Last midnight

Survivor

Location: hospital

"And that should do it!" The doctor said with joy as they secured the last bandage on Big Red's knuckles, he smiled with relief from having the pain all nice and bandaged up. "How does that feel? Not too tight?"

"It's perfectly wrapped! I should know, I'm always getting things bandaged up." He joked, making the doctor break out into laughter.

"A history patient with your own?"

"Yep!"

"Funny joke darling, now I shall send you on your way in a minute, just need to do a few more things."

~~~~

"That was very dangerous! What on earth were you kids thinking?" Debbie Caswell scolded, the kids all looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact with her and their own parents.

"You could have died!" Mike Bowen added.

"You should have gone to us," Cassidy Matthew-Smith said. "We would have helped."

"Especially since Maisie isn't in the best place right now," Mateo Rodriguez added on. "Poor woman needs a break, reminds us of Carlos-"

They all suddenly took notice of the strange looks once Mateo mentioned Carlos. His eyes glanced to his wife, her face expressed a sense of confusion and nervousness.

"Wait, where even is Carlos?"

~~~~

"Your friends are in the waiting room; it is just down the corridor and to the left."

"Okay! Thank you!" He strutted down the hallway with joy, he was so excited to see her and his friends again. He wanted to hug his mother and sister, embrace Ashlyn and Ricky again, he wanted to just cry into everyone's arms once more.

However, as he turned down the hallway, he spotted him. Carlos was sitting against the wall, his face was buried in his knees, Big Red could immediately tell that something was wrong. He slowly approached him, careful enough so that he didn't frighten the younger boy.

"Carlos?"

That immediately got his attention, as he looked up to Big Red through his waterfall of tears.

"Big Red? I'm sorry, you shouldn't see me like this-"

"No! It's alright, no need to ashamed of crying." He sat next to him, hoping to bring a sense of safety to his close friend. "Crying is actually a release, helps us feel better and relieved from pressure."

"Interesting," he said as he wiped his eyes. "Why are you not with them?"

"I had to get my knuckles checked," he showed Carlos his bandaged-up hands, he seemed so distressed which worried Big Red. "Wait, why aren't you there?"

He saw how Carlos looked instantly terrified at his words, he reacted like Big Red had asked him to kill someone.

"I'm just... not up for it."

That was complete bullshit, Big Red could sense something was wrong, which made his mind retrace to the last words said by Jack.

"Carlos! How old were you again when we had our encounter in the woods? Because you were good to fuck!"

"Carlos?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

He felt Carlos hesitate, almost like he knew what Big Red was about to say.

"G-Go ahead..."

He hesitated slightly, he just had to say this in the nicest way possible.