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Healing Hearts (Part 2)
“Oh
my goodness!” someone gasped. “Hey! What happened to you?” A man held Duo
up and tried to wake him.
“I
think he might have been robbed,” another said. “Call an ambulance, he is
quite badly hurt.” “Where
am I to find a phone in this middle of nowhere? No, we got to take him to the
hospital ourselves. We can’t leave him here. Go clear the backseat.” The
two young men gently placed the unconscious Duo in their car and rushed down to
the hospital immediately. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Damon
ran back to the apartment anxiously. He hoped Duo would be there, lazing on the
couch or brushing his hair in front of the vanity table. Throwing the door
opened, Damon called out, “Duo?” The
whole apartment was pitch dark and empty. Duo was not there. Damon turned on the
lights and dropped onto the couch wearily. He had been running around the whole
city, looking for Duo. He searched all the places that Julio usually hung out;
nightclubs, pools centers and bars but no one had seen him or Duo. He even
checked at those seedy rundown hotels that Julio usually took the prostitutes to
but there wasn’t any trace of him as well. “Duo,
where are you?” Damon had asked himself repeated. He had an ominous feeling
that something bad had happened to Duo. Especially when Julio was involved. He
was a well-known sadist. Everyone would try to avoid servicing him, knowing his
cruel nature and somewhat perverted ways of torturing the prostitutes. Most
unfortunately, he had taken a special liking for Duo, always going for that
violet-eyed beauty.
The
sudden ringing of the phone startled the boy. He ran to pick up the phone. “Hello?
Yes….Duo?….Yes, I know him…….WHAT?!……..Ok, I…I will be right
there.” Slamming
the phone down, Damon grabbed his jacket and ran out of the apartment. ================ “Miss,
can you please check for me which room Duo Maxwell is in?” Damon panted. “Down
the corridor, third room to your left,” the nurse replied after checking the
registration records. “Thanks.”
Damon searched for the ward down the corridor and rushed into the room.
“Duo!”
A doctor and a nurse who were examining on Duo looked up at him. “Oh…sorry.” “Continue
to keep him under observation and keep me inform when he’s awake,” the
doctor instructed the nurse. Taking off his glasses, the doctor turned to Damon. “I’m
Doctor Alex. Are you related to the patient?” Damon
nodded. “I’m his house mate.” “What
about his parents?” “We
are orphans.”
The
doctor raised his brows, and then slowly nodded. “I see.” “Doctor,
happened to my friend?” Damon asked, approaching the bed, looking at Duo’s
bandaged face. “Well,
two college students found him unconscious and bleeding on a highway and they
brought him to the hospital. There are some broken ribs and numerous bruises on
his body. Besides that, he has some pretty serious damage to the anus and
rectum. There are tears in the lining of the rectum, swelling as well as
abrasion of the anus. I strongly believe that he was raped and abused, badly
beaten by his attacker,” the doctor explained.
“Attackers,
all three of them,” Damon thought as he grimaced. His heart pained at the
sight of the helpless Duo. “Oh Duo, that bastard Julio hurt you so badly. I
will kill him if I could,” the boy wanted to cry out. “Right
now we will have to wait for him to gain consciousness to really know what
happened. Do you want to stay with him for a while? It will be good if he wakes
up to find someone he knows with him.” “Yes,
please let me stay with Duo,” Damon implored. “I won’t leave you alone
again,” he added silently. ================
For
the past two days, Damon had been patiently keeping Duo accompany at the
hospital, staying vigil by his bedside. Duo was running a high fever due to some
bacterial infections. Damon tended to him day and night together with the
nurses, hoping that the boy will wake up soon. His heart was filled with grieve
and distress every time he thought of what had happened to Duo. “Why
must this happened to you? You are going to have a new life, why must those
bastards ruined it for you?” Damon sobbed silently, brushing back his tears. Suddenly, he heard a soft groan. “Duo?” Duo’s
eyelids fluttered, his lips moved, his fingers twitched slightly.
“Duo?”
