Page 6 of For All It's Worth
Chapter Two
Max
ItwasearlySundaymorning when I was woken by someone ringing the bell of the apartment that I shared. I was tempted to leave it for my roommate to answer before I remembered that he’d stayed with his girlfriend the night before, having gotten sick of my whining.
I wasn’t whining, or pining, or moping, or anything of the sort. Taking a break from Charlie was necessary, though it tore my heart out.
Pulling myself from the nest of blankets I’d made on my bed, I went to get the door.
“Just a minute,” I called to the person on the other side of the door as I began unlatching and unlocking. It wasn’t the best area of the city to be living in and we’d been burglarized before. Charlie had tried to get me to move into his apartment and I’d considered it before his dad died and he started to spiral.
Opening the door to a tense-looking Will, my heart dropped. If Will was here, then something had to be wrong with Charlie. Guilt ate at me for all the missed calls this last week, all the ignored texts. It hurt me to push him away, but I couldn’t help him. More importantly, he didn't want my help.
“Charlie! Is he okay?”
“He’s in the hospital, but he’ll be fine. I’m heading there now. Do you want to come with me?”
“What happened?” I asked, motioning for Will to come inside the apartment.
Will looked uncomfortable but whatever it was, it must have been serious to get him to go to the hospital.
“There’s no easy way to say this, but Charlie was mugged and stabbed. He nearly died from blood loss and hypothermia.” We stood inside the tiny living room for a moment while I processed that information. My legs felt like they didn’t want to hold me up and it took all of my effort just to stay standing. Will shifted guiltily on his feet. “I’m sorry Max, I did tell my family what you said the last time I saw you.”
I flushed and lowered my head, embarrassed at the reminder of the last time I’d seen Will when I’d gotten sick in the gutter after Charlie had ditched me. The night that I’d probably been spiked. There was no other explanation for what had happened.
“It’s fine, I think you know Charlie well enough to know that he’d have ignored any sort of intervention over his drinking.”
“Well, we’ve been talking about it and we think rehab is the only choice now. He hasn’t been told but he’s going to rehab after Christmas, so if you want to see him, it might be best to go now. He’ll be staying with our mom while he heals. He could go right away, but mom needs him home for a bit. It really shook her, y’know?”
Dumbly, I nodded. I could only imagine what it had been like for his mom. I’d been half-expecting something like this to happen, but I was still terrified for my best friend. I’d nearly lost him and the last time that we talked, we fought and I’d asked him for space. For ten years we hadn’t gone a day without talking. Even at his very worst, I’d had his back and then it had just gotten to be too much. Watching the man that I loved lash out at everyone in his life had been heartbreaking, but I’d stayed until he’d started to turn on me. I just couldn’t let him hurt me because he was broken inside.
I didn’t know what he was going to make of the rehab conversation and was glad I wouldn’t have to be there for it.
A pit of dread formed in my stomach. I hadn’t spoken to Charlie in just over a week. There was a chance that he wouldn’t want me there. “D’you think that he’ll want to see me? We fought last week and haven’t been speaking.”
“Pretty sure that he asked Mom about you, but I can check. Mom had to go home for a bit, but Alex is there now. I’ll give him a call while you go and get dressed.”
I wondered how I’d cope if Charlie said that he didn’t want to see me. Knowing that he could have died had grief over my mistakes welling up inside me. I wanted to see him with my own eyes, have proof that he was going to be okay. If he didn’t want me there, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I felt like I could sob at the thought of it.
In the safety of my room, I allowed a few tears to flow before I pushed them back. I grabbed at the closest pile of clothes and started to put them on until I realized I had two t-shirts and no pants.
Will knocked on the door. “Max? Charlie wants to see you. Are you nearly ready to go?”
Relief hit me hard and I couldn’t stop myself from sagging onto the bed. The tears that I’d managed to push away were back and I sobbed into my hands, huge heaving sobs that must have been loud enough for Will to hear through the closed door.
“Max, can I come in?”
Will didn’t wait for an answer, which was just as well since I couldn’t speak. He carefully pushed the door open and crossed the uncharacteristically untidy room. I should’ve felt embarrassed at the state of it. I’d let everything slide this week, unable to focus on anything. He gingerly sat next to me and awkwardly put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in for a hug.
“He’s okay, I promise.” His voice cracked and I looked at him questioningly. “We only found out about it yesterday. He’s been there a couple of days.”
My heart stuttered and threatened to stop at the idea that this had happened days before and no one had known. Charlie had been alone in the hospital for days and no one had questioned where he’d gone. I’d thought that he was finally giving me the space that I’d asked for, not that he’d been lying in some hospital bed after being stabbed.
My stomach contents rose and I struggled to keep the bile down.
“Wh…When…When did it happen?”
”Wednesday into Thursday.” Will looked shame-faced.
