On The Run

Acts of Kindness

Lightbulb's POV:
We walked away from the desk and I sat down in a wooden chair next to Paintbrush's. I sat it down, and the blanket was as covered in rain as I was! "Wow, the blanket most not have helped you too much. Sorry about that!" Paintbrush smiled and responded, "Actually, no! It helped me a lot. Trust me. Thanks for convincing me to keep it." I felt like I jumped into the ocean I was so soaked, but I didn't want to admit it. "No prob!"

We waited in silence for a while, and looked around the small lobby. Adults were whispering and staring at us, while their young, adorable children who were most likely here for their yearly check up, played on the floor on the orange, dingy slide and little stuffed animals were surrounding it. One little boy was scared as he climbed up the even dingier stairs of the slide. When he reached the top, he slipped, and fell down onto his butt, and started to slide. Of course, it was a slide small enough to not hurt too bad.

As he slid, he started to giggle the cutest little baby giggle I'd ever heard. I watched him keep repeating the process, and it was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen. He looked so happy and excited! I've always wondered what it was like to have a sibling who was younger than me! It must be nice. I smiled bigger and bigger as he kept going. Paintbrush was looking at me, smiling at my entertainment of the child. "Paintbrush Color?" I heard from a deep, young voice behind the door.

We both stood up, and I put my arm around her to help him keep her balance. We walked into the door where we followed the doctor to an X-Ray room. He told me, "Um, Lightbulb? Could you stay out in the lobby as we check out her foot? Just for good measure. Is that alright?" I nodded, but was a bit annoyed how he called Paintbrush a girl. I just went it. He closed the door and Paintbrush waved good bye. I waved back nervously and headed back to the wooden chair.

As I was walking, I heard a small scream coming from the lobby. I ran in, and I saw the little blonde boy from the slide being yanked away from the slide to be taken in and get checked out. The mother was pulling him rather hard from he top of the slide, and yelled, "Heh, could anyone help me get him off of this? He's a bit scared for his check up."

I slowly walked over and squatted over next to him. "Could you let him go real quick?" The mother let go and said, "Thanks sweetie." I smiled and softly said to him, "Hey, it's alright! My friend Painty is in there getting checked out right now, and she was scared too! But she got over it! Because it's not scary at all! They've got little stickers and suckers just for you at the end of the check up! I assure you, the doctors are real nice." The little boy relaxed a bit and slid down the slide one more time before leaving, saying "Yay! A sucker?!" "Yep!" I giggled as they walked away and the mom mouthed, "Thank you so much" and I mouthed back, "No problem".

I sat back down into my seat and felt pretty awesome. No one was staring at me anymore, thank goodness. "Excuse me, might I ask how you got that black eye and why you're here without your parents?" A man with a mysterious trench coat and a beard said as he walked towards me and sat down. I nervously said, "W-well, I ran into a pole getting here, and my parents only live about 8 blocks away, so I just walked here."

The man smirked. "So you're here by yourself?" Oh god, I was scared where this was heading. He scooted closer to me, and I started to sweat. "Um, no actually. My friend is in the X-ray room. I'm just waiting here." He grabbed my hand and said, "Well, honey, you seemed pretty lonely over here." "Well I'm not. Get off my hand, creep." He looked at me and leaned in closer, and I looked away.

Suddenly the door to the rooms opened and the same doctor from earlier said, "Lightbulb? You're aloud to come in now." I gladly got up, and broke out of his strong grip on my hand. I quickly walked towards him and he shut the door. "Ok, so her foot isn't broken, but it's pretty badly sprained and cut."

I gasped. "Oh no! But at least it's not broken! So, how long will it be into its better?" He replied, "Actually, that's what I was just about to try and determine." He got to the door and opened it for us. Paintbrush was lying down next the X-ray machine. "Hi Lightbulb!" "Hey!" The doctor turned on the X-Ray and slid it toward it's foot. "Ok, so this part of the foot is pretty badly fractured." He pointed to the X-ray machine onto where the cut was and frowned. "I'm pretty sure this was cut by a butcher knife or something, because it's extremely deep, about 3 inches down! How did it happen exactly?"

Paintbrush and I shared a scared expression, and Paintbrush slowly answered, "Um, uh.. you see, I was cutting strawberries, and I accidentally dropped the knife and it cut straight down into it!" It gave a nervous smile and the doctor looked at it and said, "Well, that's an unfortunate accident! But seems bent too! Care to explain?" Paintbrush easily said, "After Lightbulb told me to come over there to where she had a first aide kit, I tripped over my....dogs water bowl! And it twisted." He looked at me and said, "Uh huh. Ok. I'll go with that. So, I recommend staying off it for..."

Me and Painty bit our lips in worry, hoping it wasn't too long. "..3-4 weeks. It's a pretty bad cut. And another part of it could rip if walked on too much. But I will give you a pair of crutches and fit you into a water proof cast-" Paintbrush interrupted him, "Well, actually, I think I can just stick with some bandages. Would that be ok?" The doctor scratched the back of his neck and thought a minute. "Well... I guess... you could... but it'd be a bit harder to protect. I'll give you a few rolls of bandages."

He walked out of the room, and I stared at Paintbrush in disbelief. "W-why did you do that? Just get the cast!" Paintbrush shook its head. "No. It cost too much. I don't want you to spend your money on me. After all, I can't just ask you to do that when I don't have money!" I thought I saw a face looking through the window, but I just ignored it. There was no way that she wasn't gonna let me pay for it! "Painty, GET THE CAST. I don't mind. It'll help you! Plus, it's water proof! It'll probably rain on the way!"

"Lightbulb, we need to save our money for more important things! You know, like food and extra clothes! Maybe a hotel or something, I don't know!" "But this IS important! You getting better with this injury is more important to me than anything! I don't care if while were running away from this cruel place we call home we don't have shelter, I care that you are in perfect condition." Paintbrush then yelled, "Why do you care so much about me anyways? First you said you'd rather die than let me freeze in that rain, then you wouldn't let me down and insisted on letting you carry me, and now you just care that I'm in perfect condition! Why?"

I teared up and yelled back, "Because your the only real friend that I've ever actually had. I don't wanna lose you Paintbrush. I don't want to be alone like I was the past 7 and a half years! Just let me do this. Please." Paintbrush sat in silence, her eyes glistening, then finally breathed in heavily and quietly responded, "Ok. Fine. If that makes you happy."

The doctor walked back in a few minutes later, but had no bandages. "Um, actually we've changed our minds. We would actually like the cast." The doctor grinned, and chimed, "No need to pay for it either. Someone's paid it for you." Me and Paintbrush both simultaneously exclaimed, "WHAT?"

(A/N: Who might've paid for it? Find out in the next chapter! Guess who you think it might've been in the comments! As usual, comment and rate! Anything you didn't like? Anything you really liked? Let me know! If love to hear what you have to say!)