Damon called out again, gently shaking his arm. Duo
slowly opened his eyes and looked at him through blurred vision. Damon almost
jumped with joy. “Duo!
You are awake! Oh Duo, I am so worry about you.” “Damon?
Where…where am I?” Duo whispered. Damon
blinked at him for a while. “You are in the hospital. Duo, do you remember
what happened to you?” “What…happened?”
Duo closed his eyes and slowly, bits and bits of the memory of the rape and
abuse came to his mind. “Julio….he
and his friends…..” Duo muttered nervously, “ they….they raped me….and
beat me and…….” Tears rained down his cheeks and Duo choked back a sob.
“I’m
so sorry, Duo. I……” Damon was at a loss of words. “How
long have I been here?” Duo asked. “You
have been unconscious for three days.” “Three
days? Three days?! Oh no…..” Duo tried to get up, pushing away the covers. “Duo!
What are you doing? You mustn’t get up, you haven’t recover yet,” Damon
gently pushed him back onto the bed. “I
can’t stay here. I must go back to wait for Heero. He won’t be able to find
me if I stay here. I must go,” Duo attempted to get up again. “No
Duo, you stay here. You still need medical attention. Let me go back and wait
for him. I promise, I will bring him to see you, ok?” Damon offered. “You
will wait for him? You promise?” “Yes,
I will. Now, you must get more rest. I will go back and wait for him now,”
Damon said, adjusting the pillow and blanket for him. Duo
nodded tiredly. “You must bring him to me….you must…” ================ Damon
stepped into the apartment, exhausted. He grabbed a bag and filled it with some
stuff for Duo; his discman, some magazines and mangas. But he knew that what Duo
needed the most now was Heero. Only Heero could comfort him now. But in his
mind, Damon was still skeptical about Heero. Will he really come back for Duo?
And even if he did come back, will he still accept Duo after what happened? What
if he rejects Duo? What if……..Damon groaned inwardly. There were just too
many “what if” to consider. But he must think positively, for Duo’s sake. “Please
come soon, Heero. Duo needs you very badly now, please come soon,” Damon
prayed silently. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Duo
woke up early that morning. He was looking forward to the visiting hours,
looking forward to see Heero. “Heero….my
savior Heero….” He
was counting the hours and minutes to the visiting time. Damon
clutched at the bag tightly as he walked down the corridor towards Duo’s ward.
He had waited the whole night for Heero but the guy never turns up. Now he was
worry how to tell Duo. He reached the ward and slowly opened the door. “Hi
Duo. How are you feeling today?” he asked, trying to sound cheery. Duo
kept looking behind Damon, passed the door. “Ummm….fine..fine….Where is
Heero?” Damon
bit his lips nervously. “Errr…..he didn’t show up yesterday.” “He
didn’t? He didn’t come back?” Duo dropped back onto the pillow, looking
dazed. Disappointment was shown clearly in his eyes. “Duo,
are you all right? Look, maybe he’s delayed. Maybe he will show up today or
tomorrow. Let’s just wait for a few more days, ok? Please Duo, don’t be so
sad. You told me you have faith in him, didn’t you?” Damon tried to comfort
his friend. Duo
gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, maybe he’s delayed. He will be here. I know he
will.” Damon
nodded in agreement. “And you better be here soon, Heero,” he added silently
to himself. ================ Almost
a week had passed but there was still no sign of Heero. Duo was looking forward
to see him everyday and everyday he ended up disappointed and upset. His faith
in Heero was shaken. He sunk deeper into depression. He had became very
paranoid, recurrent
nightmares and insomnia were taking a toil on him
and
his appetite was greatly affected. Damon was mentally cursing Heero for causing
such distress to Duo. “Damn
you, Heero. Why did you promise him a new life and fail to fulfill it? Why did
you lie to him? Why did you toy with his feelings? Damn you, damn you!” Duo
refused to eat anything. All day, he just lay on the bed, dazed and silent. He
had also developed severe
mood swings. Sometimes,
he would become agitated
or hysterical, crying piteously. Other times he was just silent, ignoring
everyone around him. “Duo,
you must eat something. You need a lot of nourishment. Please Duo, eat
something,” Damon pleaded, handing him the bowl of oatmeal. Duo
just stared at the bowl. Lifting the spoon with great effort, he forced himself
to take a spoonful of the oatmeal. The food had hardly entered his throat when
suddenly the scene where his rapist had his cock in his mouth, spilling his seed
down his throat came to his mind. Duo jumped out of the bed and ran into the
bathroom, emptying his already emptied stomach.
