PENALTY by Annika Sturm (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

back in his way. Tom could smell their alcohol and cigarette breaths and turned his head away in disgust.

'Come on guys,' Alex said as calmly as possible, 'stop being stupid and get out of the way.' The four men didn't move. Instead, one of them stepped forward and closer to Tom. 'We don't want players like you in our top league or playing for our country,' he looked at both Alex and Tom, 'we need real men, not a bunch of girls!' Alex became seriously concerned now. These men were clearly up for a fight and he knew that they didn't have much of a chance against four of them. He hectically checked if there was anyone around who could help them but the streets were deserted. He could hear Tom breathing hard with stress. The highest priority for him was to get his friend out of this situation safely. When one of the blond men continued heckling Tom and even started pushing him, he decided to act.

Alex threw himself forward into the group of men, which made the two slimmer ones topple over. 'Run Tommy!', Alex shouted at Tom, who was breathing even harder with fear now. He saw Alex lying on the floor struggling with the two men but he hadn't managed to push the other two blond ones over, 'run!' Alex shouted again but Tom couldn't move. He watched in shock as the two stronger men still standing up started kicking Alex’s already bruised stomach and beating his head. Alex moaned in pain and curled up on the pavement in the snow whilst trying to defend himself. Tom grabbed one of the blond men by his shoulders and pulled him away from his friend but he couldn't stop the other one from continuing. 'Get off him!' Tom screamed in anger and the adrenaline had kicked in. He grabbed the other blond man who had kept beating Alex and managed to push him over.

In the meantime though the two slimmer guys that Alex brought down in the first place had got back up and were clearly more interested in Tom. They approached him as he was trying to fight off the second blond man that had kicked his friend. 'The ultimate trophy,' the men laughed as they stood over Tom, 'you have robbed us off our victory today, you fucking puff. How do you think that makes us feel, huh?', all four of them roared with laughter, 'time to teach you a lesson gay pussy!' Tom was breathing hard with anger trying to defend himself and kicked fiercely against the men. But as much as he fought with them, he just couldn't stop his hands and legs being pinned down by two of them. His whole body was shaking as he was staring at them all, angry and terrified. 'Tommy.' Alex mumbled in agony. He could hear them shout at his friend as he was desperately trying to get up and help him but he felt too weak.

'You are nothing but a bunch of fucking thugs.' Tom spat through his teeth and closed his eyes as they started beating him. He could quickly feel blood dripping from his forehead, nose and lips and curled up in pain as they went for his stomach. 'No, leave him alone, please!' Alex shouted, begging in tears of despair. His survival instincts took over. His blood was boiling with anger when he saw them beating Tom over and over again. He finally managed to get back on to his legs and threw himself on top of his friend desperately trying to protect him from any more kicks. Surprised by Alex’s action, the men let go off Tom's hands at least and Tom instinctively threw his arms around him. He hugged him and kissed his cheek. 'Alex, don't.' He whispered into his ear.

'Get off your boyfriend, fag! We're not done with him yet!', the men laughed at him and to Tom's horror, one of the blond men pulled a knife out of his pocket and pointed it directly at Alex’s back, 'get up!' He shouted at him. 'Oh God, Alex.' Tom mumbled hugging him protectively. Alex looked into Tom's terrified eyes and started breathing hard with stress as he slowly turned around, pushed himself off his friend and moved backwards on his elbows through the snow, desperately avoiding the blade. 'You guys are fucking crazy! Put that knife away man.' Alex said as calmly as possible. 'Stay away from him then.' The four men laughed again, now pointing the knife directly at Alex’s stomach. They slowly followed him while he kept moving further and further back.

Whilst all four of them were threatening Alex with the knife, Tom was still lying on his back and was forced to watch helplessly. He had started crying in pain and pure anger but managed to pull himself up. He was shaky on his legs and his face and upper body hurt so much, he was trembling in pain. 'Leave him alone.' He mumbled as he took deep breaths before he launched himself against the men from behind. Some of them fell over again. 'Hey, what do you think you're doing fag?' It was the blond man holding the knife and as he turned around, surprised by Tom's attack, he pushed the blade deep into one side of Tom's stomach. 'Tommy!' Alex screamed as he watched his friend gasp and break down holding his side and curling up on the floor in agony and shock.

'Fuck! You stabbed him, you fucking idiot!', some of the men had started to panic, 'you stabbed a multi-million euro footballer! We'll go down for this. Fucking run!' They ran off leaving the boys behind.

Alex cried and stumbled towards Tom. 'Tommy,' he turned his friend on to his back and held him, 'Tommy, oh God, please. No, please,' he was in utter panic stroking his cheeks and kissing him. Tom was breathing hard with pain. He gasped for air holding the side of his stomach. Alex fished his phone out of his jeans pocket with trembling fingers. His hands were shaking as he dialled 110 and cried into the phone trying to explain what had happened to them, 'yes please, you have to be quick. He's been stabbed. We're, erm, we're...', Alex panicked desperately trying to remember the name of the streets, 'just off Waldburger Strasse', he was breathing hard continuously stroking Tom's hair, 'my name? It's Alexander Hanisch.' He gulped and hung up.

