((Javi continued from Dial Tone))
Javi had an hour or so to sit in the back of the ambulance basking in incredulous relief before one of the paramedics asked about the collar.
His throat closed up. Every ounce of the weight he'd slowly tuned out over the past days grabbed him by the neck and refused to let go. He began gasping, shaking, the medics’ faces swimming in and out and focus.
At some point he must have croaked something about the explosives, cause that was when the panicked scramble started.
Javi remembered, or thought he remembered, one of them trying to talk him through it, telling him to breathe, to slow things down and stay calm.
Obviously, he didn’t do a very good job of that.
He couldn’t quite piece together what happened next, only that after somewhere between 15 minutes and 25 years, somebody had a hand on his shoulder.
“Javier. It’s off. You’re safe. It’s off.”
Javi hugged his knees to his chest and resumed crying.
King High
Moderator: SOTF Supers Staff
Asides from dehydration, exhaustion, and legs that were literally struggling to hold him upright, the doctor gave Javi a clean bill of health. Physically.
It was still sinking in.
He was lucky to be alive. Lucky by itself didn't really seem to be enough to describe how lucky he was, but it'd have to do. Lucky nobody had tried to kill him before he even started running. Lucky they hadn't figured out what he was up to. Lucky they hadn't caught him in the act. Lucky they hadn't chased him down. Lucky as hell he ran into Car Guy. If Javi hadn't crossed paths with him, then his chances would have hit the floor. Thanks to Car Guy's supplies—couldn't forget the compass and phone either—Javi had got by with just one eye on his food and drink, as opposed to rationing out every last drop.
Javi didn't think he'd have made it. Days of walking was bad enough, days of walking on a couple of bites and sips per meal and he was convinced he'd have collapsed.
The worst—no, alright it wasn't the worst—the frustrating part was something really petty, enough so that Javi almost felt guilty that it bugged him. Still, the frustrating part was that he couldn't stomach much of the food they gave him and it wasn't even good enough to be very satisfying to eat. He felt like he'd earned at least five churros. He'd probably get nauseous from just one, yeah, but up until that point? Awesome.
maybe it was the frustrating part because it was small enough for Javi to fit into his head right now. The rest was too much to cram into his head, too many jigsaw pieces for a brain that could maybe handle an age 3-5 years picture of a cartoon animal right about now. unless it looked like a bear. or owl, crocodile or...
Maybe not any cartoon animals then.
He should ask about his parents, but he didn't know if he could face up to that. He didn't know what had been going on the last few days. The missing bus of kids would have made the news, for sure, but what kind of news was anyone's guess. It wasn't like the cops had come charging in to save the day, and Javi wasn't in a great state to check for if the medics' reactions had shown any recogntion of what'd been happening. Either way, Javi couldn't even keep it together in front of strangers, dealing with his parents' relief would make him implode. Just—he needed a bit. Just long enough to pull himself together so he could hold a conversation and not instantly become sobbing goo. That was all.
Javi sat in bed for a bit, a nurse came over to him.
"Javier? We've had a call about a group around your age. They apparently mentioned an abduction."
He wasn't the only one.
It was still sinking in.
He was lucky to be alive. Lucky by itself didn't really seem to be enough to describe how lucky he was, but it'd have to do. Lucky nobody had tried to kill him before he even started running. Lucky they hadn't figured out what he was up to. Lucky they hadn't caught him in the act. Lucky they hadn't chased him down. Lucky as hell he ran into Car Guy. If Javi hadn't crossed paths with him, then his chances would have hit the floor. Thanks to Car Guy's supplies—couldn't forget the compass and phone either—Javi had got by with just one eye on his food and drink, as opposed to rationing out every last drop.
Javi didn't think he'd have made it. Days of walking was bad enough, days of walking on a couple of bites and sips per meal and he was convinced he'd have collapsed.
The worst—no, alright it wasn't the worst—the frustrating part was something really petty, enough so that Javi almost felt guilty that it bugged him. Still, the frustrating part was that he couldn't stomach much of the food they gave him and it wasn't even good enough to be very satisfying to eat. He felt like he'd earned at least five churros. He'd probably get nauseous from just one, yeah, but up until that point? Awesome.
maybe it was the frustrating part because it was small enough for Javi to fit into his head right now. The rest was too much to cram into his head, too many jigsaw pieces for a brain that could maybe handle an age 3-5 years picture of a cartoon animal right about now. unless it looked like a bear. or owl, crocodile or...
Maybe not any cartoon animals then.
He should ask about his parents, but he didn't know if he could face up to that. He didn't know what had been going on the last few days. The missing bus of kids would have made the news, for sure, but what kind of news was anyone's guess. It wasn't like the cops had come charging in to save the day, and Javi wasn't in a great state to check for if the medics' reactions had shown any recogntion of what'd been happening. Either way, Javi couldn't even keep it together in front of strangers, dealing with his parents' relief would make him implode. Just—he needed a bit. Just long enough to pull himself together so he could hold a conversation and not instantly become sobbing goo. That was all.
