DISORDERLY CONDUCT - Autumn Sealey, Sarlic Sealey, Jason Arteaga. PART 2

[h3lltown]

Warnings: Descriptions of mild to severe injuries, Blood, Domestic Abuse (implied) 

******

 Sarlic looked at her unconscious brother in shock.

The rain was making his dark-gray fur slick and shiny, while the drying blood was making it stick into ugly clumps. What concerned her the most though, was his right arm; it was bent oddly right below the elbow, and she could see it becoming purple and swollen, even through his fur.

She wasn't feeling too great either; blood poured freely from her nose and onto the grimy concrete below, just a few feet from where her brother was lying, getting thoroughly soaked by the downpour. 

I need to get us out of the rain, and preferably to a hospital. Sarlic thought. She took a few steps forward, away from the shelter of a shoddy fire escape, and attempted to pick up Autumn by the armpits. It was surprisingly easy to drag him to the wall that she was standing next to, considering his height. They had both lost a concerning amount of weight while homeless. And they were truly that--Sarlic had spent a good couple of months in denial after they ran away from home, scourging through trash and stealing from corner stores just to survive. She would call themselves all sorts of euphemisms like runaways or even fugitives because the word homeless almost felt too dirty, too permanent.
Living like this, not even living, just barely surviving, was supposed to be temporary, just a little transition period while they got somewhere stable to live, somewhere where they didn't have to be scared anymore. 

But over and over again, and as the months went by, she was made aware of truly how hopeless their situation was becoming. Now they were sitting here beaten, hungry, barely covered from the rain, in the middle of october. 
 

Autumn had tried to pickpocket someone for the very first time. They desperately needed money for at the very least some jackets, or even a blanket for the dropping temperatures. But now they were sitting here with nothing but the clothes on their backs, since they guys who got Autumn decided to take his bag, along with leaving him passed out with a broken arm. 

 

"Hey, Autumn, wake up." Sarlic whispered to Autumn while shaking him lightly. "Wake up, your arm is broken. We have to get outta here."
 

Autumn didn't even stir.
 

Sarlic began panicking even more, looking for her brother's pulse. She wasn't even sure where she was supposed to do that. On his wrist? 

She managed to jostle his right arm while she was in a frantic search for any sign of life, making Autumn yelp in pain.
Now awake, Autumn managed to look at her with unfocused eyes. 
 

Relieved that he wasn't actually dead, Sarlic tried talking to him again. 

"uh, okay. Can you walk? Autumn, hey pay attention to me," It didn't even look like Autumn could hear her. 
 

Okay, now she was definitely having a panic attack. Autumn probably has a concussion, what if he has brain damage? What if he never speaks again? What if-
 

"Calm down, I'm alright." Autumn said. His voice was wobbly and in pain. 

"I can walk. just- just give me a minute." He squeezed his eyes shut. "God, everything is spinning…" 

After a few minutes, Autumn tried to push himself off the ground, only to screech in pain for putting pressure on his arm. 
 

"woah- easy there, here i'll help you up," Sarlic pried him up from the ground, while Autumn balanced himself on the wall. It felt like a colossal effort, but they managed to get on their feet. Luckily, the rain had stopped to a light drizzle. 
 

"How the hell are we getting to a hospital?" 
 

"... walking?" 
 

"St. Grace is like, half an hour from here by car, and it's getting late."
 

"We can take a taxi."
 

"Uh, the dudes you tried to rob took all of our shit Autumn." 
 

"What??" Autumn looked heartbroken. Sarlic was too; That bag had all of their worldly possessions.

Autumn then looked like he was about to scream, or punch something, but instead he just looked down, defeated. Sarlic could see just how exhausted he was. Even if her brother wasn't the bubbliest of people, his eyes now looked even duller than when they left home, all those months ago. The rain, that was now picking up again, made his fur darker and his ears droop with the weight of the water. 

 

"Let's just- let's keep walking, I guess." 

 

 

******

 

Jason was heading back home.

Things got pretty hectic at the flower shop, with him and Alice having to arrange the decorations for a wedding. Said poodle was now sleeping in the backseat, her expression unusually calm. Both of them were still wearing their frilly pink aprons and covered in flower stems and petals. God, Jason just wanted to get home right now and take a nice warm shower, maybe cuddle with Alice while they watch the rain through their window. 