Damon
ran after him and saw him slumped onto the bathroom floor limply. “Duo!
Are you ok?” Damon asked anxiously as he lifted Duo to his feet and helped him
back to his bed. Duo just lay on the bed weakly, trapped in his own world again.
Damon sighed woefully.
He
was getting more and more worried about Duo. While his physical wounds had
healed, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While
visiting Duo one day, he heard loud screams coming from Duo’s ward. Running
worriedly into the ward, he saw Duo screaming and crying hysterically, battling
off the doctor and nurses, clutching onto the pillow and blanket tightly. “What
happened?” The doctor frowned. “He has been refusing food and medications and he is suffering from a severe dehydration. I have no choice but to put him on drips but every time we go near him, he turns hysterical, screaming and struggling to get away. We are trying to calm him down.” Duo started screaming again when a nurse tried to go near him with the drips. Left with no option, the doctor eventually grasped hold of Duo’s arms with Damon’s help and held him down, shouting at the nurse to inject some tranquilizers in Duo’s arm. Duo went limped and the nurse quickly stuck the needles into his arm, fixing the drips and medications. Damon watched as he fell into a drug induced sleep. He took some cotton wools and soaked them in a glass of water, gently sponging Duo’s dried and cracked lips with it. Even with the drugs, Duo wasn’t sleeping peacefully. He was muttering something unconsciously. Damon leaned forward and heard him calling out for Heero. Tears welled up in Damon’s eyes again. “Poor Duo……” ================ Heero walked up the stairs leading to Duo’s apartment. He hoped Duo wasn’t angry with him for coming so late. He was at Lagrange X-1874 when some anti-government groups attacked the colony. The whole Lagrange went into a state of emergency. The government imposed a curfew and the space station was closed. All forms of communications were cut off too. Heero was anxious and was unable to do anything until the government lifted the curfew. That took almost one and a half week. Finally he was back in L2, coming for his Duo. Heero looked at the address scribbled on a piece of paper. “This is the place,” he thought as he knocked on the door. The door opened slightly and a face peered out to look at him. “Yes?” the person asked. Heero blinked at him. He was expecting Duo to answer the door. “Hi, I’m looking for Duo.” “Duo?” the boy behind the door eyed him again, this time thoroughly. Opening the door wider, the boy asked,” Are you….Heero?” Heero nodded, trying to peak into the apartment, searching for Duo. The boy threw the door opened and stood before him angrily. “Why didn’t you come earlier? Poor Duo, he needs you so badly. Why are you so late?” Damon lashed out at him. Heero
was totally baffled. “The place I was at was under curfew. No one was allowed
to leave. Who are you? Where is Duo? What happened to him?” “I’m
Damon, Duo’s friend and house mate. Come with me, we got to go to the hospital
now.” “Hospital?” “Yes,
Duo is in the hospital. Let’s go now, I will explain to you on the way,”
Damon slammed the door shut and dragged Heero down the stairs. Traveling
in a cab, Damon related to Heero all that had happened to Duo. Heero listened in
a grim silence. His fists clenched tightly, his expression turned cold and hard.
Damon was rather scared to see that look on his face. Mentally he wondered what
Heero was going to do. Getting
out of the cab, Heero and Damon saw a large crowd gathered in front of the
hospital. “What’s
going on here? What’s with this commotion?” Damon remarked curiously.
Looking up to the top of the building, Heero stared in horror while Damon gave a
sharp cry.
“Duo,
DON’T!”
~~~
End Of Part 2 ~~~ Copyright © 2000 Minky < To Part 3 > |