Stitches [a S.M. Story]

Chap. Four

•Melyssa's POV•
I waited till I was less dizzy to take the shards of glass out of my skin, but unfortunately the more I waited the more tired I got. I slowly rose from the floor, grabbed the first aid pouch I had found a while back, and walk to the main office bathrooms.
'I wonder who took on Brian for me?' I thought as I limped to the woman's bathroom. Once I got in, I turned on the light and although it was dim and pitiful, I could see enough. I opened the first aid pouch and pulled out the tweezers and using the mirror under the brightest light, I began the meticulous and long job of picking out the shards of glass, starting at my hands then, after bandaging them, going to my shoulder and making my way up.
'What did I do to deserve this life?' I thought. 'Why do those idiots hate me so much?'
For the next hour or so, I continued picking the glass out of my skin. By the end, my hands were shaking and tears were impairing my vision to the extent that it was hard to clean up and bandage the broken skin.
'Life is painful,' Was the only thought in my mind. 'But maybe something good will come of this pain.'
•••
When I woke up, I was still sore. It had been three days since Brian and his group were here.
'Hey, it's not like I'm not used to pain.' I thought as I sat up then stood. Every movement cause some kind of pain, some sharp, some dull. If I wanted to eat, I couldn't stay here too long; my food supply was getting low. I opened my last granola bar and ate it, trying to regain some of my strength. During my morning preparations the events from a few nights ago kept running through my head over and over again as I tried to figure out who my rescuers were and who that new member of Brian's group was.
After I finished getting ready, which was about 9:30 in the morning, I threw on a grey hoody, pulling up the hood to cover the left side of my face, and headed out in search of a job and some food.
•••
The search was long and fruitless, except for that one grocer who was selling apples at a great price. I even bought a few with a little of the remaining money I had and put them in my bag for later.
After I had been searching for a job for approximately an hour, I gave up and went to my favorite park. I walked over to the swings and noticed that there was someone already in one of them, facing towards me but with his face down. As I came closer, but not heading directly for him, I noticed the jacket he was wearing. It was the one I had given Shawn a few days ago.
"Excuse me," I said to him, to which he replied by looking up. He had a faded black eye and an old looking cut on his lip from what looked like a fight. After looking at him for a moment longer, I realized that it was Shawn. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." He replied, although his eye twitched when he moved his lips indicating that he wasn't fine.
I came over to the swing that was next to him and sat down. I wasn't in the best seat because he was to my left which gave him the perfect opportunity to see the damage done to my face.
"What happened to your eye?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
He mumbled something under his breath.
"I'm sorry, what?" I felt as though I might have been pushing it a tad too far.
"Nothing." He said louder this time.
"Where you in a fight?" I pressed. I didn't entirely know why I was pushing the matter so much.
"Maybe. Why do you care, anyways?" His voice wasn't hash, but more sad and hurt. He looked at me, a silent plead in his eyes.
"I care because you, without knowing it, have been helping me through the toughest part of my life and now it's time to help you in return. Also, life is too short to be sad for long periods of time." I gave him a reassuring smile which he partially returned.
"A few nights ago, I help someone and I never got to see who she was nor I was I able to comfort her and see if she was okay. My friend who was there with me said she thanked us then left deeper into the building but never got her name. I have no idea who she was or why she was in that place. And I also have no idea why I told you all of that."
"Why did you help her?" I asked quietly, knowing for sure that he was the guy who punched Brian, thus rescuing me.
"Her scream for help. It was similar to another scream I heard once under different circumstances. That time, I was helpless and ended up loosing someone I cared about..." his voice cracked and he broke down into tears. I quickly jumped off the swing I was on and stepped closer to him and gave him a hug. It was a weird sideways hug but at least he calmed down after a few minutes. "I'm sorry." He said, his voice sounding strained.
"It's alright. I understand." I sat back down on my swing and looked at the ground, unsure of what to do now.
"Mel! What happened to your..." he started with a louder voice but then trailed off. I realized with horror that my hood was down and the left side of my face was in plain view.
'The penny drops.'

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