A Beautiful Mess.

36.

"MAK!!!", Senzo yelled from inside the boys bathroom and I ran in, oblivious to the fact that I was in the boys bathroom. My heart started racing and my lips went cold when I saw Mak there on the floor, unconscious. The scene was brutal and he had multiple bruises on his face and a bloody nose and I couldn't help but just freeze. Senzo was crouched next to him, trying to wake him up but he wasn't budging.

"I'll get help" I said and ran out. I frantically ran through the corridors looking for a teacher or someone who could help but it felt like I was running in circles and the world was spinning around me. I could barely catch my breath and it felt like I was going to pass out there and then.

I looked around me one more time and spotted Mr. Brian. Good.

"Si...Sir...please...bathroom" I stuttered.

"Okay, breath I can't hear you" 

"Mak, Sir his passed out in the boys bathroom, he's hurt"

"What were you doing in--"

"--Sir, that's besides the point!!" I yelled out of frustration. This was definitely not the time to ask me what I was doing in the boys bathroom.

I showed him which bathroom and stood at the door anxiously pacing up and down.

"Is he still breathing?" Mr. Brian asked.

"Yes, he's just having a hard time keeping his eyes open but he's responsive", Senzo answered.

"Okay good" Mr. Brian replied.

"It h....hu...hurts" Mak said struggling to get his words together and my heart sunk and I felt myself slowly going into another panic. I wished there was something I could do. It hurt me to see him like this but deep down I was glad that he was at least awake.

"Jeff please have Mrs Cele come down the boys bathroom on south-east quad urgently and call in an ambulance", Mr. Brian said into the radio.

"You'll be just fine, don't worry" Senzo reassured him.

I couldn't watch him in pain like that any longer so I went out and stood outside. The walls felt like they were closing in in there and I was starting to feel claustrophobic.

I was so confused and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to help Mak but I felt so helpless I didn't even know what to do with myself. I should've known something bad was going to happen. This is all my fault. This could've been avoided had I only listened to my instincts.

The paramedics finally arrived and attended to him and left with him. I sat in the courtyard and tried to keep calm. As long as he was conscious, then he could tell us who did this to him. I sat there thinking what could've happened. I mean Andre was suspended until his disciplinary hearing next week so it didn't make sense. Or was there something else he didn't tell me about?

Senzo came to join me and sat down next to me. We both remained silent. It's like we were trying to process what just happened. All I could see was Mak on the floor unconscious, an image I couldn't erase.

"You okay?", Senzo asked me and I knew I wasn't okay. Judging from his tone you could tell that he wasn't okay either. We were both traumatized.

I sat there and tried to connect the dots. There was definitely a piece to the puzzle that I was missing. I mean Andre isn't at school so who else would be out to get at Mak? I knew this had Andre written all over it but who could possibly be doing Andre's dirty work?

Wait, but then there's...

"Bradley" I said while my blood felt like it was on fire.

"What about Bradley?" Senzo asked.

"We still haven't found him yet, he's the one who could've done this"

"What do you mean?"

"He's boys with Andre...ya, it must be him" I said and I stood up and went looking for him while Senzo, confused, followed behind.

"I'm confused Melo, what's going on"

I tried to explain to him what happened but my mind was doing multiple things at once and my words were just coming out all jumbled up and I made absolutely no sense. But Senzo stopped asking questions when he realised my mind wasn't really focused on him right now.

The morning bell rang and I still couldn't find Bradley anywhere.

"I'll keep a look out for him and I'll let you know when I see him" Senzo said and he walked away but he was stopped in his tracks when he saw Bradley by the taps washing his hands. I turned around, spotted him and marched towards him.

"YOU!!!" I pointed when I finally saw his hands and saw that his knuckles were bruised and that confirmed it. "You did this! It's your fault that Mak is in hospital right now, it's all you! What, is Andre making you handle his dirty work now?"

"Melo calm down" Senzo interrupted.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he said trying to act all innocent knowing very well that his hands give it away.

"The truth is going to come out. Both you and Andre are going to pay for this, mark my words" I said and then I left. His lucky I didn't lay my hands on him because what he did to Mak would be nothing compared to what I was about to do to him. He was going to pay.

***

I sat in maths battling through a gigantic headache and I could barley concentrate. Maths was defintely the wrong class for me to be sitting through a headache in. All I could hear was 'x this, x that'...could you just stop with the x's!

"Melokuhle Kunene and Senzo Zulu, please report to Mr. Brian's office"

Great.