Waking up to an unknown setting somehow felt familiar and comforting. It took my eyes a minute to adjust to my surroundings. For a minute I had the sweet relief of oblivion. That is until the pain came buzzing in the back of my mind like an annoying alarm that wont stop. I lean up and look down at my lower half, praying it's all still intact. It was. Although i had no idea where the pain was coming from. I lifted up my jeans over my knee to find a big swollen piece of blubber over where my leg used to be. A deep yellow and purple color surrounding the gushing slit that wont stop bleeding. I let out a groan of agony, and lie back down on the ground, panting. Tears stream down my cheek unwillingly. I turn my head to my left to realize the figure sitting no more than five feet from me. He sits there, silent, crouching over and hugging his knees. Dried blood covering the side of his face. Something possess me to thank him, not certain what for. For saving me probably.
"Alright" he says coolly and collectively.
"you got a name?" I groan from the relentless pain. He nods, staring off into space, lost in thought.
"Can you tell me?" I find myself leaning in, desperate to know this man's name. He's an older fellow, I cant tell for sure in this dark setting. And blood covering his face doesn't make it easier.
"How's the knee?" He ignores my question.
"Crippling." I answer flatly, now annoyed with the persisting ache.
"I believe you." he turns to me "I'm no doctor or nothin' but i'd say you better wrap it up or something, you know, so you wont get it infected."
"Thanks." I remove my sweater, that somehow managed to stay put on my body during the crash. The crash?
"What happened?"
"Not sure, exactly." He starts.
"I remember getting on the bus, having my earbuds in. focused on my phone as the bus was moving. I remember hearing the screams and cuss'. I know that the bus had begun to speed. And i know that we fell of that side road. And i know that we plummeted down and crashed..." I try and focus on his voice as i refrain from screaming at the sickening sensation of wrapping my knee with my sweater."...But i don't exactly know what happened... Or why it happened.. As soon as i realized what was about to happen, i ran to the back of the bus and tried to cover myself.. Im not quit sure what happened to my head. I wanted to get out of the bus before it completely blew up.
We sit quiet for a moment. "where are we now?"
"Im not sure. I saw that the bus was on fire and ran out of there. I saw you too, i asked if you were alive, even though i knew you were, but i ran anyway. I was just surprised that i survived. Once i found a spot to sit in, i started thinking of you. I don't know why, but i felt like i had to come back for you, so i did."
"I don't know where the bus was taking us, I don't know where we crashed, and i don't know where we are now."
"What are we gonna do?" I half whisper. He shrugs.
"It's still dark out, I'd say sleep off the pain, and start finding our way out of here in the morning." If only my pain was something that I could sleep off. Though i still did as he suggested.
I feel something hover over my body in a swift motion. I take it that the man wrapped his jacket around me, having mine been poorly attempting to heal my knee.
"Erm... thank you" i stutter.
.......................................................................................................
When we woke the sun had barley risen. Not that i had gotten much sleep. The pain from my knee was to pressing for me to fall asleep. so i stayed up, and looked at the stars. I was marveled at the amount of stars in the sky.
'I really must be far' I thought to myself. There are rarely, if ever any stars back home.
I close my eyes and try to relive that day, to see if there might be a clue as to where we were going and how far away we are. But to no prevail. The memory is barley a memory. It's almost like a dream, but not a dream. After the third attempt, i give up, and continue to stare at the beautiful sky, and ponder of what i might look like to the stars. Small? Dirty? insignificant at most. oh so very insignificant. To them I am a star on the ground. Maybe beautiful to look at, but with all of the other beautiful stars to look at, you would hardly notice my absence.
Slightly tilting my head, I glance at the dreaming man beside me. I observe his face. The way his lip quivers as he breaths reminds me of my mother. Her lip would always tremble in her sleep, light snores falling from her lips. I remember staring at her just as i am staring at this man. He isn't a built man. Frankly, he's quite small, larger than me, but still small. The scruffy beard on his chin and jaw age him greatly. His slumbered features look so disturbed and unsettled.
I am quickly interrupted from my observance by noises that i perceive to be foot steps. I hesitantly turn and begin to shake the man, silently apologizing for disturbing him further.
"Sir...Sir.." I whisper loudly "Sir!!"
His eyes jolt open, ready and alert.
"Yes? Yes?"
"Im sorry but i feel like someone might be finding us."
He slowly gets up and inches towards the source of the noise. Soon he is out of my perception, leaving me alone with my worries.
Seconds that feel like minutes, and minutes that feel lile hours pass by before he returns. More casual now and kept.
"probl'y just some rabbits or deer or somethin'." He lies back on his previous spot, and quickly, too quickly drifts back to his sleep.
..........................................
Once morning reaches we decide that we should walk around and maybe get an idea as to wear we might be.
"Are you ready to walk?" He questions. I look at him for a moment and nod.
Taking a second for a breath and motivating myself, I slowly begin to stand. The sudden movement already has me crying out in pain, though i persist. The man looks at me carefully as i gather myself from the floor. As soon as i apply pressure to the leg, i immediately collapse. The man is quick enough to catch me, and drapes me onto his arms.
"Lets go find a lake or somethin' to get that wound cleaned up."
With me in his arms, he begins walking. As i silently pray for the lake to be nearer. But with no surprise, my priers have gone unanswered, and we end up walking for what seems like hours.