Speaking of, it was really starting to pick up. Jason was confident in his driving, but weather like this made him nervous, not to mention it was getting pretty dark. 

He took a left, towards that nice Italian restaurant that he always wants to visit, when he saw them. 
 

Two teenagers, some kind of felines; it was hard to tell because of the rain. The taller, darker one was heavily leaning on the shorter one. He could tell that the taller one was hurt by the way they limped, not to mention how slow they were both going. Did they get into an accident or something? 
 

Normally he would have ignored such a scene, but something inside of him compelled him to look a little closer. 

So, despite his better judgement, he pulled over next to the pair of teens. 

He could see them clearly now. They looked like some sort of spotty big cat. Cheetahs maybe? No, their ears are way too big. A mix, perhaps? 

Both of them were covered by a layer of grime that not even the pelting rain could wash away. And the taller one--a male, he would assume--looked like he was on death's doorstep. One of his eyes was swollen shut; his nose still leaking fresh blood. His right sweater sleeve was pulled up, and Jason could see his forearm was swollen and twisted unnaturally upwards, clearly broken. The other one, light pink, wasn't looking too great either. Their nose was covered in dry blood, and their face was covered in small cuts and bruises. 

Jason came to a full stop, right next to them.

 

"Ey, you two! Do you need a ride somewhere?" 

Both of the teens flinched at the volume, but quickly approached his car. 

"You're both hurt. Do you have someone you can call?" He asked. 
 

The kids just looked at him like he told them their dog died, but no response other than that. 
 

Jason sighed and pinched the bridge of his snout. 

"Okay, clearly you don't. Listen, I can drive you two to St. Grace, if you want. Hell, I'll pose as your uncle or whatever." 

What? Why was he offering this to two random kids on the street? 
 

Okay, both of them looked like they'd gone through hell and back. Maybe he felt a little bit bad for them. And oh, the way their faces lit up when he offered to drive them to a hospital. 

 

"Yeah, that would be great actually…" the shorter one replied.

Jason unlocked the car doors, signaling the teens to step inside. The shorter one, who he assumed was a girl, got in the back next to a sleeping Alice. The other one got into the front seat, albeit with a lot of trouble. Once they were inside, he relocked the doors and continued driving. The hospital was pretty close to his house, so it wouldn't be much hassle to get them there. 

 

Jason kept driving, occasionally glancing towards the battered teen sitting next to him. The kid was deathly quiet, his shoulders and back so tense Jason feared that they would snap like a bowstring. 
 

"So uh, what happened to you two?" Jason tried to make conversation. 

 

"Nothing."

 

"...Are you sure?" 

 

No response from the teen. Jason had a feeling something more sinister was going on here. Maybe the kids were being abused at home or something.
His heart dropped at the thought of a parent causing their kid such severe injuries.

 

After 5 minutes of no noise from the kid, Jason tried again. 

 

"So uh, if we're gonna do this whole thing, I need to know you guys' names. And like, what happened to ya. Doesn't matter if it's made up, but we gotta be on the same page here." 

 

"Autumn." 

 

"What?" 

 

"My names' Autumn. And my sisters' name is Sarlic. Both serval-domestic mixes."

 

"Okay okay, Autumn is a… real strange name for a guy. You're a guy, right?" 

 

Autumn pinched his nose in annoyance. "Yes, I know, shut up about it. I'm going to say that we fell off a bike." 

 

"That's a solid plan. Anything else you think I should know?" 

 

"Ummm, i'm 17? and my sister is 15, and uhh, i'm not allergic to anything? I think? I'm pretty sure at least…" 

 

"I meant like, if they asked about your parents." 

 

Autumn tensed up even more at that. 

 

Well, now Jason knew that this had something to do with them. 

 

"Jesus, don't stress yourself out about it. Just say that they're at work." 

 

"Okay." 

 

Silence filled the car once more. Jason could see from the rear-view mirror that the other one, Sarlic, was staring daggers into him, while curled into herself.

It's good to be distrustful in a situation like this, Jason thought, I just wish that they weren't forced to be here to begin with. 

 

 

 

TBC