Fragments of His Being | ✓

CHAPTER EIGHT

The streets were flooded by the orange light of the retreating sun. Quinn and his friends had just finished a game of basketball and were getting ready to head back home together. The boys were grabbing their shoes and socks, and some of them that had hung their t-shirts on the pools were stretching to grab them and put them back on.

Quinn had gotten ready minutes earlier and was losing his patience with his friends. He thought about it for a bit, and after a few minutes of evaluation decided that he had to leave immediately.

"Hey, why are you leaving without us?" Karl asked when he saw Quinn heading towards the gate. "Is something wrong?" he added, raising a brow at his friend who seemed to be ready to jump and sprint.

"I need to go home early," Quinn said, squeezing his hand into a fist and he tightened the grip he had on his school bag handle. "I'll see you guys later," he muttered, heading for the gates without another word before anyone could stop him.

He heard Karl let out a sigh from behind him, and he did hear a few of his other mates' grumble at his decision, but he didn't care. The truth was that he had seen Cody get up a little while ago to leave. He couldn't wait for his friends to grab their stuff. If he did, he would lose Cody before he could catch up to him. It was evening now, and it would get dark soon.

Quinn broke into a run when he walked past the gates. He sprinted through the grass field until he was in the main street maid with concrete and black granite. He looked from end to end before remembering and following the path Cody had taken. He kept running, wondering when he would meet up with the boy. He almost gave up, but when he spotted a dot in the near distance his cheat flooded with relief. Cody was a few meters away. He was wearing jeans today with his usual graphic t-shirt.

"Hey!" Quinn yelled at the top of his lungs when his legs got unbearably tired. He stopped running and crouched over to take deep breaths. "Hey! Cody, please wait!" he yelled, hoping the boy heard him.

To Quinn's relief, the frail boy stopped at the sound of his name. Quinn, stood straight, watching as Cody turned to face Quinn. His eyes went wide with shock, and he cast his gaze to the ground as quickly as he had raised it to look at Quinn. Quinn rose a brow, wondering why the boy looked so blue. He walked up to him, stopping in front of him before touching his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a small voice, bending his head so that he could see the side of Cody's face. The boy didn't give him a reply, and that worried Quinn.

"Is something wrong?" Quinn asked, and he was still met with silence. Quinn sighed. "Come on, talk to me," he insisted, taking hold of Cody's face before bringing it up to meet his gaze. Quinn blinked in shock at the sight of the boy. Cody's face and eyes were red and puffy from the silent tears he'd been shedding. There was a bruise forming at the side of his left cheek that was going purple—it wasn't new. It looked about a few hours old.

"W-what happened to you?" Quin asked. His voice was soft, and it shook a bit. He touched the side of Cody's face, careful not to press too hard in order not to cause pain, but Cody flinched anyway, shutting his eyes. It must have really hurt. Quinn's chest squeezed up and a frown took form on his face as anger filled him. He didn't know what to do—where to start. He just knew he wanted to beat the shit out of whoever had touched Cody. It could be people at school, but Quinn was sure he hadn't seen Cody during the break period even though he had searched.

Cody remained silent for a bit, and when he responded his answer wasn't helpful. "N-nothing." He insisted, pushing Quinn's hand away from his face before moving to cover the bruise on his cheek. The boy was heaving, and he refused to make eye contact with Quinn. The two were in the middle of the street, and Quinn was starting to worry that his friends might find them.