I listened to this kind man's voice as he continued to hum until we got out of the woods, and for the whole walk out of the woods which was a lot, it made me realized that I must've ran so fast that I was meters in the woods when I tripped, for the whole walk out of it I never even heard him complain that I was heavy not like when Lance would just carry me for a minute then he would be dropping me because I was too heavy.
I was starting to relax and get used to being piggy backed ride when I recognized the neighborhood that we were going to pass.
"W-wait..."
"Hmm?"
He stopped walking and looked at him over his shoulder, humming a question as to why I wanted him to stop.
"Do we really have to pass through this neighborhood?"
He looked at the row of houses in front of us, and was quiet for a few minutes, before adjusting me on his back when he thought that I was slipping.
"Yeah, there's no other way towards the clinic but if you don't want to pass here I can find another way- "
"No! oh what I mean is you don't have to find another way, its fine if we pass here. Sorry for cutting you off"
I knew that the volume of my voice was getting lower as I talked, but it looked like he didn't mind it since he just smiled at me as if comforting me before talking.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure"
"Okay, hold on tight"
He continued to walk through the neighborhood, as I angled my face in a way that no one would recognize me by doing this I didn't realized that my face was by his neck until it was too late. I just realized that I was too close to his neck and was breathing on it when I got a whiff of what must've been his cologne.
I was about to face away from his neck when I heard a very familiar voice calling out, that was when I realized that we were in front of Lance's house. I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes as I remembered what I saw earlier, tears started to form in my eyes once again. My body unconsciously tensed up when the next thing I heard was Lance's voice getting nearer and nearer as if he was approaching us, and by the sound of it he really was getting close.
"Bro!"
And to my bad luck the kind man stopped and turned to the right where I assume Lance was approaching us with his girl following after her.
"I haven't seen you all day, where have you been?"
"I was in the woods like always, and what do you mean you haven't seen me all day? You didn't even go out of your house up until now"
Both of them continued to talk when I felt someone touched my right sleeve which made me tense up a bit more, that he must've felt because he shifted and angled me where Lance and his girl won't be able to see my face.
"Who's that?"
"She's...someone"
"Someone?"
"Yeah, well as you can see she's injured so I have to bring her to the clinic buy guys"
He said goodbye before starting to walk again but this time he was silent, it wasn't until we passed a few houses that he stopped and nudged me, which made me look at him over his shoulder slowly, he wasn't looking at me but I knew he was about to ask something so I waited. He must've been thinking how to ask his question or just gave up because he didn't ask instead said;
"Don't ever trust men like him again, you'll just hurt yourself in the end"
After that he continued walking and was starting to hum the tune that he kept on repeating again. And I was there looking at the back of his head, as his words played again and again in my mind like a broken record player.
I don't know why but hearing those words made my tears slide down my cheeks and a sob slipped past my lips, sobbing my heart out again, he continued to hum and didn't mind that his shirt was getting soaked from my tears.
During the walk he would try to talk to me, but when I don't respond he would just hum the tune again, or he would fall silent listening to my sobs. I didn't mind it if he continued humming because his cold and smooth voice was the only thing that comforted me in the hours after what I saw.
I knew that this man was still a stranger, we haven't even introduced ourselves to each other, but he kept me company after Lance and was the only person to comfort me even if there was a chance that he didn't knew this.
I starting to doze off when we entered a compound that must be where the clinic was located, as soon as we entered it people were greeting the man as if he was always there, which might be true since he did tell me that he gets injured often.
When he stopped walking I took a peak from behind him and realized that we were already in the clinic, he gently on one of the available cots before facing me and looked at my tear stained face.
"Wait for me here, I'm going to ask someone to check on your foot. You should also contact someone that can pick you up since you look like you're not from around here"
I nodded before reaching in my back pocket for my phone to text Lara to pick me up, while the man walked away to look for someone. I watched his back as he maneuvered around the bustling people towards to who knows where, silently reminding myself to thank him and to ask for his name.
