Chasing the Night || a moey au

Chapter Six

-Chapter Six-

My running didn't last as long as I thought it would. From the heat of the sun, to the pounding in my head, I started to get dizzy. The world spun in front of me and it took pure concentration to even see what was in front of me, so much concentration that I completely forgot to pay attention to my feet coordination. There was a rise in the sidewalk in front of me, that I just ignored because it was too much to think about while trying to focus on everything and everyone in front of me. Bad idea.

I felt my foot get caught in the small bump in the side walk, making the rest of my body fall forwards. Everything that hurt before, was multiplied by a possible 10. As I fell, my toes got stuck in the uneven bump resulting in what felt like my knee ripping out of my socket. I screamed as I frantically threw my arms in front of me in attempt to catch myself.

I saw black speckles at the corner of my eyes and forced myself not to pass out again for I had absolutely no idea where I was. Just...get...home. I repeated to myself, trying my hardest to get up but feeling my elbows, and certainly knees, fail from beneath me. Every sound was muffeled, but it seemed as if I had gotten myself on an abandonded street. Only one car could be heard, and it stopped right where my position was. There was a small feeling of panic between all the pain in me. I heard a door shut, and quick footsteps coming towards me.

"Are you okay?"

Oh no. It was that man again, the one I saw at the grocery store, the one I saw in the ally way, and the one I saw, and ran away from, just a few minutes ago.

"F-f-f..ine" I trialed off, as I started to attempt at lifting myself off the ground again, everything hurt so much I couldn't even keep my eyes open with effort.

'Don't!" he shouted, "Don't get up!" I slammed back down on the hard ground, feeling my head spin with all the struggled movements.

"What's your name?" he asked me, touching my arm which I flinched away with what felt like all my effort.

"B-Bree." I lied, not wanting to give out my identity.

"Thank you, Bree." he emphasized, "Now where do you live? I'm taking you home."

"No!" I said in what felt to me as a scream, but was probably just a raspy whisper to other people.

"Yes. Please. You can't just lie here, I won't let you." he smiled, making me feel a little reassured. He gently took my arm, making shivers run down my back with what I was allowing him to do. I felt his arm going under my back, making me inhale sharply through my teeth as I felt as if a knife had been stabbed into my back. His other arm went under my knees. I cried out in pain, at this point I knew my knee was definetly seperated from the rest of my leg.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered, concentrating on being gentle. My head lay limply off the side of his arms because I had honestly no more power to lift any part of my body at this moment. Little sparks of pain would shake my body as if lightning struck inside of me. I felt myself being layed down, this time on a more comfortable surface. I clenched my teeth together to ensure that no noise escaped my mouth from pain.

I heard the door shut near my feet, and the black spots in the corner of my eyes started to grow larger. "Bree? Where do you live?"

I waved my hand around, trying to point in the possible direction Paul's place was. "Paul's Open Oven." I said, before the blackness invaded the rest of my eyes as the rest of my body throbbed with agony. The engine started, a slight murmer to my ears, making me fall right back asleep.

***

A sheer of pain awoke me as a gasp escaped my mouth, I was being lifted again. "Shhh..." I tilted my head up to see the same man for only a second before my head fell. I looked around, seeing the normal surroundings I was greated by everyday. He slowly put me down, making me clench my teeth and shut my eyes.

"You live..." He paused, motioning with his finger at the bakery while holding me up with his other arm, "Here?"

I brought my arm up to point at the small attic window, "Up there." I exhaled. I started walking forward onto my right foot, laying my weight on it and stretching my arms out, ready to fall onto the wall for support.

"Wait!" he said from behind me, "At least let me help you upstairs!"

I started bringing my other foot forward, already knowing it wasn't going to end well. "No." I said sharply as I tried to place just my toes on the ground.

"You can't do it yourself." He said again, "Please."

"I can." I said sternly, placing a hand at the back of my thigh to help support my displaced knee. "And I will." I said, a bit high pitched as I placed the rest of my left foot down. I threw my right arm forward to lean myself against the wall. I used the wall as my main support as I made my way towards the door.

I looked back at the man who still watched me with concern in his eyes. He ran in front of me to open the door, making the little chimes ring at the top. At that moment, I decided to really look at this strange mans face. It had changed since I had last saw him. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, maybe I just was in too much pain to notice, too delusional to notice, or just too focused on myself to notice, but a dark spot had formed on the side of his eye. Just in the corner of his eye was a purplish bruise that was still red from irritation closer to his eye. It looked painful

"Your eye..." I said.

"It doesn't matter." He quickly replied, "I'm helping you get to your room."

"You're so goddamned stubborn."

"And so are you." He replied with a smirk, making my eyes go wide with realization. An arm wrapped around me under my shoulders and another one was held by my left hip. He might've noticed my struggle in the left knee by now. We slowly made our way up the stairs with multiple sharp inhales and flinches. I dug my key into the small slot and opened the door, almost throwing myself into my room.

"This is cozy." He said a he helped me walk in and get to my bed. I chuckled as I climbed into bed, fighting thousands of pain explosions throughout my entire body. "Now tell me what hurts." He said as he started walking to my kitchen and opening my almost empty shelves.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "You were supposed to help me up the stairs, you achieved that, now you can leave."

"I'm making you tea." He replied calmly, "To maybe sooth the pain a tiny bit."

I threw my hands up, annoyed. "I can help myself now, thanks."

"Obviously." He replied with sarcasm. Making me release a deep and obnoxious sigh. He started walking over to me with a wet towel, placing it on my forehead. The coldness of the towel made me squirm under it, since the rest of my body was overheated and sweating. As the water dripped down the side of my face and behind my ears, I could almost feel the headache slowly fading.

"What hurts?" He asked again.

I stared at him. "If you haven't noticed, everything."

"Okay..." He said, walking around me and examining me as if he was a doctor, "What hurts the most?"

"My knee." I replied, pointing to the knee I was referring to. He knelt down beside my left knew and tried to look at it through my thin black tights.

"That looks bad." He whispered under his breath, "I'm gonna call a doctor."

"No!" I spoke up. "Please, you can leave now."

"Bu-"

"Go." I said sternly, staring up at the ceiling. I heard him run again to my little kitchen and wall back towards me. I watched as he placed the tea on my night table before he walked towards the door.

"Wait!" He turned back at me, "Since you know my name, I need to know yours."

"Joey." He replied with a smile, before disappearing out the door.