he heard noises from what it seemed like keys and then the front door was openned. And it showed a red haired girl. A red haired girl with tears in her eyes. “Who are you?” she asked confused “And what are you doing at my place?” she asked again.
Matthew didn’t move, and as he opened the mouth he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his chest causing him to flinch “I was hurt” he said very low.
“You are clearly hurt” she stated as if it was the most natural thing on the world. “Why aren’t you sleeping like these two? Need any painkillers?” she asked and walked closer to him “Stella.” but the pain didn't really let Matthew talk “I see you ain't much of a talker” she said as she took her high heels off.
“Wait” he said in the same tone as before “It hurts” he made a pause “when I talk” he said and paused again “and I can’t sleep”. “I’m Matthew” he added and then stopped talking.
“I’ll go ask my mom if she has anything for the pain and I’ll come back soon” she said and went up, leaving Matthew alone with his wounds and bruises.
When the girl came back she had changed her curly ponytail into a messy one and she was no longer in her dress but instead had had her pajamas on and a glass of water on one hand and a couple of pills on the other. “Here” she said and realizing that Matthew could barely move she put the medicines in his mouth and then gave him some water. “So what happened to you” she said and sat on the carpet in front of the sofa where Matt was. “Long story” he murmured.
She looked at her phone “I had a shitty night and it's 3 a.m” she looked at him and smiled “I have all night.”
“I’m a boxer” he started but was quickly cut off “Then why aren't you in the hospital? Shouldn't that be taken care by your gym or whatever it's called?” she said with a laugh.
“I must warn you, that sounds like the really short version of a very long story” she stated as if she felt offended.
“I may do some boxing that is not so legal” he said right after.
Stella didn’t seemed surprised though “You don’t seem the guy that gets his ass kicked much”. And with that he mistakenly tried to smile again. “Cause I’m not” He added and closed his eyes for some seconds, because of the pain.
“What happened tonight then?” She asked curious but Matthew didn’t really feel like talking about it, not in that moment.
“And you?” he made a pause and looked at the girl in front of him, at her green eyes that were no longer teary “You were crying when you came in” he said and then flinched in pain again.
And she looked at the floor staring at the nothing for a bit “It’s a long story” she smiled when she looked at Matthew again “I have all night Stella” he stated “I have all night.”