My ears were ringing and it didn't help that my heart was beating loudly in my chest. The dreadful feeling of deja vu washed over my body like it was honey, sticking onto me, making it difficult for me to get rid of and the ability to run away from it.
I gulped down a huge lump in my throat. The scary-looking guy looked 6'0, a few inches taller than me as I was 5'6. There was barely any light in the alleyway so all I could see was nothing but his tall silhouette towering over me, almost looking like a tree in a dark forest.
I gathered the last of my courage to speak up. "I have a penknife with me and I'm not afraid to use it." It was half true, I had it with me every other time since I used it often when I needed to make architectural models but not now.
"A penknife wouldn't hurt me but you could try." His deep voice stated.
"I don't do violence." I said and he laughed at that.
"What?" I asked out of instinct.
He stepped under the lamp post, the light finally shining on his face as he had an annoyed look on his face. My eyes were met with his amber eyes that held a small fire in them. His curly blonde hair resembled a gold rush and his distinct features showed off every curve and shape of his face, from his sharp nose to his defined jaw.
"I was handling myself just fine, thank you." He spoke with sarcasm while dusting the dust off his shirt.
I furrowed my brows immediately at him and folded my arms in disbelief, "You were clearly hurting him!" I shouted at him, but before I could continue, his hand shot up to cover my mouth, zipping my lips from saying anything further.
"Are you trying to get security on me?" He shouted back while asking in an oblivious tone.
"Obviously, you assaulted someone!" The words came off as incoherent and muffled. I bite his hand as hard as I could for him to let go of me. He did as I planned, wincing loudly at that. So much for saying that a penknife wouldn't hurt him.
"Ow! What's your issue with me?" He asked with a shout.
"The fact that you're going to assault me next is the issue!" I shouted back.
He was about to retort again when his face started scrunching up in confusion before it relaxed again, as if everything had clicked and made sense.
He sighed, dragging his hand down his face. "What- You thought I was going to hurt you or something?" He questioned dumbfoundedly.
"What else were you going to do next? Take me out to dinner?" I questioned him back while folding my arms.
I let go of my arms and let them fall to my sides, "By the way you were treating that poor guy and stomping on him like you were bullying him. What else was I supposed to assume other than you hurting him?" I told him truthfully.
"As you can see, I was jumped on by him first." He said as I raised my brows at the irony.
"You seem fine, what victim shit are you pulling on me?" I defended myself.
He rolled his eyes, "Has anyone ever told you how stubborn you are?"
"Has anyone ever told you how obnoxious you are?" I snapped at him.
Something caught my eye as my gaze diverted from his amber eyes and to something trickling down the side of his temple. I zoned in closely as my eyes widened in shock at the colour red.
"You're bleeding!" I shouted at him as he brought his hand up to his temple.
As if on cue, a broken glass bottle rolled over and hit the side of my shoe. I observed closely as the sharp edges of the glass bottle were tinted with blood as it dripped all over the ground. I looked up from the bottle as the burgundy on the side of his head continued to caress his face as it fell and stained deeply onto his shirt.
Horror was plastered all over my face and it continued to stay as I came into a realisation that whatever he was trying to say before was indeed true and someone did attack him first.
"I am so sorry-"
"You should go before someone comes over." He cut me off as he wiped the blood away with his hand like it was no big deal.
I stared at him, considering it for a minute when I stood my ground, "I can't, it's the least I can do right now."
"What-"
I took his right arm and put it over my shoulder, the weight itself already taking it's toll on me before mustering the rest of my strength to pull his body forward.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He questioned in a not so kind tone.
"Because of me, someone is definitely coming over now so what I can do now is bring you, who has no condition to walk, to a safe place or at least outside of this place." I insisted that I help him. The guilt lingered in my chest at the thought of getting him into more trouble now despite already handling things on his own in the first place.
He gave me the silent treatment which signalled to me that he agreed with me. We took off from the dark alleyway, his arm gripping tightly onto the sleeve of my shirt to keep his balance as I guided him slowly towards the alternative gate due to the lack of security there.
From time to time, I sneaked glances at him. His face remained emotionless or maybe it was dark hence I couldn't fully see his expression properly. My shoulders were getting tired from half of his weight leaning onto the side of my body. I didn't care that I barely knew the guy, instead I was focused on finding a place to rest and tend to his wounds.
My eyes lit up as we found ourselves before a playground, except that it looked gloomy in the dark where there were no kids playing around since it was probably their bed time now. I suppose if we do see one, we might need to pray it doesn't follow us back home.
I gathered the last of my strength as I pulled him towards the playground. We reached the slide after walking for a while as he let go of the sleeve of my shirt and landed on the slide with a heavy thud. I huffed as the tiredness overwhelmed me for a moment. I pushed it away, thinking that this was not the time to rest.
"Give me your phone." I said to him as he looked up dumbfoundedly.
"Are you robbing me in an abandoned playground now?" He asked in a bored tone.
"Just give it." I sighed deeply as he passed me his phone. I turn on his flashlight and shine it on the side of his head, bending forward to get a closer look at his head.
I searched through his blonde curly hair for the injury. There were small pieces of glass shards here and there, but they didn't pose a threat that could hurt him further.
His hair was falling into place like dominoes, imitating a gold rush.
I finally spotted a big red patch at the back of his head and pushed the gold locks away from the injury while inspecting it more.
"How is it?" He questioned out of blue, startling me.
