Brandon ran his fingers through his hair and got up. He started pacing yet he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Michael who was covered in blood. He couldn’t believe that his brother had been attacked. He just didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to wake up and have it all be a bad dream. He sat down and gripped both of his knees as he tried to relax. “What’s going on?” Daphne asked as she got there. “Michael?” Daphne stared at Michael for a minute before she walked over to Brandon and got on her knees in front of him. “Oh my god. Tell me what happened?” Daphne asked. Daphne had come rushing from school after Brandon had called her saying that Brian was in the hospital. She didn’t know anything else and seeing Michael’s appearance wasn’t helping. Brandon started crying as he leaned forward to sob on her shoulder. “Oh god.” Brandon murmured. Daphne held him tightly, letting him cry. When he composed himself, he told her what had happened. “I called Ma.” Michael told her. “Did you guys called Justin?” Daphne asked. Michael and Brandon looked at each other and then shook their heads. *** Debbie put a cup of coffee in Brandon’s hands. “I don’t want it.” “Drink it.” Debbie told him in a commanding tone. Brandon looked at her and nodded. “Here, you do it.” Michael said to Daphne. Michael had changed his clothes for the ones that his mother had brought him, but it didn’t matter because he still could see the blood and Brian. “I can’t.” Daphne said. “What’s going on?” Debbie asked. “We have to call Justin.” Michael said. “You still haven’t?” Emmett asked opening his mouth. “I’ll do it.” Everyone turned around to look at Vic. Michael passed the phone to him and Vic walked away to make the call. “Oh my god. Oh my god.” Daphne said crying. “Is he still at work?” Emmett asked. Daphne shrugged. “What time is it?” Brandon asked. “It’s six fifty two.” Ted told him. Everyone looked at each other and the silence that followed was immense. If everything had been okay they would have been getting ready to celebrate Brian’s birthday. *** Justin ran up to Michael and stopped just two feet away from his friend. He stared at Michael for a long time before he found his voice. “What happen?” Justin asked as he sat down next to Michael. “Michael, what happen?” “Brian was…I left him in the store for just a moment. Or at least it looked like it. I went to the diner to get us something to eat and…when I came back the store looked like it was empty.” Justin watched as Michael told him what had happened. “Then…I started calling for Brian. And…Clark…his friend…came rushing out and he bumped into me. He looked so fucking scared and I was surprised. I held him for a couple of seconds and then…he was covered in blood. And he ran away.” Justin closed his eyes. “I walked…I walked behind the counter and…god.” Michael lamented as he held his head. “Finish.” Justin demanded. “Brian was there. On his back…he was bleeding…and I called the ambulance and I held him. He talked to me.” “What did he say?” Justin asked as he cried with Michael. “He said…that he was cold.” Justin moved forward and hugged Michael when the dark haired man started crying. “He…god…Justin. I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have.” Michael said as he held on to Justin. Justin pulled back and stared at the floor. “He kept saying he was cold…just saying the word…cold…and then he just stopped talking.” Michael said swallowing hard. “And I tried to make him open his eyes, but by then there was so much blood and he wouldn’t move.” Justin got up and ran out of there, not wanting to hear anything else. He wished it was all a horrible nightmare. *** Miriam opened the door to her house to find two police officers at her door. She wondered what was going on. “Can I help you?” Miriam asked. “Evening, Ma’am.” One of the officers said. “I’m Sergeant Kelly and this is my partner Bausch.” “We are looking for Clark Rodney.” Bausch told her. “That’s my son. What’s wrong?” Miriam asked. “Can we come in?” Sergeant Kelly asked. Miriam bit her lower lip and nodded. “What has he done?” Miriam asked worried. “We want to ask him a couple of questions.” Kelly told her. “I’ll go get him.” Miriam said. Miriam turned around and went up to her son’s room. She just hoped that he wasn’t in any kind of trouble. She opened the door and the first thing she saw were Clark’s sneakers. All she could think of then was how much Clark had insisted on buying them. He didn’t want anything else, just the top of the line for him and she had said yes. She looked up at the rest of Clark and started crying. She fell on the floor and must have been screaming her lungs out because the next thing she heard was the officers asking her if she was okay and running up the stairs. “Call an ambulance.” Kelly said to his partner once he was in the room. Miriam looked up once more at her son’s body hanging from the ceiling and all she could see when she closed her eyes were the sneakers with something that look an awfully lot like blood splattered on them. *** Brandon opened the door and walked out. Justin was sitting on the ledge of the roof. Brandon walked slowly and Justin looked back at him with bloodshot eyes. “Can you get down from there?” Brandon asked. “What do you care?” Justin spat out as he took out a pack of cigarettes. “I do. I care for you.” Brandon said and cleared his throat. Justin laughed bitterly. “Brian would kill me if something happened to you.” Brandon said. “That’s more believable.” Justin said. Brandon nodded. “Can I have one?” Brandon asked, meaning the cigarettes. Justin lifted his legs and turned around. He got down and walked up to Brandon. Brandon took the cigarette that Justin offered him. He watched as Justin lit another and looked at him, waiting to see what Brandon wanted. “I haven’t had one of these in years.” Brandon said, taking a drag. Justin licked his lips and watched Brandon. Brandon took a