Live in Color

thirty two - maroon

"Bastards," Arsenio coughs. "They're all fucking bastards."

Jericho has Arsenio leaning against the wall of the building while kneel beside him, trying to see the extent of the damage. Arsenio is bruised, his lip is busted, the area around his eye is darkening, and it seems like his rib are bruised too, because when Jericho had attempted to lift him up by his side he had cried out. Arsenio's dark green eyes are tired and sad as they stare far off, not really focused on us.

"Jericho," I mutter, gaining his attention. "I have a few blankets and some spare cloths in the trunk. Get some and also get the water bottle from the front seats."

Jericho nods, squeezing Arsenio's shoulder quickly before running out. I sigh, tearing a piece off of his already battered shirt and pressing it against his right bicep, where blood is sliding down his arm from a cut. "What happened, Arsenio?"

"Rebels," Arsenio hisses, attempting to push me away, but I stay put. "Texted me this address and, stupidly, I went. They- ah, Natalie, be a little fucking gentle, yeah?"

"Sorry, sorry." I quickly ease off.

"They ganged up on me- three against one aren't amazing odds. They had bats, Natalie. Like fucking baseball ones."

I roll my eyes, smiling slightly at his clarification about what type of bat, before my smile is replaced by a frown. "I knew we should have called the police. I knew someone was going to get hurt." I shake my head. "God, we can't let this go on any longer. I mean it this time."

Arsenio closes his eyes in acknowledgment, his head dropping against the wall behind him. Jericho comes back with a blanket and some cloths, along with the water bottle. I wet one of the cloths, putting it against Arsenio's busted lip and telling him to hold it there while I wrap his arm with the other cloth.

"They had bats, Jericho," I inform him while I wet another cloth.

Jericho curses underneath his breath, turning back to Arsenio. "Did they hit you with it?" Arsenio nods. "Where?"

"My ribs," Arsenio rasps out. "And... and my knee."

Jericho frowns, looking down at Arsenio's knee. Now that I look at it, his leg is slightly bent as if he's afraid to straighten it all the way, and his knee is crazy swollen, bruised and bleeding. I shudder at the sight of it. Jericho tries to straighten out his leg, but Arsenio screams and slaps his hands away, breathing deeply. Jericho looks up in alarm. "Don't do that," Arsenio gasps. "Don't do that."

"I think it's broken," Jericho says, shaking his head. "I'm calling an ambulance."

"No!"

"Arsenio, do you ever want to run another track meet again? If your knee cap is broken, that's fucking serious."

"But my soulmate-"

"Was she part of this?" I ask Arsenio, my voice a lot softer than Jericho's. He looks at me, moving around the wet cloth on his busted lip.

"She didn't hurt me... But she was there..."

"So she watched this?" Jericho spits, looking disgusted.

I gently put a hand on Arsenio's good knee. "She's not a real soulmate if she would do that, Arsenio. Trust me when I say just the thought of Jericho getting stung by a bee makes my heart hurt. She wouldn't have been able to watch you get beat if she was really meant to be with you. You're going to find someone who will really love you, and if she did that to you, then it's not her."

Arsenio looks down in defeat. Jericho tries to wrap Arsenio's knee, but any movement causes him extreme pain, so Jericho doesn't bother. Instead, the three of us sit in silence, the only sounds being the ones of Arsenio's heavy breathing and the sound of water droplets dripping off the wet cloth in his hand.