A Different Path

Chapter 45 - Just Fine

Criticism spot! :)

Pretty long chapter!

Crutchie's POV

It was the middle of the night when I woke back up, confused as to where I was. I sat up to look around, hearing someone sit up beside me. As I had expected, it was Jack, and he smiled kindly at me.

"Hey," he said, speaking softly. "How're you feeling?"

"It's still real bad," I answered, feeling sick to my stomach from the pain.

"Is it still worse than when Scott hit it?" I thought for a moment, unsure.

"I think it's about the same now," I looked down for a moment, not wanting to see Jack's reaction.  

"So, what happened? You got jumped?" I sighed, preparing to explain everything.

"Kind of, I didn't really get jumped." Jack waited for me to explain, a confused look on his face. "These two kids about our age and a younger one came up to me, and one of them started yelling at me for faking." I began, twiddling my thumbs. "I tried telling them I wasn't, but they didn't believe me. Well, the youngest kid did, but the other two didn't. They took me into an alley and punched me so I fell down and let go of my crutch, and then they snapped it." Jack remained silent, listening closely. "I kept telling them over and over I wasn't faking, but they didn't believe still, and they lifted me off the ground. I looked at the youngest kid and hoped he'd do something, and it surprised me when he said he didn't think I was faking. I mean, it didn't do anything, because they told him to shut up. Oh, and get this- his name was Charlie." I couldn't help but chuckle a little, amazed by my terrible luck. 

"Of course," Jack joked, making me laugh a little more.

"Anyways, they pushed me forward so I'd walk, and so just like anyone would, I tried to catch myself so I didn't fall over." Jack nodded, understanding why I had put weight on my foot. "I obviously wasn't able to walk, so I fell down and screamed in pain, and they took off once they realized I really wasn't faking it." 

"Did you really walk all the way to the lodging house from your spot?" I nodded, not saying anything. "Baby... I'm sorry," he kept his voice quiet, helping me to relax.

"It's not your fault," I said, my head beginning to hurt like it tends to when my foot is hurting. 

"We were able to fix your crutch," I couldn't help but smile a little, feeling relieved.

"Thank you," I said, the pain in my leg suddenly worsening.  I tensed up, gripping my thigh. 

"You okay?" Jack asked, and I nodded, thinking it'd pass. It got worse yet, and I immediately shook my head right after. "How bad is it?" I had closed my eyes and clenched my jaw, holding my breath now and then as if it'd help.

"It's-" I began, cut off by pain. I gripped my thigh harder yet, feeling Jack's eyes on me. 

"Worse than Scott?" I nodded, my heart pounding. "Is it... A five?" I shook my head this time, pointing up as I had earlier with Race. "Seven?" I nodded, making Jack worry more. 

"Shit," I got out, a few tears falling.

"I'll go get Race to help, okay?" He got off the bed quickly, leaving me to sit alone. 

As I waited the pain only increased, and I hoped Jack would be back soon so I wasn't going through this by myself. As though on cue, the two returned, rushing to the bedside. 

"I'm putting a cold rag on you," Race said, doing just that. I felt Jack sit down beside me again, unsure what to do. "How can we help?" He then asked, sounding more worried than Jack. I didn't respond, unsure what they could do. Things only worsened as the seconds passed, and I knew the two could tell.