Chapter 40 Hospital
I wouldn’t have guessed that today would end with Kai being rushed to the hospital while Beth and I are questioned. How did this happen? I think back to the morning and what might have gone wrong.
“Today’s arts and crafts,” Beth says to our group sitting at the lunch table.
The triplets are excited, and I already know Beth is going to be bouncing all day, waiting not so patiently for our group's turn. I eat my breakfast with a smile on my face at their conversation.
It was weird at first after the rumor spread more and more, but with Beth’s help, I’ve gotten better at just ignoring them. It helps too that most people have moved on to the other gossip in camp right now. Which is the rumor of an end-of-summer concert here at the camp. Everyone has been buzzing, trying to guess who it is. Which is a gift to me, considering it overshadows his ridiculous rumor.
We end up on the front steps of our cabin waiting. Several other campers who are also in our group sit around the fire pit.
“This is the worst part of these activities. Always just waiting for it to start.”
“Literally, couldn’t they put our group in the main building or something, then we wouldn’t have to wait.”
“Gosh, this sucks.” She leans onto the wooden railing next to her, banging her head on it softly.
“Group three, it’s our turn.” The counselor who runs our activities group calls us.
“Wow, they didn’t want you to hurt yourself on their property. They heard you hurting yourself.” She smiles, getting up to gather with the group.
“I’ll do that every time then.”
We sit down at the picnic tables with the painting supplies already spread out on them. It’s honestly calm sitting here separate from the camp painting. Until I look over at Beth’s.
“You are ridiculously good at everything.” She’s painted a beautiful sunset, while mine looks like a canvas with an assortment of colors.
“It’s okay, we don’t love you for your painting skills.” She pats my head.
I push her off me, our table becoming surrounded by our laughter. That laughter is killed when Kai sits down across from me.
“How are you?” He asks me as though nothing happened. His smile is annoying me.
“What do you want?” My voice is short.
“I thought we could fix this.”
“There is nothing to even fix. You ensured that with your petty rumor.”
“That wasn’t me, I promise. I would never tell other people about our time together.” Beth scoffs next to me.
“Save it, we all know it was you because you couldn’t handle the fact that she would never sleep with you.”
He rolls his eyes at her. “Anna, let’s go talk just you and me.”
I’m done with this. He won’t listen no matter what I do. I’m just going to start ignoring him.
“Leave me alone.”
Alec appears out of thin air next to us. I should’ve known when he showed up to take him far away from Kai. I should’ve guessed that Kai would be a prick and start a fight.
Alec punches Kai so hard that an audible crunch can be hear and I can only assume he broke his nose.
I get off the bench, moving towards them, yelling stop. But neither one of them listens. Kai recovered surprisingly well from just having his nose broken, throwing his own punches at Alec. They’re movning to fast for me to keep up with every movement.
I yell again for them to stop. A crowd has gathered around, but no one is doing anything; they’re just watching it happen. I try to get close to Alec, hopeful that if I could just touch him, he would snap out of it. But Alec steps forward, hitting Kai again. Kai staggers back, making the crowd move further away from him, not wanting to get involved.
I look back to Beth wanting her guidance on how to stop this, but she’s watching with a shocked expression on her face.
Kai runs at Alec, trying to take him to the ground, but Alec barely moves. He grabs Kai, throws him to the ground, and climbs on top of him, raining punches. Blood is flying, and I know if he doesn’t stop now, he might seriously hurt himself.
Alec stops for a second, leaning away from him. He’s panting, his body shaking slightly. I didn’t even think about it. What if he shifts due to his anger? I can’t stop an angry werewolf. I can’t make all these people forget what they saw.
“Alec, please stop.” I plead to try to avoid this from getting any worse, but he goes back to hitting him.
Just when I think all hope might be lost, I see someone I haven’t spoken to in a while.
Cassie runs from the woods behind us, grabbing Alec by his arms, pulling him off of Kai. He fights her, but she handles him well. She wraps her arms around him, pulling him closer to me and further from Kai. He pushes her off, making her fall to the ground.
“Alec, stop.” I don’t even realize I’ve started crying till I hear my own voice.
He looks at me, and his face softens. Cassie takes this chance, grabbing his arm again and dragging him to the woods.
He doesn’t fight her this time. He doesn’t break eye contact with me, and it seems as though he’s finally realized what he’s done. He looks upset, his face dotted with Kai’s blood. I want to run to him and know that he’s okay. I want to thank him for defending me. But I also want to get mad at him. Mad for causing a scene. Mad for not listening to me. And most of all, mad for almost killing someone. I don’t look away from him until the trees take away my line of sight.
Looking back at Kai, several campers try to help him as one runs to get more counselors.
He looks bad. His face is covered in blood and already has blooming bruises. His nose is definitely broken, and I wouldn’t be shocked if something else broke as well.
Beth stands next to me, her tone serious. “Your boyfriend is a beast.”
For the first time in our relationship, I can truly see how severe his anger issues are.