deep breath and looked away into the city lights. “I keep thinking that if…that if I had let him go with you…” “Don’t.” Justin hissed. “Don’t do this.” Brandon nodded as his eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe this. He hasn’t lived life. It’s not fair.” Brandon said. “He’s just a kid.” Justin laughed bitterly and looked up at Brandon. “Yeah, he is.” Justin agreed as he started crying again. Brandon threw his cigarette away and walked in front of Justin. “He’s going to be okay.” Brandon said. “He will be okay. He has to.” Justin nodded and hugged the older man. Brandon hesitated a moment, but hugged Justin back and they cried together. After a while Brandon opened his eyes and frowned. “This is really gay.” Brandon whispered. Justin smiled a little. “Shut up.” Justin told him. *** Justin kept pacing while his gaze stayed on Brandon and the doctor who were talking away from the group. Brandon kept looking back at Justin and then giving the doctor his attention. Debbie was crying while Vic tried to console her. Emmett had his head on Ted’s lap both of them wanting to know that Brian was okay. Daphne kept rubbing her hands together, worried sick. Lindsey kept biting her lower lip and staring at the floor while Melanie held her hand. “He’s in a coma.” Brandon said when he came back to the group. “Oh god.” Emmett said. “Is he okay?” Brandon nodded. “They managed to stop the bleeding. No vital organs were injured.” Brandon said sniffling. “The doctor says that he is going to be okay. That he will probably will wake up in a day or two. He said that the injuries to the head weren’t as bad as they had thought. He had some damage, but they are confident that Brian is going to be back to normal in no time.” Justin stood there taking deep breath, thankful that Brian was okay. “Can we see him?” Debbie asked. Brandon nodded. “Two at the time.” Brandon said. “What’s going on?” Michael asked as he came back from the restroom. “Brian is going to be okay.” Justin whispered in a daze. Michael nodded and smiled. “I’ll go with Daphne.” Brandon said. Daphne got up and walked with Brandon to Brian’s room. “Michael.” Justin said as he sat down to this friend. “What?” Michael asked. “Thank you.” Justin choked out. Michael smiled and they hugged each other. *** Justin walked in with Michael behind him. Justin looked at Brian’s body and felt like puking. His boyfriend look so fragile and his skin was pale. He had a couple of bruises on his face and neck and Justin didn’t want to believe that it was Brian. “I can leave you alone.” Michael said as he stared down at Brian’s body. Justin nodded and kept walking closer to the bed. He took Brian’s hand and a tear ran down. His boyfriend was supposed to feel warm, but Brian’s hands were cold. He wanted Brian to open his eyes and show him he was okay, that everything was okay. “Brian.” Justin whispered. Justin caressed Brian’s face and started crying furiously. “How dare he do this to you?” Justin asked, his lips trembling. “Baby.” Justin’s hands were shaking as he caressed his boyfriend’s skin. “You have to be fine. God, please let him be fine.” Justin pushed Brian’s sheets away and lifted his gown and he could see the bandages covering Brian’s wounds. There was bruising from the wounds spreading throughout Brian’s skin. They could be seen at the edge of the bandages like they were going to taint Brian’s skin with the horrible deep crimson, almost black, blemishes. Justin covered Brian again and felt to the floor. Crying at how blotched Brian looked. His boyfriend wasn’t supposed to look that way. His Brian was so full of life and energy. His baby was supposed to look like a demi–god and not a corpse. Justin folded his legs and brought them up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around his legs and dropped his head on his knees as he cried. The door to the room opened and Daphne walked in. She rushed over to where Justin was crying on the floor to comfort her friend. Justin looked up and laughed between sobs. “Is this some kind of joke?” Daphne fought the tears that wanted to spill and gave her friend a little smile. “It’s not.” Daphne murmured. “He loves me. He does. And they did this to him because of it.” Justin said. “Is no one supposed to love me? Am I not good enough? Why do this to him?” “Oh god, Justin, no.” Daphne told him. “He’s going to be okay.” Justin buried his face on her chest. “I love him. I do.” “I know.” Daphne said. Daphne held Justin tightly and let him cry. He was going to be okay and Brian was going to be fine. It would all be okay. *** Daphne was walking with Debbie up to Brian’s room. They were bringing the guys something to eat. When they got there, Justin was outside raging like a lunatic. He was banging his fist against the walls. Daphne stood frozen on the spot not sure what was going on. Brandon was sitting in a chair, crying while Vic had his arms around him. Justin dropped to the floor and started crying. Michael was the one that went to him and held him tight, telling him it would be okay. “It’s not fair.” Justin sobbed. “He had no fucking right!” “Relax.” Michael told him. “Oh my god.” Debbie said as she put the food down and walked over to the girls. Joy, Lindsey and Melanie had come to see Brian. They were crying and Debbie did what she could to calm them down. “That fucking bastard! He has to suffer. He has to. I want him to!” Justin raged. Daphne started walking towards Brandon and sat next to him. “He has to fucking suffer for what he did!” Justin yelled and cried. “I want him to suffer. I want him to.” “I know, I know.” Michael said holding Justin. “What happen?” Daphne asked. Brandon looked at her and she could see in his eyes that he was livid. “Clark killed himself.” Brandon said dryly. Daphne took a deep breath as her eyes went wide. She looked back at Justin who was still whispering to Michael that Clark had to suffer. Daphne’s only thought was that Clark probably had.