Pain bottled up

The persecution he got from the boys was too much for him to notice the girls staring at him like he was trying hard to be as pretty as they are. It was not his fault.

"Do you want to spend the night in the school?" his friend Aki was forced to ask when he refused to raise his head despite his friend's gentle considerate tap that had woken him up.

"No, I just feel weak," he replied sincerely as the pain came back a hundredfold.

"You do?" Aki asked as he carefully raised him to look at his face. "Where does it hurt," Aki asked him worriedly. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, I am okay, I . . . I . . ." the words felt too hard for him to say when he had been talking easily only seconds ago. He groaned as he wrapped his stomach and stooped forward.

"Ruki," his friend called out to him worriedly. "I will carry you; we have to go to the hospital."

"No," Haruki stopped his friend. He did not want to go to the hospital where they will see the bruises on his body which will make them curious. He did not want his aunt to know what he was going through.

"We must go to the hospital," his friend insisted.

"I am fine, see," he said and stood up. That move was fast and stretched his stomach muscles increasing the pain he felt. He did not even wince as he grabbed his bag and wanted to hang it on his shoulder when his friend collected it from him.

"I will carry it for you since you do not want me to help you," Aki said as he led the way out of the class. "We are one of the last people to leave," his friend commented as they began taking the steps down.

"You should have woken me sooner," Haruki complained as he used the handrail to support his weight.

"I was trying to do most of my homework while you have enough time to sleep," Aki replied. He sounded like he was feeling so wronged he wanted to turn back the clock and not wait for him.

"Thank you, my best friend," Haruki shouted and wrapped his hand around his friend's neck pulling him to his height. "Do you want a pat on your head?"

"I don't," Aki shouted as he struggled to free himself. "Since you have enough strength, carry your bag."

Haruki paused as he watched his friend run down the steps. His brow was furrowed as he mopped off the cold sweat on his brow. He took a deep breath and ran after his friend despite the tearing pain that came from within.

"Haruki."

He stopped and his friend also stopped. They looked back at the cars packed at the gate of the school that they did not take note of when they walked out of the school.

He furrowed his brow as he thought of facing them to know what they wanted but when he saw the six feet bulky bald man that got down from the car, he began rethinking that decision.

When three more stepped down from the other cars, he concluded that it was only right he cancels speaking with them from his plan.

"Run," he told his friend before running off.

Aki looked puzzled at his friend who was running ahead of him and back at the half a dozen men behind them. he found himself running ahead of his friend in no time.

He looked back when he did not hear his friend's footsteps from behind. He saw his friend on the floor. It did not take him a second to begin running back as he called out to his friend who was not moving on the floor.

The men got to them and he was so scared for the well-being of his friend that he did not care about their tattoos, black suits, and muscled bodies. He began begging them to help his friend who looked like life had been drained out of him.

###

Haruki rolled and opened his eyes to a strangely neat ceiling and the scent of antiseptic. He hated the smell of the hospital so much that it made him nauseated but it seems his stomach had nothing to offer because he could only stare at the ceiling.

It was not difficult for him to know that he was in the hospital although that was the last place he wanted to be. The room was larger than his class and there was absolutely nothing in the room that was out of place.

He thought of how much the room will cost his aunt who will have to pay for it. he also did not want to answer questions about the bruises on his body which they must have seen unless they changed his clothes in the dark.

With great effort, he sat up and slowly got down from the bed. He began looking around for his clothes. He took it as a top mission to find his clothes and leave as fast as he could they must not know who he is and they will not be able to find him.

The door opened and his friend hurried in looking more worried than ever before. it seems he will make his friend get more wrinkles than him since that boy's brow was always furrowed because of him.

"Did you tell them who I was?" he asked his friend as he looked hopeful that he had someone to help him escape.

"No, they knew who you were."

His friend's response made him confused as he sat shaking his head. "No, they don't know. I cannot bother my aunt knowing that I am sick. She is very busy with work," he told his friend as he began dragging him to the door.

"I will not tell your aunt if you do not wish to let her know. You just woke up and you will need to undergo some checkups. You almost died. They rushed you into the operating room almost immediately," his friend narrated as he sat on a sofa in the sitting area of the room.

"Uh? What do you mean?"