Chapter 3: A Disturbing Morning The Carl and Ted slept together the whole night. The night grew cool and quiet. After hours pass, morning slowly crept in, and the sunlight slowly made its way into the bedroom. When the light of the sun hit across Carl’s face he slowly began to wake up. With a deep yawn, he looked over at the time and saw it was 6:01 am. Slowly, without waking Ted, he eased out of the bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for today. Around thirty minutes later Ted slowly started to wake up. That was the normal time that he would wake up to head to school and because of the late night yesterday he was extremely tired. Although he wanted more sleep, he knew he had to get up and call up Nara and inform him of the situation and why he could not make it. Ted hopped out of bed and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. He dialed up Nara’s number while walking over toward the window. “Hey, Ted! Didn’t expect you to call so early.” “Sorry if I woke you. I called this early to tell you I can’t make it today.” “You can’t? But what happened?” Ted took some time to tell Nara what all happen last night. It was a little hard for Ted to tell him about it as it brought back those feelings of anger of what Jonny had said to Carl. “Oh god! I’m so sorry that happened to him. Hopefully, he will be doing fine today. And I completely understand. We can make plans for tomorrow or Monday ok?” “Alright, that will work. Thank you so much, Nara. I swear I will make it up to you.” “You can make it up to me with a cup of coffee and cupcakes~” Nara said with a laugh. “Alright. Will do!” Ted said laughing back. “Will be looking forward to that cutie. Alright, I will let you get to what you were doing. But hey! I will still be moving today, and I know I’m going to need some time to relax. I was thinking I could call you up then?” “Umm, sure Nara! That would be great! And if I’m not busy I could catch you still.” “Sounds like a plan Ted. I will call you when I have free time. See ya sexy.” “Catch you later Nara!” Ted hung up the phone and put it back into his pocket. Ted yawned with his arms above his head and shuttered from the smell that came from under his arms. He needed a bath and needed it now. Ted walked out of the room and heard the showers running. His head tilts to the side as he looked at his watch, wondering how long Carl was in the bathroom. Ted walked up to the door and knocked three times. “Hey, Carl! Isn’t it about time you give someone else a shot at the showers?” Ted said and waited for a response. “Carl? You in there?” He waited a few more seconds before reaching for the knob of the door. He twisted it and was surprised to see that it was locked. He rolled his eyes and walked off, heading back to the room to straighten the bed back up. To him, he thought it was just Carl making sure that Ted would not walk in on him so Ted gave him some time, especially from what happened last night. He could use a long shower after that. When Ted came into the room he saw Carl’s phone on the table next to where Carl slept. Ted continued to walk for a moment but stopped and looked over at that phone again. “No no. What the hell is wrong with me. I can't…” Ted said to himself. He kept looking at it, and more curiosity filled his mind.He knew it was wrong. And did not know why he was even thinking of this. But he wanted to see more about his Jonny person. And he knew one way to do it was through messages or social media. He felt horrible for what he was about to do but justified it by continuing to think it was for Carl’s on the good that he did it to protect Carl. So, when Ted picked up the phone and tapped it, his eyes widened when he saw a text from Jonny. “Fucking bitch. Think I give a damn if you do that….” The message read. Ted swiped over the screen to open it up and went to Carl’s messages. He knew he should not do this. But he was far too concerned about what Jonny could have said to Carl this time to listen to reason. As he scrolled up his paw began to shake in fear and his eyes widened. “Hey.” “Are you up yet?” Jonny’s messages started at around 6:10 am. “Carl?” “What do you want Jonny? I told you I’m done.” Carl replied. “Listen. I’m sorry alright? I was jealous I guess.” Jonny replied. “Jealous of what?? You didn’t even know about my friend until you heard him! Just stop! I'm done!” Carl replied before a hate filled text came in. “You know what rat. Let me tell you how this works. Your just a rat!! A damn disgusting pest of the street. The law doesn’t like you. Hell. You don’t even have laws to protect your ass if I wanted to kill you. In fact, they would go in my favor. Little prey~ You will always be just another fucking slut you know? A fox even has a better name than your kind.” Jonny replied in one long message that was split into 2 parts. “Shut up! Damn cat!!… I…” Carl replied. “I what? Your worthless and not even worth my time. I got my shot of you. Now that canine is next. You think he cares about you, don’t you? He just wants to knot ya and leave ya. Just like I’m doing.” Jonny replied with one text. “Just think of Michael. And what he did to you.” Jonny said in his second reply. “Just stop!! Micheal… Ted isn’t…” “SHUT UP. He won’t… I…Just shut up…I..i..I’m going to cut me…” Carl replied. “Fucking bitch. Think I give a damn if you do that?” Ted dropped that phone and fell back onto the bed as soon as he read that text. He could not read any more of it. He did not know what to think of what he just read. Though he was shaking from it all the first thing that hit his mind was that Carl may have hurt himself. That shaking stopped and he sprinted toward that bathroom, almost tripping as he did not look where he was going. When he got to the door he placed both paws on the door and slammed on it three times with his palm. “Carl!! Carl!?! Are you ok in there?!!” He said with a pause “Please answer me dammit!!” After he said that he stepped back and started to kick at the door. It took a few failed attempts before the door finally started to give way. With one last kick, Ted kicked it in. He let out a deep gasp and his paw moved up to his mouth. He saw Carl laying on the floor face first. Blood was dripping from his left arm and forming a puddle. Ted ran over and dropped to his knees. He rolled Carl over and pulled him up into his arms. Carl’s face was covered in blood, from that, Ted could tell Carl used his sharp teeth to bite at his arm. “Carl??