Protect

Part 1: Survive

The ceiling fan is the first thing Valeria notices when she opens her eyes. It isn't so much that it is interesting, as though she had never seen one, but it is her second clue to know that she isn't in her own bed. Her first had been before she opened her eyes. She had moved her arm across the sheets and immediately felt the lack of silk material. These sheets are comfortable, but not the ones she had been living with for the last three years. Still, it doesn't dawn on her until she looks up at the fan that this isn't her bed, room, or house. Not that she had any of those anymore, but for the life of her, she doesn't know how she got to wherever she is now. Last she remembers, she stumbled through the streets and collapsed on a park bench. She thought it was fitting to die listening to the sounds of children playing in the distance, however morbid that sounded. Somehow their laughter brought her a shred of peace with dying. She knew she was dying, too, because in all the pain she had endured over the years, he made it hurt more this time. Perhaps he thought he had to make the most out of it if this was his last chance. She had blacked out once it started, as it usually did, and like always, she woke up bleeding on the floor. He wasn't anywhere in sight for once, and she didn't wait around for him to return. In some dark and twisted way, she was free of him, legally this time.

Taking a deep breath, Valeria tries to look at her surroundings, but the room is light by only the glow coming through yellow and white marble glass. It almost made it look like a dream, but the pain is never in her dreams. It is a small room, with windows to her left and a door straight ahead at her feet. She supposes this size would have been a decent closet in her old house: his closet, never hers. There is hardly anything in the room other than the twin-sized bed and a small table next to it...and the dining chair by the door that has someone in it. Blinks, thinking it is the odd lighting playing tricks on her, but no, someone is watching her. A man, older than her by a few years, sits hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands intertwined. At first, his hands had been touching his stubbled chin. A second later, he starts to move as though afraid to move too fast. His eyes are dark and wide as he realizes she is awake. He unfolds his hands and holds them up in a mean-no-harm way. In some way, he looks familiar to her, but she can't place it.

A sudden loud rumble causes her to jolt and look towards the window. The building jiggles slightly, a low vibration of a nearby train. No, she is definitely not anywhere near her old home. The sound is gone as fast as it came, and she stares out the window a second before she starts to laugh. How odd everything is, she thinks to herself. Of all the places she could wake up, it had to be the most different than what she was used to, and she has never been more thankful.

"You're laughing...?" The man's voice pulls at her attention a second before Valeria winces in pain and grabs her side. "What is wrong?" Even the stranger sounds more concerned over her than anyone else right now...not that she has anyone else in her life.

"Bruised rib, it will heal in a few weeks." She would know. Valeria looks back to him to see him standing now, and in this small room, he is not easy to miss. His grey sweats are untied at the waist, and his sleeveless, white t-shirt is too big with the hems stripped off. Of course, she can't forget the giant sketched taco drawn across the t-shirt with the phrase, "I'm into fitness...Fit'ness taco in my mouth." Reading the words makes her want to laugh, but the bruised ribs still hurt from the last one.

"How are you not freaking out right now?" He questions, and she looks back up to meet his gaze. He looks puzzled, staring at her with his mouth partially opened. "You wake up in pain, in a strange place, with strange noises with a strange man in the room, and you laugh?"

Valeria sits up a little and quirks an eyebrow at him. "Believe me, when you have been through what I have, strange is a comfort...normal is the nightmare."