Close Friends Stick Together

Chapter 3 - Hope & Sacrifice

I woke up to Sonata shaking me.

"What's wrong, Sonata?" I asked worriedly.

She looked on the brink of tears.

"Aria... Aria is..."

I gazed to my other side and saw her. She was panting slightly with beads of sweat rolling down her forehead.

"Oh no.", I mumbled quietly enough, so Sonata couldn't hear me.

I placed the back of my hand against her forehead feeling the heat it was emitting. It felt like she had a fever.

"No, no, no, no, no…”, I repeatedly panicked.

Sonata gave me a solemn look before looking down at Aria. I looked down, ripping a part of my shirt where my belly button would show, and rushed to the bathroom to wet it. When I came back in the room, Aria had her eyes open.

"I'm... fine. I... I can..." she whispered while trying to get up.

Suddenly, she went into a fit of coughs.

"Aria!" We both exclaimed running to her aid.

I gently made her lay back down while Sonata took the wet cloth from me, placing it on her forehead. She instantly went back to sleep. Frowning at her condition, I turned to Sonata.

"Sonata, with the money that I got yesterday, I'm going to try to find some medicine. Stay here and watch her. I'll try to be back as soon as possible."

She nodded towards me as I ran out.

I looked in at least 30 stores and it was all the same. Medicine prices increased, the cheapest bottle being $30 dollars. Knowing there was nothing else I could do, I jogged back to the shelter, but once it was visible, something or rather, someone gripped my arm tugging me back. I was knocked off balance and ended up falling on my but. I looked up and saw an old geezer looking down on me with a predatory smile. He had grayish black hair, dark gray eyes, and wore baggy clothes. I slowly got up and flinched back when he trailed his fingers along my exposed stomach from when I ripped my shirt. As he approached me, I backed up only to run into someone who held me in place by taking my hands and putting them behind my back. I couldn't see who it was but I knew it was a man.

"What is a young thang like you walkin' around at night for?", he whispered in my ear pushing his body into mine, as did the guy behind me.

"None of your damn business! Let me go!" I snarled back.

He chuckled and leaned back a bit.

"So, what do ya say?", he asked pushing on me again.

"Wanna show me and my pal a good time?"

I spat in his face and attempted to kick him only to miss. The spit landed on his cheek, but his reaction was much different from what I expected. He took my saliva off face with his finger and licked it. I cringed.

"Don't worry babe.", he purred.

"I'll pay you good."

The one behind me suddenly put his hand in my shirt, putting a total of $100 dollars in my pocket and took his hand out. Well, not before getting in a quick grope. I felt the man's eagerness pressing harder and harder against my leg. I wanted to run away, scream, anything to get them off me, but after realizing the money that man gave me and I knew Aria needed some medicine, I reluctantly stopped struggling.

"Oh? So you really just needed some money to stop fighting?", The man asked with a grin.

As he put his hands on me, I held back the tears, I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I had to do this for Aria, for Sonata, they were depending on me and I couldn't disappoint them. After what felt like an entirely of them grouping and hearing constant snickering, they stopped. Fortunately, it didn't take them very long to do what they wanted as they threw me down on the ground. They walked away into the night as I lay there on the ground crying to myself. I didn't move for several minutes, but I knew I had to get up and push forward to save Aria. I dusted myself off quickly and ran towards the nearest store that was open, fighting my tears in the process. After several minutes of running and holding myself together, I finally saw a store that was open. I took a deep breath and walked inside where it was bright and somehow colder than it was outside. I looked around and from what I saw, she has a bad fever. I didn't want to speak to anyone but not knowing what to get, I had no choice. I swallowed my anger and asked,

"What medicine will help my friend?

The clerk looked down at me and tilted his head.

"What does your friend have?", he asked nicely.

I gritted my teeth. Not because of what he said, but because he looked similar to that man from earlier.

"Ar- My friend has a fever and a bad cough." I replied.

He smiled, which made my stomach sick. He grabbed my hand, but I rejected it angrily and said,

"I don't need your pity."

He looked at me with a confused look but didn't question it as he lead me to a medicine area. He grabbed it and lead me back to the cash register.

"Where are your parents?" he asked worried.

"Back home.", I lied.

He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He ran the item through the machine and said,

"That will be 40$, please."

I pulled out the 100$ bill that man gave me and handed it to him. He looked at me and was about to ask something but I have him a glare, indicating I wasn't in the mood. He simply took it and handed me the change. He gave me the item and I instantly ran out the door without a second though. I rushed back to the shelter home and bolted through the door without thinking and ran straight into my room. I closed the door behind me and locked it. I opened the bottle and poured the liquid into the cup until it was close to full. I got Aria up and made sure she drank it. After making sure she would be ok, I looked over to Sonata who was fast asleep with a worried look on her face. I went to the bathroom and locked myself in and after I waited a few minutes, making sure nobody could hear me, I cried. I cried so much that I was worried that they would hear me, but I didn't care at this point. This was the first time I've cried in years, and for some reason, it felt good. I had kept my feelings bottled up for so long, I'd forgotten what it feels like to be sad.

After sometime had passed, I stood up and looked into the mirror, but avoided looking at my eyes. I didn't want to see what was staring back at me. I looked to my stomach which was becoming thinner than it was before. I haven't eaten all day since I was out looking for medicine. Not to mention the meals I've skipped giving it to them. Then, I looked to my hands. I shivered in disgust remembering how they touched me. And how I let them. When I looked back at the mirror, I hit it with my fist. As the shards of glass fell to the ground, I picked one up and looked at it. How could I be so weak, so pathetic that I couldn't even defend myself? I put the shard of glass onto my arm and cut myself with it. I looked and saw blood streaming down and dripped into the sink. I'm truly pathetic…