"I have good news and bad news." I told him.
"Good first." He answered me. What kind of person chooses good news first?
"You don't need stitches, the cut is not deep enough to need them." I explained thoroughly.
"Meaning the guy wasn't strong enough." He joked as I rolled my eyes before continuing.
"The bad news is you might want to shave your hair for it to heal properly, which could result in a bald spot in the middle of your hair." I exclaimed lightly, trying not to laugh at the thought of him having a bald spot.
"Are you a doctor or something?" He asked genuinely and I shook my head even though his back was facing me.
"I'm not but my Aunt is, she taught me how to stitch wounds." I answered, what I didn't tell him was that I had to learn how to do stitches from Margaret back when I had been discharged from the hospital, in case any of my cut wounds reopened again when she's not around to help me.
Black spots started clouding my eyes like a plague. My sight turned blurry immediately as the surrounding lights started emulsifying from each other before blending back together like a whirlwind. The pounding of my headache didn't help the dizziness and it slowly reminded me that I wasn't out of the clear to continue and my body was shutting down sooner or later.
"Give me a moment." I tried to sit on the floor to stop my dizziness but it was too late and I could feel my consciousness slipping away.
Someone was calling out to me and I couldn't respond. The words were stuck in my throat, unwilling to leave. I was fainting and I couldn't stop it from happening. Somehow fainting in a dark place, isolated from everything was all so familiar yet foreign at the same time. I welcomed the dark embracing me like a soft blanket and I was out like a light.
…
I felt a damp cloth touch my forehead, it's coldness spreading throughout my body. My hands pushed against the soft bed, carrying myself up as the cloth dropped onto my lap. My eyes blinked open as it got used to the light illuminating the room. Except that it wasn't my room.
Did I get kidnapped?
Calm down Ares, we will just leave and get out of here.
My plans were tarnished at the sound of water dripping incessantly. I looked to my right to find someone that I couldn't recognise, squeezing tightly onto a cloth in a pail of water. She could make out the creaking sounds of the bed frame as she threw the cloth back into the pail and rushed to the side of the bed.
"Great, you're awake. Any longer, I might have to bury you in my backyard." She joked halfheartedly. I furrowed my brows at the statement, backing away from her slowly. The woman looked younger than her age, her skin was poreless without a single wrinkle to be found. Something told me that she looked alot like someone that I met before.
As if on cue, a familiar person barged into the room, the door slamming against the wall as a result.
"Mama, you're supposed to call me when she's awake!" My eyes lit up when I saw Vanessa in her nightgown, glaring at her own Mum.
"Give your old lady some respect, you're standing in my house." She fought back while Vanessa looked unbothered by the sentence, as if she got used to it.
Vanessa took one good look at me before turning back to her Mum, "She's scared shitless, Mama. You told her one of your first liners again, didn't you?" Her Mum laughed loudly at that before giving me a smug look.
"I was just trying to lighten the mood." Her Mum defended, her lips curled in a smirk.
Vanessa rolled her eyes, "You're lucky no one has called the cops on you for attempted murder." Her Mum shrugged her shoulders like no one took her seriously anyway, except for me.
"Why am I here?" I questioned in a hoarse voice as I broke their conversation apart.
"Did you remember anything?" Vanessa asked me.
I took a moment to think, "I remembered blacking out." I said, touching the side of my head where the pounding headache was, it wasn't as bad as before.
"Someone found you lying on the floor and you didn't have anything with you except Vanessa's number on a piece of paper with your belongings." Her Mum told me.
"They called me and we picked you up. Mama has been taking care of you ever since we came back home." Vanessa tilted her head at her Mum.
The memories from earlier came flooding into my mind as I finally remembered the guy that was with me.
"Did you see anyone with me?" I asked.
"No. There was nobody." She snapped all of a sudden, her brows furrowing as her eyes filled with furry. She then realised that she lost control of her emotions when she saw the look of confusion on my face.
Vanessa cleared her throat, "I'm gonna get a cup of water for you." Her tone was back to normal as she turned and left the room in a hurry.
Her Mum and I were left alone in the room as we both stared at each in silence. In a split second, she started laughing, breaking the silence first. "You act just like Autumn when she was sick and needed a place to stay back then. A sick puppy." She reminisced about the past before making eye contact with me.
"I supposed we haven't introduced ourselves to each other, I'm Jessica, but you can call me Jess for short." She smiled politely at me.
"I'm Ares, thanks for taking care of me and letting me in your home." I said, returning the smile.
Jess shook her head, "It's no trouble, I welcome anyone Nessa befriends." She spoke as she took her phone from the bedside table and passed it to me.
"Nessa told me you don't have your phone with you, use mine to call your parents, they must be worried sick for you." I barely flinched as she struck a nerve in me. I nodded weakly from the sentence, unwilling to break down in front of her when all Jess had been doing was to help me.
"Thank you." I tried to voice out, keeping my lips from wobbling.
"I will give you some privacy." She said before heading out of the room.
When the door closed, I wiped the tears away that I was about to shed. I looked down at the unlocked phone, it's brightness blinding me for a second before getting used to the lighting in the room as it dimmed down. I stared at the time which was around 11pm, two hours since I last saw the time.
I wondered if he left me there on purpose or did he leave the playground to seek help. I wondered if he was the one who called Vanessa for me and then left me there. Maybe this was his way of revenge for almost getting him into trouble. I laughed at myself, why am I defending him?
We don't know each other.