Young Life

Taking Care

I head to their guest bathroom where I know Nate's family keeps the first aid kit. I grab it and head to the living room to find Nate asleep once more on the couch. I smile and walk to the kitchen, grabbing a small ice pack from the freezer. I walk back to the living room and kneel down on the floor beside Nate and the couch. I set the first aid kit on the coffee table and open it up.

Inside there's two ace bandage wraps, antiseptic wipes, a bunch of bandaids, a couple of gauze pads, some medicine, and tweezers. I grab a couple of wraps and an antiseptic wipe and start cleaning his bruise. I set the ice pack on the bruise and help the sleeping Nate sit up and I sit behind him, leaning his head on my chest. I gently and slowly wrap the wrap around his stomach while holding the ice pack to his stomach. I secure the wrap and get up, gently laying Nate back down. I take my phone out of my back jean pocket and call Mat.

"Hey Mark, what's up?"

"Hey Mat, ummm, I've got a question for you. Do you think you could watch Nate for the weekend?" I could almost hear his confusion.

"Sure, but why?"

"Ummm, Nate's parents are on a business trip and won't be back until Saturday. He's also pretty beat up from this morning."

"Ok, yeah, I can watch him. Bring him over. I'll have the door open."

"Alright, we'll be right over." I hang up and stuff my phone back in my jeans. I go to the front door and open it wide. I walk back over to the couch and pick up Nate's backpack off the floor, putting it on my back. I then kneel down and gently pick up Nate off the couch and hold him close to my chest. I walk outside and walk to Mat's, which is the house to the left of Nate's. I see the front door open, so I walk in and set Nate down on the couch. Mat walks over, a blanket in hand, and stares at Nate. the wrap left a bit of the bruise showing, and that in itself was bad. He shakes his head, probably knocking him out of a trance, and gently lays the blanket on Nate.

"This was all from this morning?" I nod. "My God." We both look at Nate as he groans while rolling on his side. MatPat kneels down beside the couch and pulls the blanket up to Nate's chin. Mat gets up quickly and runs to the kitchen, then returns with an ice pack in hand. He gently lifts Nate's head and lays the ice pack on the pillow, then lays Nate's head back down.

"Why did you ask me to watch Nate?"

"His parents are on a business trip in Florida until Saturday. I asked you because I don't have any room and I know Ethan is already living with Tyler and I had a feeling Nate would be more comfortable living with you than Thomas or Felix."

"Why?" I smile and innocently look up at the ceiling.

"Ohh, no reason, just that Nate might have a big crush on you." I look back at Mat and see him blushing. We both look at Nate as he starts whimpering. He sits up fast, panting, sweat coating his forehead. He looks around and his eyes widen.

"Where-am I?"

"You're at my house." His breathing calms and he goes to stand up but collapses to the ground. We rush over to him and help him sit on the couch. When I look down, I notice there's a little purple around his ankle where his sweatpants rolled up. I roll his pant leg up to his knee as he leans back on the couch. The entirety of his shin is covered in faded bruises and scars. Mat rolls up his other pant leg and it looks the exact same. We look at his chest and arms and for the first time, we both see scars scattered all over. We look at each other and come to the same conclusion.

Nate's being abused.