Chester was shaking madly while Talinda tried to sooth him by running a hand down his back and attempting to have him try breathing exercises, but Chester wasn't listening. He was too busy thinking about 'his' visit before all the guys left. They all took turns talking to Chester one-on-one, and 'he' decided it was a great opportunity to use Chester again.

"Why did he do it again? Why? Couldn't he just kill me?..." Chester murmured, Talinda only being able to pick up on a little bits of what Chester was saying, she was glad he was talking in general, but she didn't miss the main piece of what he was repeating.

"Who hurt you, Chester? What did they do?" She asked softly, then noticing long scratches going down his arms. She grabbed one of them with her free hand and looked Chester in the eyes. "Did you scratch yourself?"

He shook his head and Talinda frowned profoundly. She didn't know who could've hurt him, knowing the scratches were fresh. Her first suspect was Mark, but he hadn't been in the room since dropping Chester off. The only other people who had seen him up until that moment was the band. She tugged Chester's shirt up, wanting to investigate more of the damage. He had a large bruise covering his ribcage and more scratches running down his body, especially his sides.

"What happened, Chester?" She asked and he took in long, shaky breaths.

"M-Mark did this," He stuttered, gesturing to the bruise. Talinda immediately wanted to report her co-worker, but Mark's a tricky guy and manages to squeeze out of trouble. She figured that if such abuse continued, she'd contact as high up in the chain as she could and report him to them.

"Who caused the scratches?" She pressed, but Chester didn't reply. She knew it was impossible, but she had to ask in case Chester was suffering an abusive relationship. "Was it Mike?"

"N-No! Of course not," Chester instantly defended him and Talinda nodded, narrowing down the suspects.

"It was one of your friends though, right, Chester? These are too fresh to have been from someone else if it wasn't you," She told him softly and ran her soothing hands down both his arms, wrapping him in a warm embrace. She wasn't supposed to be as close to the patients as she was, but when it came to Chester, she couldn't help it.

"It was me," Chester changed his mind and Talinda knew she wouldn't get anything else out of him at the time being.

"It's okay, Chester. Everything will be oka-"

"Well, what do we have here?" Mark hummed, coming into the room. He smiled at Chester as brightly and as innocently as he possibly could. "I heard a bit of a commotion from in here and decided to check it out. Now, Tal, are you supposed to be touching the patients like this?"

"Better than what you were doing, Mark. You hurt him," Talinda sneered at him, all memories of her old crush on him banished.

"Hurt him? No. Read his files? Yes. I finally got around to it. Looks like you're dating ol' Mikey, huh?" Mark smirked and Chester trembled in response. "Didn't think Mike swung that way - or your way, for that matter. Talinda, why don't you give up on him? He's not into... you're not his 'type'."

"That doesn't matter. He's been through enough, so stop harassing him," Talinda snapped and squeezed Chester a little to reassure him.

"Harassing? Eh, I suppose that is what I'm doing," Mark tutted, scratching his chin in thought.

"You're abusing the patients-"

"You're flirting with them," Mark countered before she was even finished with her sentence. She didn't have anything to comeback with and just frowned, pulling Chester in for a hug.

"Just leave him alone," Talinda decided to finish the argument. Mark tried to trigger their anger again, but both ignored him until he left - frustrated they didn't react to his final jabs.

~

It was another late night without Chester. Mike was spending it wide awake in bed, feeling incredibly deceived. One of his friends are hurting the love of his life, he couldn't wrap his mind around it. He trusted everyone in the band as though they were family, it was terrifying to think one of them couldn't be trusted. He thought individually about each of them, but still couldn't figure out who would hurt Chester.

Mike immediately wrote off Joe from being a suspect. He could never hurt Chester, he was always messing around and joking, there wasn't a bad bone in his body. If he wasn't cracking jokes, he would be working or simply remaining quiet. The only fact that could make him a genuine suspect was the way he was acting about the situation, he seemed overly weary.

Phoenix was too concerned to have hurt Chester, he seemed clueless and worried. He was a little too eager to see Chester, but Mike figured he would be. He was close to Chester, probably even more than the others to him, but that also gives him the opportunity to betray him and hurt him.

Rob was the silent giant. Mike would find him intimidating if he didn't personally know him. None of the guys know what he's even capable of, making him Mike's top suspect. It frustrated Mike because he took advice from him before even knowing he could've possibly been the one to hurt Chester.

Then there was Brad, Mike's best friend since high school. He knew him almost as well as he knew Chester, there's not a chance he could've hurt him. He could lose his temper sometimes, sure, but he was also a funny guy, like the others. It's hard to think that out of a group of goofballs, one of them are capable of committing a horrific crime against one of their friends, but all thoughts of the issue left his mind when his phone vibrated.

Chester: Hi

Mike: Hey, you. How are you? What are you up to?

Chester: I'm okay. Lights went out about an hour ago, I couldn't sleep.

Mike: Was everything okay after I left?

Mike hit send and sighed deeply, worried. Each of the guys took turns visiting Chester. He tried his hardest to keep all of them away from him, but it wasn't to any avail. He didn't want to push them all away - especially the culprit. It took Chester a few minutes to respond.

Chester: No

Mike: Please tell me who did it. Let me help you.

Chester: Mike, I can't. I'm sorry. I don't know what you'll do and it'll be on my conscious if I tell you and you hurt him.

Mike: What do you mean? What do you think I'll do?

Mike knew exactly what he wanted to do to whoever hurt Chester. It was not friendly in the least, even though it was one of his friends. He thought a lot about it and he knew he could never forgive any of them if they were to hurt Chester. He honestly thought about each of his friends and what he'd do if it were them. He realized he wouldn't hold back on any of them for what they've done.

Chester: You know, Mike.

Mike: Can you at least narrow down the list? Who didn't do it? Just one of them, please?

Chester: Joe didn't do it. You can trust him.

Mike figured as much, but sighed in relief. At least he could confide in Joe now and try to get his help to find out who hurt Chester. He was about to text back, when Chester messaged him again.

Chester: Nurse checking rooms now. Can't talk anymore. I'll message you tomorrow. I love you. Don't message back. Turning phone off.

Mike frowned, but stuck his phone on his nightstand and laid on his side. He'd talk to Joe tomorrow and try to figure out what to do about the situation and hopefully come up with a plan. For now, he needed to sleep. There's a possibility he could catch the suspect tomorrow and he needed his energy, especially strength. After a few more minutes of over-thinking, he finally passed out.

~

Author's Note: Who do you think is guilty?