August Flowers

Part 5: Out of the Fire

A silent stripe of a starry night sky shone between roofs of cold dark buildings overhead. 

Hakkai became aware of his heartbeat first. It thrummed forcefully and painfully as if trying to pump mud instead of blood, making his chest ache wretchedly with each beat. 

Oddly, no thoughts trickled across his mind. "What happened, I wonder..." 

His eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly and he noticed a shape to his right. He glanced aside at it more closely and felt a stab of panic. 

Gojyo laid motionless on the ground beside him. His body was twisted on its side, arms folded carelessly beneath him as if he'd been dropped there. Long red bangs concealed his downward tilted face. 

As if he'd been dropped. 

Heart throbbing more acutely, Hakkai stared in horror as his memory returned in jagged bits. I dropped him.  

Gojyo had worn light-colored clothes out the evening before and so, even in the darkness, there was no mistaking how badly his garments were soaked in blood. What was visible of his wan face was splashed and smeared. It was difficult to tell where his crimson hair ended and the bloodstains began. 

Unable to move for a moment, Hakkai stared. He started to shake. "Gojyo?"  

Gojyo didn't stir.  

Gritting his teeth, Hakkai rolled to his belly and forced his hands under his shoulders. His limbs felt leaden, muscles screamed. Pushing to his knees was a struggle but he managed. His throat was dry. He tasted blood. 

"Gojyo." He crawled closer to his friend. "Are you okay?" 

 A moment's stillness showed Gojyo's slow and steady breathing. 

"Oh thank goodness!" Relief washed over Hakkai in a dizzying wave. "That's not good..." Eyes shut, he steadied himself with a deep breath. "Okay. I'm okay." 

He set about straightening out Gojyo's twisted limbs and laying him on his back on the hard ground. They were alone in an alleyway which was likely too narrow for casual foot traffic, thus preventing anyone from finding or disturbing them while they lay unconscious for several hours. Dew on Gojyo's hair supported this idea. 

Hakkai took Gojyo's wrist. The pulse was strong, finally. 

"Hey." Hakkai moved his friend's long hair out of his face. "Thank you for not being dead." 

He placed both hands over Gojyo's abdomen and summoned his diminished chi to begin another intensive healing session.

Those guys were waiting for us when we got home, Hakkai reflected. 

Whenever they went out together, Hakkai normally unlocked the front door upon returning home and entered first. Last night, however, his hands had been full of boxes from the theater souvenir shop and thus Gojyo had done the honors. The instant Gojyo walked through the front door, he was cut nearly in half by a scythe. 

It should've been me, Hakkai thought miserably. 

The sensation of Gojyo's health improving beneath his hands provided a small comfort. The down side was that he could also feel his straining heart thudding against his thick blood which became thicker, darker. The agony of witnessing Gojyo being slashed was still fresh. However, compared to that experience, Hakkai's present discomfort was decidedly tolerable. 

If their situations had been reversed, Gojyo would've faced the attackers alone and, even if he'd won, he would've been left with a house full of bodies---one of which would've belonged to his friend who he would've been powerless to heal. 

You would've been hurt either way, huh? Hakkai tilted his head with a sad warmth. "On second thought, perhaps this is the least awful of two awful options." 

The rest of the fight had been a blur. After seeing his friend certainly fatally wounded, Hakkai reacted swiftly, decisively, and without mercy resulting in a series of devastating blows to a squad of well-armed intruders and a blast that blew out both sides of the house. Surprised, the intruders scrambled to grab their fallen and escape with their lives. 

Hakkai had scooped up Gojyo, who was a lifeless sopping mess, and carried him away just in case the intruders returned, trying to hold him together---to hold him in one piece. In the dark, he tripped and half dropped/half placed his friend in the deep shadows behind a neighbor's house to give emergency care. The reality of their situation sickened him. Gojyo's spine seemed to be the only thing keeping his body as one. 

Initially Hakkai didn't find a pulse. He knew he wasn't supposed to give chest compressions with such a grievous wound because it would facilitate his friend's death by blood loss, but he held out hope and ruthlessly performed CPR. The bleeding had begun to subside... 

The instant Gojyo's heart fluttered, Hakki jumped at the chance and committed every last shred of his chi into saving his friend's life. 

Presently in the alleyway, Gojyo's midsection had mended. The skin showed a thick gnarled scar line tracing the wound around his waist above the hips. There was no telling how the spine fared until he woke up, but his life appeared to be out of danger. 

Still nauseated by the lingering aftertaste of panic, Hakkai exhaled in a sob, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, which smeared blood on his face, and blinked away tears. He was cold. His fingertips were numb and he shivered so violently that his ribs hurt. And his heart. Oh, his heart. 

I overdid it again, Gojyo. A rueful smile flickered on Hakkai's pale face. But I won't apologize this time either. 

Hakkai sucked a deep breath to bolster his strength but almost vomited instead. Hands on the ground with head bowed, he chuckled. "It seems breathing is a bad idea, too." He lifted his face. "I need to call for help..." 

His hands went to his pockets. His phone. The screen was shattered. 

Hakkai looked at Gojyo. "What about yours?" He searched his friend's clothes but didn't find any mobile devices. "Well, damn." 

A light flashed by the end of the alley---launching Hakkai's adrenaline through the roof. After a mortified second, he realized they hadn't been discovered. In fact, a vehicle had passed by. A vehicle? What was the nearest road? He would need to know their location if he intended to call for help. 

"I'll be right back," Hakkai told Gojyo's unconscious form. "Don't go anywhere." 

Legs shrieking in pain, Hakkai forced himself to stand by sheer willpower and staggered awkwardly to the end where he peered out at a familiar road and nearby intersection. They were just south of downtown. The intersection was deserted now but, during the day, it swarmed from 6AM to 7PM with commuters. A lone milk truck rumbled away in the other direction. 

"Oh, I know where we are." 

Even better, he spotted a derelict blue payphone under a nearby streetlamp.