Shattered Soul- ON HOLD

Life at Spero

   Al dragged me to her apartment before I could even ask how she was doing. She always had a sixth sense for when I was hurt. I have a hard time believing someone like Al can exist, even after knowing her for four years. She can tell when someone is having problems in their life and always gets them to spill, but she rarely gives advice. She knew that they either wouldn't listen to the advice, she wouldn't be able to tell them anything useful, or it was something they had to learn on their own. Instead of talking to people, she would just hug people or be close to them. She was like an immovable rock for people to stand on in the craziest of storms. If she couldn't help someone, she would act happy and cheerful in hopes of cheering this person up. It worked 99% of the time, like now.

   "Ow!! What the hell are you doing?!" I shouted as Al dunked my arm in a bowl of warm water.

   "Would you like to get your arm infected?" She countered."I'm dipping it in warm water with a couple cups of hydrogen peroxide. Your arms are cut pretty bad."

   I grumbled about her being a bad nurse as she laughed.

   "Great to know that I'm a source of amusement for you Al."

   "You know it sweetie. I can always have a good time at your expense." She joked.

   I giggle half-heartedly at her response. She was working on patching up my arms. Each one had four deep vertical cuts. My captors would cut them open each day and left my arms over two bowls. It was like they were collecting my blood.

   There isn't any pain now, none of my cuts hurt unless they were more than an 3cm deep. The injuries on my arms were only 2cm. It only hurts when they're being cleaned. I'm happy for being pain tolerant, my life would be much worse if knife hurt me as much as they did nine years ago.

   The memories of my weeks of torture always escaped my grasp. I could never remember any sounds that I heard including their voices, but I did hear one thing.

   "Kornick." I breathed.

   "What was that, Wyn?" Al asked as she placed the towel on the table that she was using to dry off my arms.

   She clasped my hand in hers. Her hands was warm, but rough from the many years working at the bar.

   "One of their names was Kornick." I repeated.

   Al nodded and continued to cleanse my arms. "Now I know the name of my next target." She said in a monotone voice.

   I smiled as she started to wrap my arms in gauze bandages. I know Al isn't a very violent person, but she said herself that she would kill the men that hurt me if she could ever find them. I hadn't told her that the men who kidnapped me were the ones who killed my foster family, but She always seems to put things together. It felt nice to know that someone at least wants to protect me even though they can't do anything about it.

   "Well, your arms should be fine as long as you keep them covered for a few weeks. Probably less considering you are a bit of a freak and don't tell me why you heal faster than a werewolf." Al teased.

   She's fine that I don't tell her everything about my life. Truthfully, I don't even know why I healed so fast, but I don't care. I was just happy it worked out that way.

   "Now, let me see that gash you were talking about."

   I sighed and lifted up my shirt so I could take of the bandages.

   "Damn..." Al breathed.

   Al frantically disinfected the cut and wrapped it back up. It hurt like hell. This one was very deep and hadn't been healing properly.