What Remains (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 34

Carter stared at the closed off-white door as he was waiting for what was to come next. His parents were sitting next to him as they sat in silence. Carter was mainly trying to see if he could eavesdrop on what was being said, but the background noise of the hospital blocked out any chance of that.

It had been a few minutes since the policemen had asked Carter and his parents to leave until they were being called back. They wanted to talk to Josh in private to hear his side of the story, and also wanted to talk to Carter separately afterwards.

He fiddled with his fingers and occasionally glanced around him. There were no other policemen in sight and he wondered if it was common for the police to question victims in the hospital.

"Don't worry, honey. Everything will be alright," Carter's mother said after she had placed a warm hand on her son's thigh.

Carter looked at his mom and sat up a little. "I know it will. I'm just... nervous."

After the questioning they were good to go, according to the policemen. But they only hadn't told him how long the questioning was expected to last. It most likely depended on Carter and Josh's willingness to work with them and on the quality of their answers.

The door was then opened and one of the policemen appeared in the opening. "Mr. Raymore," he said, referring to Carter.

Carter took a deep breath before he raised from his chair and walked into the room once again. His eyes immediately fell upon Josh, who had clearly been crying. He immediately took a chair to sit close to the bed.

Josh wasn't looking at him, which alarmed him.

"My name is officer Jackson Maxwell and this is my colleague Kurt Jefferson," officer Maxwell said. "We had just asked Mr. Marson here a few questions regarding the incident yesterday, which had caused you to contact us."

Officer Maxwell was a middle-aged man with curly salt and pepper hair and slightly tanned skin, while officer Jefferson appeared to be quite younger. He had fair skin and short, red hair which was shaved at the sides.

"Now, Mr. Raymore, please tell us from the very beginning what had happened that day. From the very moment you last saw Joshua before you rescued him, to where you had brought him to the hospital," officer Jefferson said.

Carter's eyes met with those of the officer who had just talked and he sat up a little. "Okay..." He cleared his throat a little, almost not knowing how to put the story into words. "I had spent the night at the boat Josh was staying at after we had celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends. We both left in the morning to see our parents to wish them a happy new year. Josh went to his house, I went to mine," Carter began. "When I got to my house, my mother eventually told me that she seemed surprised that Josh's father, Steve Marson, sounded so shocked when she had told him that we were dating over the phone. I knew that Steve did not approve of his Josh being gay, so I immediately went over to his house."

"What gave you that knowledge? That Steve did not approve of Josh being gay?" officer Maxwell asked.

Carter's eyes went to Josh who still wasn't looking at him. "Because Josh told me so."

"What exactly did he say?"

Carter nervously chewed the inside of his cheek. To answer that question, he had to talk about the day he had left Port Hayland five years ago. He didn't feel comfortable with letting out too much of the details, but he knew the truth had to come out. "...Josh told me that his father had beaten him up after he confessed to him that he was in love with me. Which was five years ago."