… Carl?!! Please no!” He would say as anxiety started to kick in. He did not know what to do. His heart was pounding so fast he thought he was going to pass out. He shook his head and moved his right paw down and grabbed Carl’s arm, trying to stop the bleeding. It was not as bad, but there was a lot of blood lost. Ted remembered what he learned in health Ed, grabbed a towel and tied it against Carl’s arm above the cut and applied pressure until the blood circulation stopped. Once he was sure the bleeding stopped enough, he reached into his pocket and dialed 911. “911 what is your emergency?” “Help! My friend bit his arm trying to commit suicide! Please send help!” “Ok sir, stay calm. Tell us the location of the area you're in.” “14 Maple Street, Arkan City. It is a white house with a garage that has a red door on it.” “Alright, sir we are sending paramedics immediately. Please stay on the phone and describe to us your friend’s condition.” Ted stayed on the phone and explained how he stopped the bleeding with a towel. They told Ted to check for a pulse and breathing and luckily there was. Carl’s breathing was faint and his heart beat was slow but he was still alive. It only took ten minutes before sirens were heard. Ted was holding Carl in his arms at the moment, shedding tears as he held Carl’s arm up, keeping it elevated above the heart. Ted’s ears perked and he responded back to the dispatcher on the phone that he heard the ambulance outside. He placed Carl in a sitting position with his back against the wall of the bathroom and ran downstairs to the door to let the paramedics in. Ted told them where Carl was and they head up to the bathroom. A lady pulled Ted aside to ask him a few questions as the paramedics got Carl prepared to carry out. “Ok. Tell me exactly what happened.” The policewoman said. “Well, my friend got up to use the bathroom. I guess he came back into the room and checked his phone and saw that Jonny had messaged him.” “Alright, who is Jonny?” She would ask him as she pulled out a notepad and pencil. “Jonny was his abusive boyfriend. I just found out about him yesterday when Carl and I were coming from a club. Carl told me yesterday that the guy is a feline and was abusing him. So I told him he did not deserve that and should break up with the guy. He did and I stayed by his side through it all until this morning.” “And that is when Carl got up to start the morning, and the guy sent harassing text to him right?” “Yes, that is right. Carl told him he was going to kill himself and Jonny said go ahead.” “I see. And that is where you ran into the shower to see your friend there?” “Yea that’s right.” After Ted finished talking the paramedics came out carrying Carl on a stretcher. Carl was hooked up to a blood bag that leads into his arm and an oxygen mask on his face. Ted tried to run up to them but was stopped by the officer. “Don’t worry. They know what they are doing ok? Right now you need to provide me with as much information as you can to help us arrest this guy?” “Ok. The guy is a feline. A bit taller than I am and seemed to have blonde short hair. He looked muscular, but I was at a distance from him. As for fur color, I am not sure, but I do know that he goes to our school and he must live around our area.” “Alright, that is great. Thank you so much. Will I take you to the hospital to see your friend ok? After that, I will leave you to be with him while we go arrest this guy. But I will have to ask you to come to attempt to identify the guy if we catch him. We will backtrace the text messages and find the location. If we can’t get anything we will call you Ted nodded and got into the police car. It took an hour to travel to the city of Maria. To the Maria’s Central Hospital. Once they stopped the police told Ted which desk to go to in order to find Carl’s room. Ted walked toward the doors of the hospital. When the automatic doors opened up he took a deep breath and headed straight for the desk that was ahead of him. He stood at the counter and waited for the nurse to address him. “Can I help you?” “Hi. I am Carl’s friend. Carl Henderson. The police brought me here.” “His room number is 227 on the second floor.” “Alright. Thank you so much!” He walked down the hall and kept straight until he found an elevator. He stepped in and pressed number two. The whole way up to floor number two his heart pounded fast. He was not sure how Carl was doing. And was afraid to find out in case it was bad. Though deep inside he knew he had to be strong for Carl. Even though it was just a ride to the second floor, it seemed endless. Ted shed a few more tears before wiping over his eyes once the elevator stopped and taking a deep breath as the doors opened. Ted stepped out of the elevator and walked down a hall. The numbers on the walls near the doors had 220 and counted up, which meant he was going in the right direction. Each step he took made him more and more nervous until he was practically shivering. So many thoughts ran through his head until he finally got to that number, 227. With a deep breath, closing his eyes as his lungs filled with air, he opened the door, pushing forward and walking into the room.