To Hell and Back - Kenny x Reader

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Come Monday morning, I was dreading school. I had a hard time sleeping out of fear of falling back into that same nightmare. I was tempted to call Kenny just to have him sleep next to me so I didn't have to be alone, but I worried that if I fell asleep staring at his face, it would only morph into that horrific black-eyed demon from my dream.

I forced myself to shower before school and at least attempt to look like I wasn't rotting. With clean hair and a little makeup, I was almost my normal self.

I picked Kenny up from his house and we headed to school together. I had texted him over the weekend that I was having trouble sleeping, but hadn't decided whether or not to tell him about my dream.

"You okay, baby?" he asked, resting his hand on my thigh.

I sighed, keeping my eyes on the road. "I will be once I can get some sleep."

"Something on your mind?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. 

"You could say that."

My words hung in the air and I knew he was leaving me an opportunity to tell him what was bothering me.

I decided that I didn't want to relive the nightmare right now. "Just a bad dream, Ken. I'll be okay."

We drove the rest of the way to school in relative silence, the comfort of his warm hand on my thigh enough to ease my thoughts for the time being.

Kenny slung his arm around my shoulders as we walked towards the school. I leaned against him, trying to find the words to tell him how much I appreciated him. He was the first person to ever make me feel like I wasn't totally alone. I should just tell him about the dream. Maybe talking about it will make me feel better, and he deserves to know why I'm acting weird.

As we approached the front doors, a crowd had gathered around them. I assumed it was for me, since they had all gasped when they saw me.

"The fuck's going on?" Kenny asked.

"Your girlfriend is a fucking whore," a girl snarled from the opposite side of the crowd. A mousy brown-haired girl shoved her way through the crowd.

"Watch your fucking mouth, Heidi," Kenny warned as he moved me behind him.

"It's cool, Kenny, I can handle this." I squeezed his hand as I stepped past him to face Heidi.

"Heidi, listen-" I started, but she cut me off.

"No, you listen! Stay away from my man, bitch!"

"You're talking about Kyle, right? I don't-"

"Don't even say his fucking name!"

"Jesus Christ, Heidi, how do you expect me to talk to you about it if I can't even say his name?"

"I didn't wait here for you so that we could talk. I'm gonna fuck you up," Heidi threatened as she balled her fist. "I'm not scared of you."

"You probably should be," I said with a laugh. 

"Fuck you!" Heidi screamed as she swung a fist at me. I grabbed her wrist and pushed it away with ease.

"Heidi, seriously, I don't want to fight you. I'm dating Kenny, I don't like Kyle-"

"Don't say his fucking name!" she screeched again, ripping her wrist from my grip and swinging at me. I continued stepping backwards to avoid her strikes, locking eyes with Kenny for a moment as we passed him.

"Please don't make me hit you, Heidi," I pleaded. "I really don't want to send you to the hospital."

"You're the one going to the hospital, bitch," she growled before spitting in my face.

I scoffed, wiping her slimy spit off my cheek. That's it.

I swung at her and connected my fist with her jaw, knocking her backwards.

"Get her ass, Y/N!" I heard Craig call from the crowd, pointing his phone at us and recording the fight. Of course. Craig loves violence.

As I landed another punch square in her nose, Mr. Mackey burst through the front doors of the school. "Mmkay, break it up, girls!"

Heidi's nose gushed with blood and she spit it at me as she lunged toward me. I dodged her swing and kicked the back of her knee, toppling her like a ton of bricks. Mr. Mackey grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her back to her feet, pulling her back and creating some distance between us. 

"Somebody better tell me what's goin' on here, mmkay?! Now!"

"Heidi likes Kyle but Kyle likes Y/N, and Y/N doesn't like Kyle because she's dating Kenny," Craig's monotone voice summarized from the crowd.

"Well I don't care who likes or doesn't like who, mmkay, we all need to get along at school! Girls, I expect some apologies, right here, right now."

"Heidi, I'm sorry that Kyle said my name when you were, uh... together." I offered my hand to her to shake, but she was still seething as blood dripped down onto her collar. Mr. Mackey released his grip on her to allow her to step forward and shake my hand, but I had a gut feeling that she wasn't going to do that.

"This isn't over, bitch!" she yelled as she shoved my shoulders with both of her hands. I stepped backwards to catch myself, but slipped over the edge of the curb, falling into the street just as Officer Barbrady was flying past in his patrol car. 

I saw stars, and tasted blood.

"Jesus Christ!"

"Heidi, what did you do?!"

"Give her some room, mmkay?!"

I heard voices all around me as the world spun. I struggled to take in a breath, and knew instantly that my ribs were broken and at least one of my lungs had already collapsed.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I was only coming to help with the disturbance!" I heard Officer Barbrady cry.

I tried to blink a few times to regain my vision, and could only open my left eye. The red and blue lights of the patrol car flashed all around me, and Kenny was leaning down over me.

"Y/N, I-"

I forced myself to speak before he could start consoling me. I hated when people tried to reassure me that I was okay right before I died.

"This is... so embarrassing..." I croaked out through shallow breaths.

"...does it hurt?" he asked as he ran his fingers through my blood-soaked hair.

"A little... going into... shock now..."

I felt my lungs filling up with fluid rapidly, and now I had no doubt that they'd been punctured by the impact of the patrol car. My whole body felt cold, and I prayed that it would just end quickly.

"Going... to bed..." I choked out, feeling blood spill from the corner of my mouth. Kenny kissed me on my forehead, and the last thing I saw before my eyes rolled back were his lips mouthing 'I love you'.

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short chapter with mostly dialogue but i wanted to drop something for u guys this weekend :) 

I may wrap up this story by doing smaller chapters but publishing more frequently! 

title name is the smiths song btw

thank you to everyone who has read my work - I have several other WIPs that I'm writing right now and looking forward to publishing once they're a little further along <3