Hurting Friends- Rei
When Rei had uttered those terrible words, he had almost choked on the overwhelming fear surging through him. In
the deep silence that followed, Rei had to keep a desperate hold of the panic within him. He could hardly sense his
friends around him and it seemed like he was drowning. Rei bit his lip and stared straight ahead, hardly daring to
breathe as he waited for the deafening silence to end.
Finally, after an eternity of waiting, Kai's quiet voice broke the silence. Rei forced himself to relax as much as
possible and thought back to what had happened when he'd panicked in an effort to quell the queasy pain in his
stomach. It was slowly coming back to him and he probed his mind for the truth of it, certain that something
important had happened in that panicked moment. Just then, Kai's shout filtered through his thoughts and with
startling clarity Rei remembered and saw just what he had done. He watched in horror as the picture played out in
his mind.
Kai's face in front of him tensed up as he saw Rei's fist flying at his face. It hit. Blood trickled down Kai's cheek but he
never let go of Rei. Rei returned to the present and guilt hit him like a brick. He groaned slightly and closed his eyes.
Then another wave of pain swept through him and he curled up and concentrated on stopping it.
It soon felt like white-hot needles were being driven through every bone in his body but his skin was frozen and
clammy. As he lay there shivering he heard his name called and he opened his eyes.
He might have been better off leaving them closed. Almost everything was completely black and anything that
wasn't, was a blurred grey.
Then he heard Kai's voice again. He could tell that his friend was right in front of him and it scared him that he
would never have known if Kai hadn't spoken.
'Rei… can you tell me what else is wrong with you?' Rei thought about this, wondering if it was possible to explain
the agony he was going through at that moment. He knew though, that he was to weak to even begin so he settled
for simplicity which seemed to work just as well.
'It hurts… it just hurts.' And then, wondering if his punch was hurting Kai to he added, 'I'm sorry Kai.'
Kai spoke once more.
'It wasn't your fault Rei.' And then he was gone. As Rei wondered at the sadness he had heard in Kai's voice, he
listened in a haze of pain to the sounds of his friends moving about. He licked his chapped lips and began shivering
again. He huddled into a tight ball to deter the cold. He could feel his thoughts scattering and vaguely wondered if
he had a fever. That's all I need…stupid mosquito…I'm so cold, I should get a blanket but… I can hardly move…
He groaned slightly as a damp cloth wiped the remaining blood from his face. He heard Max's voice in front of him,
'Hey Tyson, hurry up with that blanket will you?' It took a few confused seconds before it registered in Rei's mind
what this meant. When it got through he sighed with relief. Then came Tyson's voice and with it the comforting
warmth of a blanket.
'There ya go, Rei. Just hang on a little longer. The ambulance will be here soon.' Rei smiled weakly and hugged the
blanket close. He didn't want to see that empty void again. Instead he listened with closed eyes as Max and Tyson
talked half-heartedly and slowly he drifted off to sleep, comforted by his friends.
