Lost Cause [Imagine Dragons Fanfic]

13 -Stranger

A few minutes later, Ben sits in his wheelchair and I have the responsible job of driving him around. We walk a few meters and find an empty lounge, where we decide to stay for a bit.

"Soo, what did the doctor even say? I just noticed that I don't know that," I ask Ben.

"Nothing much, I've lost quite some blood, but luckily the knife didn't hit any organs or something. I'll be out in a few days and everything is going to be fine."

I just nod as answer and the four of us just look out of the window for some time until Wayne breaks the silence: "And how come that you are with Dan?"

I look at Dan, not knowing how to answer that question. I for sure don't want them to know that I've nearly committed suicide, but I can't just say that we randomly met on the street, can I? Luckily Dan answers the question for me.

"He kinda had an emotional breakdown, because he thought it was his fault that Ben is in the hospital and I just sat down next to him and calmed him down. Nothing interesting!"

I breathe out and send him a thankful look. He understands.

"Oh, well, I hope you now know that it isn't your fault, Platz," Ben says and looks at me.

"Yeah, he is pretty good with words," I point at Dan. "And now I know that it's not my fault, I guess it just was the shock or something."

The others nod and Ben is about to say something as a teenager walks into the room and says: "Wow, hey man, is it really you?"

We look at him, confused who he is talking to. His face is covered in bruises and he is wearing a bandage on his arm, just as if he got beaten up or something.

"Oh man. It is you!" The boy says and walks up to Dan. "I just wanted to say that the fight yesterday was amazing. You've got talent bro! I didn't think I would lose against a fourteen-year-old!" He holds his hand out and Dan hesitantly shakes it.

"Thanks, man, you're one of the toughest fighters I've fought against. I'm sorry for the arm though," I can tell that he isn't feeling very comfortable, it probably has something to do with us. Or the way we just stare at them as if they're actors or something.

"That's just a job hazard, you just did what you had to do. It's going to be fine and in a few weeks, I'll be able to train again. You're tough man! Amazing! I guess I'll leave you alone again. Keep up the good work!" He starts walking back to leave the room.

"Yeah, you too," Dan answers and a second later the guy left the room and we remain in silence for some time.

"What was that about?" Wayne asks and I can tell that he isn't just confused but also a bit distrustful.

Dan sighs. "You know, the singing doesn't bring you that money, so I'm sometimes fighting in a club to gain more. Just once a month or something," he doesn't really seem really proud of it.

"You mean boxing?" I ask.

"Kickboxing kinda, but pretty much everything is allowed. It can get pretty brutal sometimes as you've just seen," he answers slowly and looks at the spot where the guy just left.

"So that's why you didn't have problems beating my friends up!" Ben states. A second later his face blushes and he covers his mouth. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

He can't finish his sentence because Wayne interrupts him: "You did what?" I'm a bit shocked too. He beat someone up?

Dan's face flushes too and I can see him struggling with words. Ben answers instead: "He didn't beat them up. The one night I was out with Jamie, Mike, and Alex, they got really drunk and they kinda attacked Dan. He was just defending himself!"

My eyes widen. "You beat up three eighteen- year olds?"

"They were drunk!" Dan tries to make it seem like nothing.

"They're still bigger and pretty strong!" Wayne says with a monotonous voice.

I can tell that he judges Dan, his whole body expression changed. Wayne has had to deal with bullies during High and Middle school a lot. So I can understand why he doesn't feel that good about it.

Dan seems to notice that too because he says: "Well, I'm out on the streets quite a lot and I live in a pretty dangerous neighborhood. I need to defend myself! You don't know how often I got beat up just for fun as a little boy," he gestures to Ben, "and here is what happens when you're not able to defend yourself!"

"Wooooow. Wait a minute! I could've stopped them, it just happened to fast and it was really dark, that's why the guy was able to stab me okay?!" Ben tries to defend himself and I smirk.

"Yeah, I get that. I just don't like fighting, that's it," Wayne replies and just ignores Ben's statement.

"Me neither, but I'm good at it and brings a lot of money, soo."

"How much did you get for the fight against the dude from earlier?" I ask interested.

"Three hundred bucks."

"Wow, okay that is a lot, I didn't know that you can win money at all, I mean you're still a kid. And this guy looked much older than you do too!"

Dan scratches his head. "Well..."

"Well, what?" Ben asks curiously.

"It might not be completely legal and he maybe is already nineteen," Dan answers slowly, obviously unsure about our reactions.

"You really need that money, huh?" Wayne says.

Dan nods and looks ashamed. "Please keep it a secret!"

"We will! I promise you!" I say and he looks like that just took a load of his mind