Him.

Chapter 10: Thank you

*continued*

I look down at Braden. His breathing is steady and his face is relaxed. He is still holding my hand. But not with a grip. I don't want to leave him. I lift his head up by supporting his neck and I grab another pillow to place under his limp head. I set his head down ever so gently and his face tightens and relaxes immediately. I let go of his hand and place it by his side.

I go and lean up against his wall with the window I climbed in. I sit down and lean my head back. Thank god it's Friday, if we had school tomorrow I don't know what I would do.

I look at my phone and it's 11:45. I'm tired. But I'm not going to take my eyes off of Braden.

That doesn't last long.

~~~~~~~~~in the morning ~~~~~~

I wake up with a crick in my neck. But that's the least of my worries.

I see Braden exactly where I left him. On the floor. That can't be comfortable. He has bled through his bandages. They are entirely red. That's not safe for him. I'm going to have to change them. Even if that means waking him up.

I get down on my knees. I am facing him. I take off the bandages and apply more cream to each wound. I also apply fresh bandages. He doesn't even move. That scares me. But his chest is rising and falling.

I get lost in how relaxed he is. I put my hand on his hair and move my thumb across his forehead. That wakes him up.

His beautiful eyes flutter open. He looks so weak.

"Hey." he says. His voice is as a whisper and is full of laziness.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" I say rubbing my thumb over his forehead.

"I'm...I'm... okay." he says. His eyes stay closed after he blinks.

"Braden." I say softly.

His eyes open again. I hate to do this.

"I'm going to have to clean your wounds." I don't think he knows what applies to that process.

"Okay. That doesn't sound too bad." He says.

"No. It will be." I say worried about what will happen next.

I pull out the hydrogen peroxide. I don't want him to be in pain. But this will hurt.

I pour it on one of the smaller scratches and his whole body tightens immediately.

"This is going to hurt." I say to him.

I pour it all over his body. He clenches his teeth and groans in pain.

"Braden I'm so sorry." I say a I stroke his forehead trying to calm him down. His whole body tightens and he eventually screams.

"Please, Braden. I don't want your parents to hear you." he can't talk.

"Ssssshhhhh. Sssssssshhhhhh." I try and calm him down.

The peroxide finally finishes it's job and I put more cream and fresh bandages on him. He finally settles down and his whole body relaxes.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Braden, I need an answer."

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me Braden."

"I'm a lot better than I was. Thank you so much." he grabs my hand and slowly brings it to his mouth. He touches his lips to my hand ever so gently. I rub his forehead gently.

"You're welcome."

"No. Claire, I mean it. I probably would've died if you hadn't cared enough to find out what happened to me. And I am grateful you did." He looks around his room. It must have sunken in what happened. He sees my scarf beside where I slept last night. His face immediately changes. He looks at my white shirt that isn't so white anymore. The last thing he looks at are my hands.

Everything he looks at is drenched in blood. His blood. My scarf is red now. My shirt is red and white here and there tye die, and my hands are red. No skin color on them.

"Claire." He says looking around his room and looking at me.

"It's okay." I say concerned about him more than me.

"No. It's not."

He tries to sit up. He winces. He begins to fall back down. I catch him with my left arm. I wince. My wrist isn't fully healed yet. I groan due to a sharp pain shooting through my whole arm. His whole upper body is on me. His lower back is on my thigh and his upper back is on my arm. My hand is on his shoulder, making my wrist bend in a weird way.

"Are you okay?" I ask immediately with concern in my voice.

"Yeah. It just hurts."

"At least you're okay."

I wince because of the pain in my wrist. I re position him on my arm.

"Did I hurt you?" he asks with concern written all over his face.

"I'm okay."

"Don't lie to me Claire." he says mocking me.

"Haha very funny."

"What did I do?" he asks.

"Nothing. It's just my wrist." I say gesturing towards it.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry." He tries to sit up to get off my arm. That actually

kind of works. He sits up quickly and allows me to move my arm. He didn't exactly move down off my leg. He can't sit up long enough and falls over. His head dangles by my waist.

I use my left hand to support his head. His neck is limp.

Oh my god his neck is limp!

His eyes are closed. Why are his eyes closed?

"Braden! Braden! Please! Look at me!"

I feel a lump in my throat. Then I feel the tears. They run down my cheeks.

"Braden!"

His eyes finally open. God they're beautiful. So beautiful.

"You being on the floor is not going to work."

"Yeah." He says

"Do you think we could move to the bed?"

"Woah. Claire I don't think we are ready for that yet." he says smiling at me.

"Haha very funny. Do you think you could stand up?"

"Maybe."

I grab his waist like he did to me and pull him up. He is on his feet and we take small steps and eventually get to his bed. I set him down.

"Thank you. So much." He says. He grabs my hand and holds on tight. After 10 minutes of holding my hand his grip loosens once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey!

So this was definitely a longer chapter. I was watching a movie and was typing the whole time.

Lemme know.

Be happy!

~Puppylover680💕