Califor M.I.A

Escape

“Can you sit up?” Hannah wiped some of the blood off of Ethan’s forehead he didn’t wince, which worried her because she was right on one of his wounds. When she looked down at his face, he looked dazed. His eyes were unfocused and he didn’t flinch when she put her hand on the bruise forming on his side. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and he seemed to almost ‘wake up’. When Ethan gave her a confused face she repeats the question. “Can you sit up?”

Ethan’s ears were ringing. He wanted to protest against getting up, wanted to tell Hannah to just leave him there, but he stopped, not wanting to scare her anymore. He wanted to try, for Hannah, for Lex. He wanted to get Hannah to safety but she wouldn’t leave him. He nodded and tried to prop himself on his elbow. He screamed and fell back to the floor, hitting his head again, almost sobbing from the pain.

“Ethan stop before you hurt yourself anymore!” Hannah put the hand that wasn’t holding Ethan’s on his chest to keep him from trying to get up again. “Give me a second, I'll find a way to get you up.” Hannah gently squeezed Ethan’s hand before getting up and pacing back and forth at Ethan’s feet. She had an idea. “This might hurt Eth but bear with me.”

Ethan didn’t really hear what Hannah had said over the ringing in his ears, but he trusted her. He couldn’t stop the fear in his eyes when Hannah started to untie the flannel around his waist. What was she doing? She would warn him if it was gonna hurt right? Yeah! Of course! He shouldn’t be scared.

Hannah took the flannel and put it underneath Ethan’s torso, so that the sleeves were under his armpits. “On three Ethan, I’m gonna pull you up, im gonna tie the shirt on top of my shoulder so that its resting against my neck. Its gonna be tight around your side, it’ll hurt but it’s gonna help the bleeding and I can help you more.”

Ethan heard some of what she said. She’s gonna use the flannel to get him up, its gonna hurt. That’s all he needed to know so he could brace himself as much as he could in his dazed state.”

“1” Hannah wrapped the sleeves around her wrists and hands, trying to reduce the risk of Ethan falling again.

“2” Ethan braced himself for the pain, although it wasn’t much due to the exhaustion that had started to build up again.

“3!” Hannah pulled as hard as she could, causing Ethan to scream out in pain again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Hannah almost chanted under her breath, trying to console him but also get through it faster. She got Ethan to a somewhat standing position and tied the flannel sleeves so they rested against her neck comfortably. She grabbed Ethan’s arm and put it around her shoulders, putting her arms around his waist.

When they were situated Ethan nodded and they slowly started out of the theatre. She was already out of breath. “I’m gonna get ya outta of here Eth. I promise.”