NOCTURNE » Nathan Prescott

» xvi. blood

I bumped into Chloe and Max a second time that day, when I made my way to check in on Nathan after he had left in such a hurry. Warren was trailing after the two as I pushed past them, briefly seeing Chloe stow a gun in her jacket.

"Chloe what are you-" -- "That's none of your business!" she snapped and I held up my hands. "Sorry. I didn't see a thing, swear. I have to be somewhere anyway."
I continued walking and only heard her mutter something along the lines of "already called someone" but I didn't give it much thought.
With a sigh I opened the door to the dormitories and skipped up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, excited to tell Nathan about how much better Kate was already doing.

But upon opening the door to the hallway Nathan's room was on, my heart stopped. He was laying on the floor, huddled together in the fetal position and kept muttering "I'm sorry." to himself.

Once the shock wore down I threw my backpack into a corner and dropped on my knees next to him.
"Nathan? Nathan! Can you hear me?" I asked, placing my hands on his shoulders in order to turn him around. "No!" he whimpered, cowering down even more than he already was.

"Nathan, hey, it's me. It's okay. I'll get you to your room and get you fixed up, alright?"
He didn't say anything but he stopped shaking so violently once I draped his arm around my shoulders.  With my other hand I grabbed my bag and we staggered around the corner, towards his room.

Evan, who was just coming out from his room slowly walked past us, a confused expression plastered all over his face, but he didn't say a thing until he disappeared around the corner.
I almost lost my balance when trying to open the door to Nathan's room, while he was hanging on my arm like his life depended on it. Before having him lay down on the bed I grabbed a towel from his closet and placed it on the pillows. Closing the door behind me I immediately made my way to the drawer in his desk with the first aid kit. I quickly skipped out of the room again, fetching some water from the showers to clean his wounds with. On my way back to his side I turned on the whale songs he'd always put on to fall asleep, hoping it might relax him a bit.

"Who did this?" I asked as I started cleaning the blood off his face, him flinching almost every time I came in touch with his skin. "Was it Chloe?" He shook his head and hissed at the movement.

"Well it couldn't have been Max …" I thought out loud, now moving to disinfect the cuts on his cheeks and through his eyebrow. "It wasn't actually Warren, was it?"

Nathan moved his head up and down once and I looks at him in disbelief. Warren? I would have never imagined.

With a deep sigh I dabbed the last bit of sanitizer onto his forehead. Rummaging through the first aid kit I realised the bandaids were almost entirely gone so I grabbed my backpack and got out some of my own.

"Did he have a reason?" I asked, pressing the first bandaid on a cut on his jaw which caused him to hiss again. "Like, a good reason. Chloe had a gun. You didn't pull a gun on them, did you?"

He remained silent until I was done applying all the bandaids and some more sanitizer. I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed again. "Nathan why the fuck would you-" -- "They broke into my room! They were where they weren't supposed to be- ugh!" He slouched back down holding his side and I pulled up his shirt, only to reveal several larger bruises in the area of his ribcage.

"I'll be right back. Don't move," I ordered and left the room yet again, knocking on Hayden's door in hope he was there. After a short silence I heard a muffled "Yeah?" from inside the room and opened the door, the smell of marijuana immediately hitting me.

"How can I help you?" He asked, making a wide gesture around the room.
"Do you still have your mini fridge?" -- "Of course, why do you ask?" -- "I'm in need of anything cold, really. Something you would cool a black eye or a bruised ribcage with?"
His eyes grew surprisingly big and he asked me if everything was alright, and I assured him the situation was under control.

Furthermore, he supplied me with two cans of beer and a cold compress he had in case of emergencies. I thanked him, promising to repay him as soon as possible, but he just waved it off.

Returning to Nathan's room I found him sitting up, his nose bleeding again. "I specifically told you to not move," I sighed and tossed a box of tissues his way. He immediately pulled out several ones and pressed them to his face.

Meanwhile I opened his closet and grabbed another, smaller towel, and wrapped it around the cold compress. With the help of some bandages I attached it to his torso and ordered him to lay on his side, so the blood couldn't possibly run down his throat.
Once that was done I sat done on the floor at the side of his bed, facing him, holding the cold beer to his black eye.

"I'm sorry," he slurred, eyelids fluttering and gaze darting around the room, trying to focus.

"I'm not the one you should apologise to." -- "… sorry."

He closed his eyes for a bit and I grabbed my phone with my free hand, texting Chloe.

ME
He's sorry. Whatever he did. He's genuinely sorry.

CHLOE
You're a funny one, Carlyle.

ME
I'm serious.

ME
He's in a lot of pain.

CHLOE
Deserved

ME
not just physically I mean.

CHLOE
Damn he's really gotten to ya huh

CHLOE
You rich people are all the fucking same

CHLOE
Do you even know how much of a creep he is? He did drug Kate and he also drugged me to take sick photos. if that matters to you at all. Maybe you're next who knows.

CHLOE
Speechless huh? Thought so.

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