Tom was on the verge of passing out. Alex hectically took his jacket off and tied it firmly around Tom's wound to slow down the bleeding. The white snow soaked with his friend's blood made him shiver. He gently held Tom in his arms and stroked his cheeks and hair. He took his right hand and held it firmly. 'You'll be okay,' he whispered kissing him, 'the ambulance is coming any minute now. You'll be alright,' he started crying again looking at his injuries, 'why didn't you run Tommy? I told you to run.' He tried to wipe the tears of his cheeks. Tom looked into Alex’s eyes. He had started shivering. 'I promised you no-one would ever hurt you again,' Tom said. His voice was weak and his lips were turning blue from the cold, 'I'm sorry Alex.' 'You stupid idiot,' Alex shouted and kissed him, pulling him closer and desperately trying to keep him warm, 'and what about you?' He kept kissing his forehead. Alex couldn't feel the cold or any of his own pain. The shock had totally numbed him.

Then to his relief, he could hear the faint noise of the ambulance in the distance. 'They're coming,' Alex said and stroked Tom's cheeks, 'can you hear them, hmm?' But Tom had fallen unconscious and all Alex could do was wait and try to stop as much blood streaming from the knife wound as he possibly could. Alex cried like he had never cried before. 'Tommy,' he sobbed holding him, kissing him again and again, 'you have to keep fighting. Don't give up. Please. Don't leave me. God please. Don't leave me.'

2 hours later

'You were lucky Mr Hanisch,' the nurse said as she finished treating his injuries in hospital, 'you have some bruises, swellings and cuts, but it seems nothing is broken,' she smiled at him, 'you should be able to train again in a couple of weeks or so.' 'How is he, please, I have to know,' Alex asked her frustratedly, 'we've been here for two hours and you still haven't told me if he is okay.' The nurse smiled as she stood up. 'Our best doctors are attending to him, Mr Hanisch, you need to be patient. Please,' she stroked his shoulder gently, 'he is being well looked after.' Alex forced himself to nod and thanked her. 'I need to make a phone call.' He said hectically. 'Sure, go ahead.' She left the room.

Alex took his phone out of his jeans and dialled Felix's number. 'Hey,' Felix sounded surprised, 'you alright? Have you got bored of each other already or why are you calling me at midnight?' He chuckled. Alex’s eyes filled with tears listening to his familiar voice. 'Felix,' he gulped and his friend picked up on the stress in his voice. 'Alex, has something happened?' He sounded concerned now. 'We were attacked,' Alex took deep breaths, 'on the way home.' 'What?', Felix shouted, 'are you okay? Where are are you? Where is Tommy?' Alex cried in agony. 'We're in hospital. He was stabbed Felix. By a gang of fucking drunk thugs.' He shouted into the phone and held his head in despair. 'What?', Felix was breathing hard, 'what do you mean? He's okay though, yeah? Alex?' 'I don't know,' Alex whispered, 'the doctors are with him. He's fighting for his life.' 'My God. I'll be there as fast as I can.' Felix hung up.

Alex cried as he sat in his hospital bed feeling lonely and worried sick about his friend. He took a moment to look down his naked upper body to examine his own injuries. His stomach and chest were bruised all over now. He picked up a mirror that the nurse had left for him earlier and checked his face. He looked like he had been in a boxing fight, with various cuts on his eyebrows and swellings on his cheek bones. His upper lip was split open but other than that, he seemed to have been lucky indeed. He kept thinking of the moment Tom was stabbed. The fact that he hadn't been able to protect him after all was agonising. And then the nightmare he had had that night in Austria suddenly crossed his mind again. Alex shivered again thinking of the real nightmare he was in right now. He was physically shaking from all the stress and thought about praying for the first time in years.

Twenty minutes later Felix stormed into his room. He stopped in the door and stared at him. 'Jesus, Alex.' He whispered. Alex looked at him and the happy memories from earlier on that night came streaming back. Tom kissing him in front of all the boys, the laughter, the cheers. His friend approached his bedside and gently hugged him. 'Alex, how is Tommy?' He had to control himself not to cry. 'I don't know. They won't tell me anything,' Alex said, 'I don't know.' Shh, it'll be okay,' Felix stroked his hair and tried to calm him down. He sat down on a chair by his bed, 'I've called Kai once I was on my way here, so he'll turn up any minute now,' Alex nodded and cast his eyes down. Felix carefully inspected Alex’s injuries, 'God, what happened?' He asked him gently.

Alex took a deep breath and told him as he painfully remembered the trail of events. 'He lost consciousness just before the ambulance arrived,' he