In My Remains

I thought I kept you safe and sound

A/N: Hello! Let's see what happens next....

------

When Mike left the hospital he walked straight to his car and headed to Brad's apartment. He had a spare key but he was scared that he wouldn't even need it. It had to be breaking in, he was sure of it. Poor Brad just got in the way and... He had hard time on concentrating to the road. Brad was alive but what if he weren't? Feeling the panic arise he stamped on the gas. The guitarist lived in the same neighborhood as he himself and he thought that maybe if he just had gone to the walk he could have maybe saved him. Or seen the attacker.

Soon he parked in front of Brad's house and got out from the car. It felt like he something stuck in his throat when he walked to the door and opened it. And it was locked. Not even signs of breaking in. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Getting himself calm and his shaking hands steady would need way more than that. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. And flipped the light switch. Nothing. The hallway looked normal. He frowned but rationalized that there has to be something if the police warned them. Looking around he started to proceed. He would check every single room before leaving.

In the living room he saw first sign. A vase on a table that had been knocked over and broken on the floor. He made a mental remark that he would clean it up later. Next he approached the kitchen. Again nothing. It looked tidy. Only some dirty dishes that reminded that someone had cooked there earlier. Then he turned back to the living room to head to the other side of the house and to the master bedroom. Brad had a good sense of decorating and there was nothing too fancy. Or maybe it was Elisa, he felt a sting in his heart.

The master bedroom door was closed and he opened it. And that was it. He could have never prepared himself to the sight. There was blood everywhere. He knew that human body has around five liters of blood and it couldn't be that much cause Brad was alive. But it looked so much. Staring at the room he froze. He didn't know what to think or what to do. There was red visible at all lighter surfaces. They hadn't carpets so the blood was just in pools. And smears. And stains. Dry blood, sticky blood. On the floor there was one bigger pool and smaller smears. Walls had drops and smears. Bloody hand prints were everywhere, also on the sheets.

His breathing get deeper when he noticed the door to the patio was open. The first instinct told that the attacker probably came in there. Walking to the door he tried not to step on the crimson liquid so that he wouldn't make bigger mess. He had to use force to the door to get it close and locked again. Nightstand had been tipped over and lamp on it fallen and a curtain had been ripped down. Then there was glass, a lots of it. In the other side of the room there was a glass cabinet that had broken down and next to it a huge mirror in millions of tiny pieces. He got there and looked around. The glass shards had blood on them too. He started to pick up items that had been on the cabinet cause it certainly wasn't salvageable. Pictures, awards and some memorabilia.

A picture of them two together finally did it and he broke down to hysterical cry kneeling down on the floor. Looking at themselves smiling and leaning to each other and staring back at him. He didn't remember when it had been taken but based in their clothes it was probably over ten years ago. Other two pictures included the whole band. Why the fuck did this have to happen, he thought feeling utterly helpless.

Wiping his tears away he knew he had a task to do. He placed the picture down with the other items and got up to get something to help with the cleaning. He needed to scrub the dried blood but also wipe the wet pools. From kitchen he found bleach and sponges. The sheet that had also blood stains he used in the soaking and hoped Elisa wouldn't kill him cause it looked expensive. Then a dustpan for the glass and big trash bags. Being now in robot mode he carried the bigger glass in the bag and then continued with the smaller pieces. After that he grabbed the sheet that had absorbed the wet blood and tossed it in the same bag.

After he had gotten the glass away and the wet blood cleaned he focused on the stains. Wondering would the wooden floor be ruined cause of the bleach he groaned. He wanted to be in the hospital but he knew Rob didn't have stomach to this. He could barely function himself even though he was still in the auto-mode. Sighing he poured bleach on the floor and thought he would pay then the new floor if it would be ruined. He needed to get rid of that mess. The hoarse sponge did its work but after he was finished he could still see the edges where the blood had been. Of course the wood had absorbed some.

Next he got to the walls and was glad they had been painted. The color came of easily. Next he carried the trash outside cleaning the vase too and searched the rest of the rooms before getting back and checking that everything was fine. Wondering what had happened he lifted the nightstand and placed the lamp on it. There was clear evidence of fight but why Brad? The police didn't say that anything had been stolen and it seemed that it was personal. Or just some lunatics whim. He wished that he could help Brad to remember. Sooner he would they would also catch the attacker and get him to jail.

Walking to the closet he thought that the guitarist would probably need some clothes tomorrow. Randomly he choose something and placed them in a pile. Then he glanced around the room once more to make sure it was ready for Brad to come home. Even under the bed. Next he got out of the room, closed the door and and pushing away all thoughts got to his car with the clothes.

Back home he walked to his own bedroom and placed the clothes to his bed before he went to get a bag for them. When he passed a mirror while heading to a walk in closet he stopped. He had gotten the blood also on himself. The black t-shirt had a white logo which was now stained with his friends blood. He had also wiped his hand apparently to his face cause there were crimson streaks on his cheeks. Gasping he run to the bathroom and retched his stomach contents. After there was nothing more to get out he sat on the floor leaning against the cold tiles and fetched his phone from his pocket.

"Rob. I can't do this. There was so much blood...."

"Mike? What happened?"

"I cleaned it but... the floor is ruined. He will see that. Then I got blood on me too. Brad's blood. It's his blood! He could have died! He could have bled to death! And then there was a picture of us. In a glass cabinet that was in the bedroom. In the bedroom. Last thing he sees every night.. And... I used a sheet to wipe if the blood. Elisa will kill me", Mike sobbed to the phone.

"Mike calm down okay? Do you want me to call Chester there with you?"

"No. He... he wouldn't understand, you know.. I want Brad.... And him to be okay", Mike stared at his shaking hand. He felt like screaming and crying but same time he wanted to shut down completely.

"We have talked about this. You can't...", the drummer sighed.

"Have him. I know. But... Fuck", he mumbled back. "How is he?"

"Could be better. He is really sore, they upped the pain meds just hour ago. The doctor said he will write a proper prescription. They talked something about cuts but... I didn't want to ask", Rob answered quietly.

"Okay. That must be where the blood came.. Has... has he talked?", Mike breathed.

"No. Not a single word. Just wailed cause of the pain", the drummer mumbled.

"Great. Just fucking great. We need to get him to talk. And remember... You know when we find out who did this I will kill the person", the emcee said.

"Stop that. It's not going to help him. Now go to sleep okay? We'll see in the morning", Rob answered.

"Okay. I'll come early. Keep him safe. And please call me if something happens", Mike whispered and closed the phone.

He sighed and got up. One more thing to do before he could really go to sleep. He undressed quickly and got to the shower to scrub all the blood off and wash away his tears. Crying today was fine but tomorrow he had to be strong. For Brad. After he was satisfied he closed the stream and dried himself hastily to a towel.

Next he walked to the bed room and crawled under the blanket hair still wet. He was exhausted and his mind exploding with so many questions that he needed an answer to. Fearing that Brad wouldn't get better or they wouldn't catch who did it. After staring the ceiling for a long while he reached to grab Brad's shirt. Sure it was clean but it still smelled like him. He inhaled the scent and slowly drifted to restless sleep.

------