Wings

I'm Here

The ride home from the hospital was gruelling. Her father was silent, and Harley just sat there, looking down at her cast.

The nurses and doctors rushed to sedate Harley, trying to calm her down so they could work on her injury. Her father was out in the waiting room, pacing as he thought about what happened.

A nurse came out an hour later. "Are you the father of Miss Harley Coyne?" she asked softly.

He nodded. "How bad is it? Will she be alright?"

"She will be fine, just a broken forearm," the nurse explained. "She will be in a cast for a while though because of how severe the fracture was. She will need therapy afterwards as well."

He sighed and nodded. "Will she be able to leave tonight?" he asked gently, the nurse nodding.

"Yes, she will be out soon. She's a little hazy because of the pain killers, but she will be fine."

Marcus sighed in his seat, rain pelting the windshield as he drove. When he parked, Harley got out and went inside. They had wiped her makeup off so she was clean of anything that may disturb tests.

"How long until I can wrestle him again?" she asked once he was inside.

He froze, turning to her. "Harley... I... I think you should take a break from the UGC..." he whispered softly, her body going rigid.

"Why? Dad, I can beat him! He just played dirty!" she said. She didn't want to give up something she loved and that she knew he loved as well.

He groaned. "Harley, please don't make this difficult."

She turned to him and glared. "Why? Dad, wrestling is my life and your too! I want to stay in it, and I refuse to let this hold me back!" she fought, wiggling her cast at him.

He glared at her. "I can't let you do this! It's too dangerous!" he cried, his words ringing bells in her mind from her dream that morning.

She gave a groan. "It isn't too dangerous! I'm strong and I can deal with this on my own! Even if you don't support me, I will get back into wrestling!"

"No, Harley! You won't!" he roared, slamming his fist on the table. "You could have been killed tonight! I won't let you get yourself killed!"

She fell silent before darting out the back door towards the forests. All she heard was his cry of, "Harley!" before thunder drowned out everything else. She ran along the muddy paths, dodging branches and jumping logs. She slowed to a stop, catching her breath as she just stood there.

The rain fell in sheets, lightning and thunder relentless. She always ran out here to clear her head, bad or good weather.

She just stood out there, seconds turning to minutes, minutes turning into almost an hour. She sighed and was about to leave and head back when she saw something pale against the dark ground. She was cautious as she stepped forward, not sure of what it was.

As she moved a random branch from her view, she saw it was a boy, roughly her age. She ran forward and looked him over. He was bruised deeply, cuts and scratches covering his arms. The worst thing though was his back: two huge, ugly gashes took their places at his shoulder blade, angling inward to make almost a gruesome v-shape.

"Oh God..." she whispered softly, pressing two fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse. She gave a sigh of relief, feeling a steady but soft heartbeat.

She pulled out her phone and dialed her dad's number. "Dad," she said, standing and turning away from the body. "So... There's an injured boy out here... He's out cold and bleeding heavily... We've gotta help him at least! I can't carry him, not with my- ya know... Alright, I'll wait for you here."

She sighed and hung up, turning back to look at the boy again... only to see the grass he laid on. She looked around frantically until she was pushed to the tree.

She was going to cry out, but her words caught in her throat as her eyes met a pair of stunning baby blues. It was like someone trapped the sea in small orbs and put them in his eyes.

His lips moved, but she couldn't make out the words he said. "Wh-What did you say..?" she asked softly.

He leaned in to whisper:

"I'm here... for you."