Who To Trust?

Chapter 10: The flawless Jamal

I wake up confused. I'm blinking rapidly , trying to get my eyes to adjust to the lighting . I can tell that I am in some type of cabin, laying on a couch. I look down to find my ankle wrapped tightly up in badge bandages .

" Hey your finally awake ." I look up to see a dark skinned guy looking down on me . He had a low hair cut, and no facial hair . He was pretty tall guy, about 6 ft, kinda buff too . Buffer than Jordan .

" where am I ?" I asked him, sitting up.

" your in my cabin. What's the last thing you remember ?"

I sit and think about the last thing I remember .... Paul .... That's what I remember .... I remember him ... Touching me ... Attacking me ... That's what I remember .

" Paul " I say almost in a whisper .

" Paul ? Who is Paul " he asks me almost matching my whisper .

" ummmm what happened ?" I say changing the subject .

" well I saw you being attacked by a dog , and brought you here ."

.... I remember now.... I got Paul off of me . I was running, running ; a dog starts to chase me, it bites me , and a gun shot . That surely explains the bandages on my ankle and the intense pain.

" you shot the dog ? You saved me ...." I say slowly turning to look at his face . His face looks so concerned . His mouth is kind of in a frown, and his dark brown eyes has the deepest look of sincerity . " Damn sucks for that dog though " I say trying to lighten the mood. His frown turned into a huge smile showing his perfect white teeth, which fits perfectly with his nice plump lips .

" My names Jamal " he says holding out his hand to me .

" My name is Kiesha ." I say rejecting his hand, and instead sitting up for a hug, holding my arms out to suggest it . He walks closer to me and gives me a hug . His hug feels different somehow .... I don't hug a lot of people so when I do , for some reason I take note of how it makes me feel. Like Jordan hugs , always makes me feel loved . When he hugs me it's tight , and long. He always take a deep breath , as if to take me all in for savoring . It makes me feel like he never wants to leave me and I love it , because I never want him to leave . This hug wasn't as tight , he didn't take me all in . But he did seem like he did not want to let me go . His hug was nice and gentle . He hugged me like this until I was ready to let go, even though the hug was longer than it should've been for us to have been strangers; he never shifted in awkwardness or tried to move away. He just hugged me to remind me that everything is okay.

" you want to take a bath ?" He asks me

" dang you trying to say I stink?" I ask halfway seriously .

" no !!! See I grew up in a house of females, and whenever we were really upset about something, my mom swore a bath always made things better , even if only a little ."

" and does it ? " I Ask .

" Yeah, even if it's just a little." He says walking away to the bathroom . I sit back on the couch and wait until Jamal comes back for me . It takes about ten minutes for him to run me a bath. " it's all ready for you " he calls from the back. I walk into the bathroom to see a beautifully drawn bath filled with bubbles. It made me smile, just looking at it. He enters the bathroom with a towel and bath towel and some clothes. " ummm I don't have any female clothes, but I brought you some of mines ." He says sitting the towels and clothes on the counter . " try not to get your bandages wet " . He says leaving the room .

I slowly undress myself and ease into the tub. The water was steaming hot, as I sat in the water my body stung all over . I loved this feeling . When I go numb inside my head, pain like this reminds me that I am still alive . I know it sounds stupid but sometimes it feels as though I'm not really here . Nothing matters anymore, and it feels like I could just waste away and no one would care. I feel invisible and under appreciated ... Like the ground... People just do what ever they want to the ground. Walk all over it, spit on it , dig it up, throw it to the side , jump on it , play on it . They interact with it but .... They never really appreciate it . Ha , I must be really depressed; I just related myself to the ground.