Long Live Us

*Jack pov*

"Yeah, Emma told me he said that after I left. I dunno if she was meant to hear it or not but I dunno." Jack paused in his story telling, running a hand through his hair. Alex had been a good listener, nodding where appropriate, but not butting in.
It was hard for Jack to relive it, but that night was the easiest bit of it. He didn't remember most of it directly, he filled in the gaps with what other people told him. Despite his man whore reputation, which was in full blow during this time period, he felt like a jerk for what he did. It was a dick move, yes, and it screwed up a lot. But that's what he was, just a screw up.
"Jack it's okay, it's in the past." Alex mumbled softly, running his thumb over Jack's cheek. The younger boy nodded and looked up again. Taking a deep breath he continued, leaning into Alex's hand so he kept it on his face. He liked the contact. It reminded him things were different.

~

*one week after the party*

Once again, Jack was drunk, but this time not in the safe confinement a of a house. If he was honest, he didn't like getting pissed in a park, but did he care enough not to? Nope. Would he ever turn down booze? Nope. So here he was, roaming whichever park this was with Matt and his three mates Gavin, Chris and Mark, who secretly terrified Jack. There was something about them that unsettled him. They had some creepy, dangerous atmosphere around them.
"Let's play hide and seek!" Matt then squealed, shouting that he would be it. He dropped to the ground and covered his eyes and started counting loudly. Jack and the three boys turned and fled, scattering, in search of a hiding place. The dark haired boy spotted a tree that looked relatively easy to climb, so went for it. He clambered up, careful to avoid smashing the bottle that was tucked away inside his coat, until he reached the lowest branch that was thick enough to sit on. Positioning himself so his back was against the trunk, he sat, and waited.

God knows how long later it was, but the sky was pitch black, Jack had finished the bottle he had on him, but he was still sitting in the tree. He predicted it was around midnight, if not then one am, and he hadn't seen or heard a sign of the other guys. Sighing unhappily, Jack clambered down the tree, immediately stretching when his feet hit the ground. His aching body enjoyed being woken up, leaving his muscles tingling. Looking to either side, Jack noticed he couldn't see anything, he was surrounded by darkness. Shrugging, he decided to head to his right, dragging his feet along the floor because they wouldn't work properly. Alcohol was still in charge of his body, but he didn't care.
"That was a dumb game." He muttered to himself, hissing when a twig hit his forehead.
After feeling like he had walked in circles for ages, his legs aching and his feet sore, Jack finally spotted a street light. Eagerly he made his way towards it, wanting to go home and get to bed. This was stopped, however, when he heard his name.
"Found you, Jack." The way he spoke was harsh, and he spat out the word 'Jack', but the voice was easily recognised as Mark's voice. The boy was stood a few feet away from Jack, standing tall and in a way that made Jack think he was trying to intimidate him. And it was working.
"Did Matt catch you?" The lanky boy asked cheerily, trying to lighten the dark atmosphere that had now surrounded him. Something was wrong, very wrong. His mind became a lot clearer very quickly, and only one was being shouted by the voice inside his head.
'Run.'
Mark chuckled cynically at Jack's comment, and he shock his head.
"No, but he caught you last week, didn't he?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and he stared Jack down. Frowning, the dark haired boy tried to remember what happened last week. He didn't even remember what he had for breakfast, how the hell was he meant to remember seven whole days ago? That's a long time for a boy like Jack. The silence seemed to answer the question for Mark, so he continued.
"Emma. Ring any bells?"
"Matt's girlfriend?" Jack asked, confused. He hadn't spoken to the girl in ages, and if he had he couldn't remember it.
"Oh so you do know their dating?" Mark spat sarcastically, looking proud of himself when Jack nodded slowly. His body was beginning to shake now, adrenaline building up in his blood, making his heart beat faster. For some reason, an article he read came to his mind, about how your body always knows when something is wrong and you should listen to it. And right now, that's what he wanted to do. He wanted to run, like his body was telling him, but he couldn't. His feet seemed superglued to the grass, his eyes unable to tear themselves off of Mark. Fear, along with a little bit of panic, was flowing freely through his body. His ears were ringing with alarm bells, every muscle tense, on stand by.
"Turn around. You won't want to see this." Mark ordered Jack, smirking. The boy put one hand behind his back, and used the other to draw a circle in the air, motioning for Jack to turn around. Against his better judgement, he did as he was told, making small steps in moving away, hoping he would have the opportunity to bolt for it any minute now.
A few moments of silence passed, making Jack even more nervous. The air seemed to crackle with tension, there was no noise. No cars were driving past, no animals were scuttling about, there wasn't even any movement from any stupid, drunk teenagers wandering around a park. There was nothing. Only Jack's beating heart and rasping breath. Something was wrong. Mentally, he decided to turn around. Hopefully he felt something was wrong because Mark had run off to hide again. Like they were still playing the game. A weird game at that.
Slowly, he turned around. After that, everything moved very quickly. There was a scream, a loud bang, a shooting pain in his hip, the thud as he hit the floor, shouting, and then it returned to nothing. Jack let out a pained scream as he put one hand to where his hip was throbbing, wincing at the touch. Drawing his fingers back, he identified blood on his fingers. His eyes scrunched up in pain as he dropped his hand to the floor once again. The pain momentarily settled, so he opened his eyes, looking around. Mark had gone. Jack was alone now, by himself, lying in a park with blood pouring from his body.
'What the fuck is happening?'
Closing his eyes, he brought up the image of what he saw moments ago, reliving it in slow motion so he could work out what happened.
The scream had been Matt. The dark haired boy had sprung out of the bushes near Mark, landing on the boys outstretched arm. The loud bang had come from whatever Mark had been holding. Jack couldn't quite figure out the pain in his hip. The shouting was the two boys, he assumed, but couldn't be certain.
'What the fuck just happened?' He questioned again, opening his eyes once more. Desperate to go home, Jack stood up. Or he tried to, at least. Upon movement, the pain in his hip intensified, and he fell to the ground with another pained noise. He sounded pitiful. Why couldn't he move? Why did this hurt so much? What did they do to him? Jack attempted to stand up, and failed once more. His mind was now blurred by pain and confusion, rather than alcohol. The tall boy tried to drag himself along the floor, but even that hurt, so he flopped down and let out a whimper. His shirt was beginning to stick to the wound, blood seeping through the fabric.
When he fumbled around in his pockets for his phone, only then he realised what happened. The image in his head and the sound that echoed in his ears were out together and everything suddenly made sense. What happened, made sense. Why it happened, however, did not. But that wasn't top of his lists of things to do at the moment. Someone else could okay detective for him. His hip was throbbing, slowly sending a numbing feeling around his body. Energy seeped from his skin, his body slumping further and further into the ground as each minute passed.
Jack dialled Rian's number, and it got to the last ring before he picked up.
'Jack what the hell's it's three in the morning?' The boy grumbled, his voice laced with sleep.
"Help." Was all he could choke out, his throat clenching in agony.
'Jack? Jack what's wrong? What's happened? Where are you?' Rian's voice suddenly sounded more awake, and filled with concern, and the injured boy could hear rustling in the background.
"The park," he coughed, whimpering at the pain it caused him. "I think- I t-think Mark... S-shot me..."

Notes

I was going to not leave notes for a few chapters so apologies for this one.
Firstly, thank you all for reading / commenting etc I love you all
Secondly, sorry for such a later update and the next will be a while as well because my exams start next week so, possibly a month because that's when my last one is. I will try to update before then, but no promises, sorry!
Thirdly, ive been nominated for the awards thing (w o w) for this story and best author, and if you would like to vote that would be lovely & would mean the world :3