Fighting Life

Chapter Four

It was one of those moments when you just know something is going to happen, that you did something stupid and was now going to suffer for it. This was one of those moments. Tana was so upset, feeling heart broken by her friend, who likely did forget, but her mind just clammed up on how let down she was, that she did not pay enough attention to anything that was going on around her. To say, this was why she had stepped out onto the crossing not realising there was a car heading towards her and would not have enough time to stop.

She was expecting to see flashes of her life before her eyes, a bright light guiding her to a more peaceful place. Tana was expecting to feel pain and then nothing, to see things around her and then for all that to fade away into darkness. What she was expecting, was not what she got. The car did try to break, the burning of rubber was offending everyone's senses, and there was a lot of commotion going on, noises here there and everywhere, but she did not feel the impact at all, not the hard, body braking impact she had been expecting.

Instead, shocked and shaken, tears streaked down her face, Tana felt steady arms around her. Her face was pressed against a warm body, an arm around her waist and a hand against the back of her head. In that last moment, when she had frozen in fear and shock, when she had expected the car to hit her, a hand had come out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist, pulling her quickly and forcefully and then wrapped her in a protective grip. Tana did not know what to do, what to think, she had thought her life was just about over, and yet, somebody had come along and saved her.

She shivered, while she had days where she felt death would be the better option, the prospect of almost dying did scare her some. It was strange how she felt that way and it was why she knew inside there was a part of her that wanted to keep fighting on, through all her pain and darkness, even if there were days in which she just did not want to any more.

Taking in a deep breath, she lifted her head, getting a mouthful of cologne the person holding her was wearing. She looked up at their face, even though she was sure her eyes were still blurred from tears and her glasses sitting crooked on her nose, she could just make out that it was a male. She could not see much of his features, but a strong jaw and the smell was a give away. Tana opened her mouth to say something, to say thank you, but found words failed her, nothing came out. She had lost sense of using her voice in the moment that everything happened and now she looked like a lumbering fool. While she took a moment to contemplate these thoughts, the male shifted, looking down, his eyes locking with hers.

Tana was drawn into the intensity of his eyes, the sea blue haze that was upon her. Yet, in those eyes, she could see the hard firm look of a person not impressed, with a disapproving emotion behind it all. His glance was quick and only lasted seconds, before he looked away again. Her legs felt like jelly from all the emotion flowing through her, from the pain of what Trish had done and the shock of the car coming towards her. Tana did not know what to do and the figure that held onto her did not seem to say anything. After their short moment of locking eyes, he seemed to move, to distance himself and not fighting the actions he took, she realised he was shifting her, placing her down on a low wall of a garden bed and then walked away.

"This won't happen again." She heard him mutter in an angry tone as he moved on.

Lifting a shaking hand, she corrected the angle of her glasses, she sat where he had left her, silent and still, not sure what she was to do. She felt numb, very numb, while everything within her was still shaking.

With a tight chest and a running pulse, she did not know what she was going to do with herself. Tana still wanted to get back to her car, but she knew there was no way she was going to be able to hold herself steady at that moment. She decided in her head to give herself a few minutes, to calm down and let the hype of sense settle down more.