Serpent's Den

What Happened?

Emma's POV:

Opening my eyes, I saw Ben looking around himself. He looked very tense and flustered. Figuring that he might have been looking for a bandaid, I spoke up as I turned my back towards him.

"There's a bandage in my backpack. There's only one, though. I'd get it, but--"

"No, no, it's ok." Ben almost cut me off. I didn't think too much of it, though. He's really protective, isn't he? I thought as I found myself smiling. He opened my bag and hesitantly looked inside it. I could see a faint tint of red spread across his cheeks as I glanced over my shoulder.

I realized that I opened myself up a bit more than I was intending to. Throughout most of my life, I've dealt with a lot of health issues. My bag held all of my emergency medications. I hadn't thought about that when I spoke up. Thankfully, Ben hadn't asked why I had bandages. Yet. I had a feeling that the question was coming in the future, though.

"Ok, how am I going to do this?" Ben asked himself. Drawing my attention back to the moment, I saw him looking between the roll of bandages and my bleeding hands. I tried to not look at my hands. I could handle the sight of blood, but I knew well that if I looked at the wounds, the pain would seem so much worse than it already was.

"I have a pocket knife in the smaller pouch. It's shaped like a key." Ben nodded and turned to my mini backpack again.

Retrieving my pocket knife, he started unrolling the bandage. Setting the clips in his lap and folding the cloth in half, he started to cut it. I felt a little irritated that my good bandage had to be cut, but I understood why it had to be. It's always been too long anyway, I reasoned with myself.

"Ok, until we can get some Neosporin, this is going to have to do. Are you ready? I'm not sure if this is going to hurt." Ben's voice was soft as he said this.

I felt my anxiety return in waves, but I suppressed it as much as I could. I didn't need more fear on top of everything else right now. Continuing to keep myself from looking at my hands until they were wrapped, I looked at Ben. His blue eyes were shining with concern as he gazed at me, waiting for my response. He was holding the edge of the bandage tight, ready to wrap my hands. Feeling my fingers starting to curl again from the throbbing pain, I forced them straight.

Bracing myself for whatever was about to happen, I nodded. I held my hands out to Ben as he started to wrap my right hand. I'll admit, it was weird to have someone I just met wrapping my hands, but at this point, anything could happen and I wouldn't even think twice about it. The bandage itself did hurt, but I was determined to not let it show. So many things had happened today already. I didn't need anyone to worry about me more than they needed to.

With the wrapping done, I finally allowed myself to look at my hands. Ben was just putting the last clip in. The wrapping looked neat; I was impressed. Testing the wrapping, I curled and uncurled my fingers. My palms still stung, but it was bearable even if just barely.

While I was doing this, I noticed that Ben was watching me carefully as he put my knife back and closed my backpack. He seemed to be watching my every move. He reached out towards me again, but stopped a couple inches from my shoulder. Settling for resting his hand in his lap, he shifted his position.

"Thank you for all your help," I said, loosely gripping his jacket that was still around my shoulders. "It truly means more than you know."

He smiled sweetly at me. "Yeah, no problem. I'm glad you're doing better." A comfortable silence stretched out between us as we looked at each other again.

"Are you two ok?" a new voice called out. Being dragged out of the spell I had found myself in, I turned to see who had spoken.

A young African-American woman stood at the edge of the alley. Long, curly black hair cascaded down her back and fell over her slim shoulders. She was wearing a rust-orange T-shirt that was tucked into her high-waisted jeans. Her smoke-gray heeled ankle boots accented her outfit very well. A purse hung from her shoulder.

"Should I call an ambulance?" she continued. "What happened?"

Ben was the one to answer her. "Yeah, we're fine. Just. . .we. . .had something big just happen."

The mention of the Black Roses, regardless of how vague it was, made me very uncomfortable. Waves upon waves of my anxiety washed over me at the memory. I drew my legs closer and set my hands in my lap.

The woman, noticing my reaction, took a couple cautious steps towards us. "Do. . .you two know each other?"

Ben and I looked at each other for a moment. Yes, but no, I answered mentally. I could tell that he didn't know what to say and I couldn't bring myself to say anything to the woman either. Instead, I told Ben, "It's ok to tell her." I didn't mean it, but I felt that it was the only way to keep suspicion off of him.

Nodding, he addressed the woman again. "Yes and no. I just saved her from being taken by a group of criminals. So, we just met, but I'm trying to keep her safe."

Still skeptical, the woman looked from Ben to me and back again. Trying to convince her, I nodded. Quickly, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her bag. Scribbling something, she handed me the paper.

"If you need help, don't hesitate to text me," she almost whispered to me, giving Ben a distrusting look as she enveloped my hand with hers.

"Thank you, but he's telling the truth." I accepted the paper and saw that it was an old receipt. Scrawled in rushed handwriting was:

If you need anything!

-Nioki

This was paired with her phone number just underneath. Giving Ben one last suspicious look, she slowly went on her way.

I glanced at Ben after Nioki left. He looked disheartened at her words and actions. Trying to cheer him up, I put a bandaged hand on his shoulder. He did save me, I thought to myself. If anyone else had seen me disappear, would they have reacted? Would anyone else have tried to save me? Instead of voicing my thoughts, I said, "It's ok. It is kind of a longshot for people to believe on the spot. That doesn't mean it's your fault, though. Heck, I might not even be right here if not for you. Thank you. And I mean that."

He looked up at me, a faint smile crawling across his face. I really did appreciate what he had done for me. I just hoped that he knew that. Seeing that he was feeling better made a small smile get mirrored onto my face.

"I'm glad I could help." Filling his pause, my stomach growled again. Chuckling lightly, he continued. "Hey, I know what might cheer us up. Why don't we get some food?"