A Chance Encounter [{stare},KatsuoSuzuki-closed]

The pain. It continues to escalate; it's unbearable. I scream in agony. They just laugh and continue to beat me up. I feel a knife cutting through my arm, I feel the blood running down my skin. I just want it to end, now.

If they don't stop, I'm going to die.

"Ummmm... if you don't mind, could you ask your friends to leave him alone?"

It's Senalia. I think. The pain's the only thing that's present in my mind right now.

But they stop hitting me. And I hear footsteps. They're heading towards someone.

I hear voices; a cacophony of voices echoing through my brain. My head is throbbing too much to distinguish them, but it sounds like there's a girl -- Senalia?

I hope she's okay. I don't think so though. Those guys were out for blood, and my blood wasn't enough for them.

Blood. I can feel it forming a pool under my arm. If I lose too much, I'm going to pass out.

But I can't right now; Senalia needs my help.
But I can't move.

I try to move my leg, but the pain is too great.

Darkness encloses around me. The last thing I hear is a man's voice.

"...'re crazy!"

The next thing I feel is a hand on my forehead.

"Hey Will, are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

My eyes slowly open. It's Senalia.
Senalia!

She's okay. But how? What did she do to keep herself out of harm's way? And where is everybody?

I'm able to sit up with Senalia's help.

"Yeah. They did hurt me. But at least you're okay."

Steadying myself against a wall, I lift myself up, keeping my left foot off the ground.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

But we don't get far. After a block, we're out of the darker side of town, but I'm bleeding too much to go any further.

We plop down onto a nearby bench.

"We have to get you to a doctor, think you can make it?"

She swats the air as if she was shooing away flies, or in her case, most likely lights. I wonder why they're near me anyways.

"You don't have to risk your life for me, you know,"

Senalia presses on the wound covering my arm. It stings like hell, but I know that right now, the blood flow just has to stop, or I'll take a turn for the worse.

"I'm not really the person worth saving here,"

She puts her other hand on my forehead. Is she checking to see if I have a fever or something? That can't be it...can it?

Then again, Senalia was hiding behind a dumpster the whole time. She probably didn't see much.

I turn to her, smile, and say "Look, any friend of mine is worth saving, okay?"

I know I'm not yet fit to walk any farther, so I continue putting pressure on my cut arm, and attempt to make small talk.

"What'd you do to get rid of those guys anyway? I mean, they wanted to hurt you... and those guys normally follow through with their plans..."

(OOC: gaah, this one isn't very good... )

So Senalia rips her sleeve off, and wraps it around my cut like a bandage. It's a kind thought, but the fabric won't really help a whole lot. It does hurt though, so something's going on around there.

"It won't last, so we better get you to a doctor. Think you can walk?"

I think I can. The only problem is that my leg's severely broken. Or at least, it feels that way. It might just be a fracture. I don't know, I'm not a doctor.

"Yeah... I think so."

I attempt to stand up, gritting my teeth, as my broken arm, which is definitely broken, nudges against the bench.

But I can stand. So that's a plus.

There's a doctor who lives by my neighborhood. I know where his office is. But we still have to walk a few blocks to get there.

"Ready?" I ask.

She nods.

Unfortunately, I can only walk by leaning on Senalia. She's sorta small, so it takes us a long time to even walk to the end of the street. But we keep going.

She's telling me it's her fault. But it's not. However Senalia is not going to listen to reason, and I'm too weak to argue with her.

"What... what exactly happened?"

I turn my head to her. She can't remember? Anything?

"I remember up to when we were sitting down, and then the lights started to fade, and then I was behind a dumpster in a dark alley."

She suddenly grips her head, her eyes showing fear. But slowly, she relaxes. Her arm once again falls to her side. I don't know how she's still able to walk. There's about a hundred and thirty extra pounds leaning on her, and she's still going.

"Your eyes."

She turns to me, questioning my statement.

"Your eyes. They became all clouded and distant. Then suddenly, you turned to me and asked me who I was. You couldn't remem-"

I pause. I'm getting even weaker by talking, but she has to know what is going on. I take a deep breath, and continue.

"You couldn't remember how you got to the stoop. Then, those guys...They came out of the bar. I tried to lead you away, so we could go to a safer area, but you ran. You screamed 'I'm not going anywhere with you!' Then you hid behind the dumpster."

My vision's blurring. I'm losing focus, but she must understand how her lights are connected to her mind.

"The guys approached. Before they talked to me, I asked you to sing your mother's song. Then... They asked me where you were."

I gasp for more air.

"They..they...they said that they wanted to scare you a bit, even... scare the crazy right outta you. They called you crazy Senalia, and I don't mean the good kind. I told them to leave you alone, but they challenged me. So I punched a guy, and they all jumped on me."

I stop walking, and look at Senalia right in the eyes.

"I....I can't remember much after that....the pain...it was unbearable. But I heard you talking to them. I don't know what you said, but it made them run. And that's......it.........."

We're on the street where the doctor works at. But I want to tell her my intuition.

"I...think that the lights are connected with your memory....... I'm pretty sure that you couldn't....you couldn't....see the lights after you forgot about me.......And when you sang the song, you remembered everything up until...that....point. So I don't know how this happened to you Senalia, but........... Your mind is working on a different.....spectrum."

I finish my statement. Senalia's looking at me. I'm not sure what's she's thinking. I suddenly can't stand anymore.

I fall.

(OOC: It's perfectly fine Do whatever you have to do)

Senalia reacts right away, kneeling next to me the second my head hits the sidewalk. "Where does it hurt? Can you move? Can you hear me?" Yes Senalia. I can hear you. But barely. I can make out the words, but my throbbing head is louder than your voice, which is quickly becoming more urgent by the second.

"Will! .... gonna be all right, okay? ...gonna stop...We have to get up... We have to keep moving...only way!"

I fading, slipping away. There's a large possibility that if I don't move, I will die here, only minutes from a doctor.

How pathetic.

"Will, get up! Get up! We have to keep on moving! If we don't, you'll die! Please, Will, get up!"

I can hear her voice again. It's loud; booming through my ears, imprinting itself in my mind, so all I can think of is that sentence.

I'll die if I don't get up.

My mother would get by without me. Although most of the time, she's too high to really understand what's going on.

I don't have any friends who'd miss me. Except Senalia, no one would remember me. I'd be some guy who was unlucky, and died in the street. I'd be a statistic.

And a statistic is not something I was aiming to be in my life.

So, my options are simple: Get up, or die.

And I'd rather not choose the latter.

"Ugh."

The pain seems to have multiplied countless amounts as I prop myself up against a building. Slowly, I'm able to stand.


"Okay. Let's go."

One step at a time. That's the process that's playing in my head

Just one more step Will, that's it. Now another one.

It's slow and painful, but we've made it.

We stumble into the office.

The patrons look up in alarm, their eyes widening. I can hear gasps.