The Garden of Eden || Canis Canem Edit / Bully [ #WATTYS2018 ]

Chapter Sixteen: Missing

The wind quietly whistled through the trees, bringing green arrowhead leaves along with it in a billowing breeze. The oak trees swayed like sensual dancers in the chilly afternoon air, greyish shadows tailing after with grand spins and pirouettes. Old Bullworth Vale was the stage and Eden was the main actress. The sea beside her was the perfect backdrop, the soft crashing of the jewel-blue waves meeting the earth in a hypnotic symphony. Squabbling seagulls circled overhead, chirping gleefully as they made shapes in the cerulean sky. 

Eden pushed a stray strand of her chocolate hair behind her ear, a pleasant gust of wind urging a shiver to stream across her body. A frown was present on her plump lips, her emerald orbs downcast as they were fixated on the sand beneath her. She hated the sand, she truly did. It was like herpes, it got all over everything and spread like wildfire. But here the young girl was, walking along the seashore, her leather loafers crunching the khaki grains satisfyingly. 

Thoughts fluttered back and forth in her head, a new notion popping up in her brain every so often. 'It's been over a day since I've heard from him. A day and a half, to be exact. That idiot, what has Gary gotten himself into?' 

Tears welled up in her eyes. It took all of her willpower to keep them at bay. 'We kissed. We've kissed multiple times in fact, we have feelings for each other. Or maybe, it's one-sided. Does he think my love is expendable? Does he think I can just kiss him then go about my day as though nothing happened, ignore how I feel about him? What is he doing? What if he's injured? Or found another girl? What if, what if, what if?'

Her bottom lip trembled as her first tear broke free from its confinement. The rest followed, flowing down the sun-kissed skin of her cheeks in an unbreakable stream. She sniffled quietly, hastily wiping her red and blotchy eyes.

'I've gotten so used to having him around me, especially at night. My bed was so cold without him there... I need to stop this, it's ridiculous. I'm acting so weak.' She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, feeling angry at herself and Gary.

A pained groan filled her eardrums, echoing throughout her mind.

"W-what was that?" Eden tried to whisper, despite her voice cracking.

Her eyes darted around her without rhyme or reason, searching the sea of endless grains of sand. The pier. A single leg dangled off the edge of the wooden pier. Someone was there. Groaning and moaning in what could only be assumed as pain. The person's pants were ripped and torn, red liquid seeping through and dipping down into the clear water below.

'Blood.'

Eden's mind was running a million miles a second. She couldn't breathe, her breath hitched in her throat. A surge of adrenaline cascaded over her body. Someone was in pain, they needed help. She sprinted, forcing her legs to stumble through the sand dunes that seemed to stretch on for miles. She was running like a madman. Her breaths were sharp and frantic, eyes wide with tears and all, ears pounding with the sound of her heartbeat thumping rapidly against her ribcage. Fear and anxiety washed over her as she clambered up the pier's steps. Everything around her was a blur of colours, as her eyes landed on the limp figure.

"E-excuse me!" She called, her body shaking in anticipation.

The man groaned, murmuring in a broken tone. "E-Eden."

She froze at the sound of her name leaving the unknown figure's lips, her heart daring to skip a beat. She hurried over to him, dropping to her knees beside the stranger.

"N-no way..." Eden whimpered, pushing the man onto his back.

Tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down her cheeks at the shocking sight before her. It was like a bad car crash. She refused to look away, she couldn't even if she tried, her bottom lip trembling and shoulders heaving with emotion.

Gary Smith laid before her, a completely broken mess. A large laceration was sliced on the side of his head, underneath his mocha hair, clumped and matted together with blood. His once grey school slacks were covered in splotches of deep crimson red, the knees torn harshly revealing scratches and gashes speckled across his pale skin.

"G-Gary please, wake up." She whispered, tapping his cheek.

Eden's hands were stained with blood.

"Mmf..." He murmured, opening his umber eyes that were glazed over with pain.

"T-that's it love, open your eyes."

"Why am I here. W-what happened?" His faltering voice muttered as he gripped her hand tightly.

"I don't know..." Eden replied, more tears dribbling down her rosy cheeks.

"Ugh..." Gary groaned, trying to sit upright.

Pain shot up his leg like a burning fire, making him cringe at the sheer amount of it. It exploded vividly like fireworks inside of his head, with blinding whiteness. The sheer agony made him dizzy, made him sick to his stomach. It felt as though fiery pins had been stuck into his leg, sending streams of blazing hot flames up the appendage to the pit of his stomach.

"Damn! That kills!" He cried out through his gritted teeth, immediately dropping her hand and grasping his knee.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Eden said calmly, nibbling on her bottom lip in fear.

"I-I can't walk. I don't think I can." He retorted, slamming his clenched fist onto the wooden pier in an attempt to distribute the pain elsewhere.

"I'll call an ambulance." She replied, fishing out her phone from her pocket.

"Alright- ouch, dammit!" He stopped mid-sentence and stabbed his teeth into his bottom lip.

Eden dialled the emergency number and tried her best to remain calm, despite her thumping heartbeat and racing mind. "Hello, we need an ambulance urgently. My boyfriend is injured badly with a gash on his head, he's having issues with his memory! Please hurry, we're at the end of the pier... No, he can't walk! Alright please, thank you."

Gary chuckled and dropped on his back, no longer having the strength to sit upright. "Boyfriend, huh?"

"We have bigger issues to worry about than that, moron." She ran her fingers through his dirty hair, carefully breaking apart the knots within it.

"You're my issue," His strangled words made her stop, retracting her hand. "You confuse the living hell out of me. One minute you're happy, the next you're quiet and don't say anything. You're a moron. A moron that I... ugh." He tipped his head back, smacking it softly against the pier and let out a rambunctious laugh.

A peal of uncontrolled laughter that was so contagious, that Eden ended up giggling with him. "You can't leave me hanging like that."

"I'm tired, Eden." He whispered, fluttering his eyes shut before snapping them open.

"No, you're not," She laughed, trying to ease away from his worries and her own. "You're perfectly fine. How can you be tired? You're the ever-energetic, scheming Gary."

He couldn't help but laugh at the praise she gave him but yet his head nodded as his eyes could no longer stay open. "The scheming Gary is tired now..."

"You can't, you gotta stay awake for when the ambulance gets here," Eden said, slapping his cheek softly.

"Hey, come on!" She cried out, feeling the icy and bloodstained skin of his cheek flow through her skin.

"Open your eyes, Gary!" She screamed, her loud shriek melding in with the distant sound of an oncoming siren.