Javi sat in bed for a bit, a nurse came over to him.
"Javier? We've had a call about a group around your age. They apparently mentioned an abduction."
He wasn't the only one.
Car Guy did it. Or Car Guy and some of the others, or even just the others with a bit of help from Car guy.
Didn't matter.
Javi wasn't the only one.
An entire carful (not the same car. he'd asked) of his classmates. Two more girls that they'd found a bit after that.
Some, most, of them were hurt. They'd been in the compound so much longer. They'd had to fight for their lives.
He'd walked. not safe, no, but...
but he didn't know. he didn't know if he had a point to that thought. Was it any easier for him just because he managed to slip the noose before anyone tried to cave in his skull or blow him up or set him on fire? The masked assholes had tried to chase him down, would have killed him if they caught him. Wasn't that fighting for his life, too?
Javi felt guilty, then angry, then angry about guilt, and it all whirled and whirled around without any stop.
One thing that he could settle on. He was glad they made it. So damn glad.
Wait, two things.
He wished he'd thanked Car Guy.
Didn't matter.
Javi wasn't the only one.
An entire carful (not the same car. he'd asked) of his classmates. Two more girls that they'd found a bit after that.
Some, most, of them were hurt. They'd been in the compound so much longer. They'd had to fight for their lives.
He'd walked. not safe, no, but...
but he didn't know. he didn't know if he had a point to that thought. Was it any easier for him just because he managed to slip the noose before anyone tried to cave in his skull or blow him up or set him on fire? The masked assholes had tried to chase him down, would have killed him if they caught him. Wasn't that fighting for his life, too?
Javi felt guilty, then angry, then angry about guilt, and it all whirled and whirled around without any stop.
One thing that he could settle on. He was glad they made it. So damn glad.
Wait, two things.
He wished he'd thanked Car Guy.
"The man who helped you, you said that you don't know who he was?"
"Yeah."
"Had you ever seen him before?"
"No."
"Can you tell me anything about him?"
Javi thought about it. He only had the barest facts. but he had the one that mattered.
"Saved my life."
"Yeah."
"Had you ever seen him before?"
"No."
"Can you tell me anything about him?"
Javi thought about it. He only had the barest facts. but he had the one that mattered.
"Saved my life."
The cop asked Javi questions for a while. Javi answered as best he could manage which wasn't the same as spilling all the gory details, cause he just didn't have that in him. Maybe later, when it wasn't so raw and now and here and he wasn't fighting a battle against keeling over exhausted and breaking into tears and never stopping or just curling up in a ball someplace dark and staying there until the ache in his chest went away.
It was a gang fight and Javi had a nerf gun.
After he got done talking to the cop, Javi called his parents. It wasn't fair not to call. The cop had told him enough that he knew they had to think he was dead. Only needed to put himself in their shoes for a couple seconds to know what was the right thing to do.
The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Voicemail.
Deep breath, redial.
Ring ring. Tick, tock. Ring, ring, ri-
"Hello?"
"Mom, it's Javier."
-
She cried. He cried. His dad got on the phone and cried. Dad called him mijo about a hundred times, which was something like fifty times the number he'd ever called Javi that before.
Javi couldn't really remember afterwards what they even spoke about. They were just relieved. Relieve didn't seem like a strong enough word for the overwhelming emotion, the combo of... he guessed reversed grief? They'd been in mourning and now they weren't, but that didn't just snap straight back to not mourning anymore. This was all kind of jumbled in his head, but it made sense to him and now his parents knew, and that was good. He'd done the right thing. That at least could be clear cut.
He slept.
It was a gang fight and Javi had a nerf gun.
After he got done talking to the cop, Javi called his parents. It wasn't fair not to call. The cop had told him enough that he knew they had to think he was dead. Only needed to put himself in their shoes for a couple seconds to know what was the right thing to do.
The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Voicemail.
Deep breath, redial.
Ring ring. Tick, tock. Ring, ring, ri-
"Hello?"
"Mom, it's Javier."
-
She cried. He cried. His dad got on the phone and cried. Dad called him mijo about a hundred times, which was something like fifty times the number he'd ever called Javi that before.
Javi couldn't really remember afterwards what they even spoke about. They were just relieved. Relieve didn't seem like a strong enough word for the overwhelming emotion, the combo of... he guessed reversed grief? They'd been in mourning and now they weren't, but that didn't just snap straight back to not mourning anymore. This was all kind of jumbled in his head, but it made sense to him and now his parents knew, and that was good. He'd done the right thing. That at least could be clear cut.
He slept.