I'm Here, It's Okay

1.

Another late night, and like all late nights Khabir was now getting off work. Being a waitress at the busiest restaurant downtown meant being out well past midnight on her closing shift. She wondered if her boyfriend would actually be home this time, or if he'd be out getting drunk somewhere else like usual.

"If only I just had enough money...I could leave and never look back," she murmured to herself as she drove home. The streets were fairly clear, not many people were on the road at such an hour. Something caught her eye on the opposite side of the road however, under a street lamp. Her tires screeched as she came to an abrupt stop.

"Oh my god," she said in disbelief as she stared at the motionless body of a little girl. The waitress scanned for traffic then bolted out of the car to the girl's aid. Carefully, she checked for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. The hoodie of the young girl's jacket was drenched in blood, and Khabir noticed that there was a large gash from her forehead to her cheek. She contemplated what to do, tell the police? Help her herself? If she's here on the side of nowhere street then that probably meant she has no place to go, and the police around here don't care about the homeless. She cursed, checking the girl's pockets for any form of identification, while also praying that no car drove past to see what looked like a 17 year old grave robbing a dead homeless chick.

Nothing. She cursed again. Just then, a hand grabbed her arm and she shrieked. Khabir looked down to see the young girl staring back at her, her brown eyes reflecting in the yellow light of the street lamp.

"H-hey, are you okay?" Khabir stuttered, "I saw you here not moving and I thought you might be in trouble. Or dead. Was really hoping you weren't dead though," she rambled. She asked if the young girl could move, to which she slowly nodded and attempted to sit up. A wince of pain sent her reeling back to the ground in agony.

"Help...Jey," she whispered faintly and without much consciousness.

"Is that your name? Jey?"

"Yes...help...Jey," she replied, losing strength with every word. Khabir picked her up, assuring Jey that she would be okay. Carrying her back to the car, the waitress silently panicked about what she was going to do with a highly injured ghost child. Would her boyfriend approve? The darkened marks on her thighs and back were evidence enough as to what happens when he isn't pleased. A nestle of her chest and a whimper from below broke her train of thought. Jey had snuggled herself closer to Khabir as she was being held bridal style, tears seeped from her closed eyelids. Feelings of sadness, pity, and motherly instinct panged the carrier's heart. She held the child tight, keeping her head elevated and cooing her to silence.

"Shhh, I've got you, it's okay, I've got you."

//

The waitress shouldered the door of the one-bedroom apartment open gently, as not to send a shock of force through the gradually weakening child in her arms. She laid the wounded girl on the couch with her head resting on an angled pillow, and began to gather medical supplies.

"You are so lucky I used to want to be a nurse," she told the girl in an attempt to relieve the thick tension of the situation. Rubbing alcohol, bandages, stitches, and pain meds were grabbed from the emergency kit they kept under the kitchen sink. Khabir placed a belt in Jey's mouth after feeding her crushed pills, stating that the next part might sting a bit. She doused a rag in alcohol and pressured it onto the wound.

"Owie..." Jey strained through whimpers of pain and discomfort.

"I know I know I'm sorry, but I have to disinfect your wound or it'll get, well, infected. Thankfully you've stopped bleeding or else we would've had a much bigger problem," Khabir explained. She removed the red-stained rag and prepped to stitch the gash. The impromptu nurse told Jey to close her eyes and start counting backwards from 100. Once the girl got to 97, she inserted the needle and began to weave the wound closed.

"24...23..."

"Done!" Khabir exclaimed as she clipped the end of thread and bandaged the cut, "all better now." The young girl said nothing, but the look in her eyes screamed of how unbearably tired she was. Khabir helped her adjust to a comfortable position and pulled a blanket over the child. She decided she'd sleep on the floor near Jey in case there was an emergency during the night.

"Mom...ma..." muttered the child as she drifted to sleep. Khabir felt a small smile creep from her lips, and found a spot on the carpet to spend the night. What a night it had been.

//

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Prophecy, out.