"God, the stars... I never really noticed how pretty you are," The young redheaded woman laughed softly, smiling up. Above her, the diamond-like stars spanned what must have been a billion light-years of dark, velvety sky as she tried, and failed, to focus. The sky swam, her view of it broken up only by the gingery curls frozen to solid ice in front of her face. "Dumb hair, blocking my view... of the beautiful stars..." She whispered, giggling softly, drunkenly. "I'd reach up and push you away... if I could still feel my arms... but this... this is still... a nice final view... I'm not, making it home tonight, though... am I...? Hah... haha... pathetic, talking to myself... until my final... moments...? Never had... any company but my own... huh...?"
=
"Hhh-" With a pained gasp, lungs rattling, she sat up, eyes bulging, trying to scream only for her voice to break, nothing coming out save for a pained, weak exhale. There were voices around her, but she couldn't register much of anything as pain exploded through her left side, falling that way in an effort to defend herself, something burning and wet against her flesh, eyes widening still further, trying to scream with no success whatsoever. Hands clawing at the carpet, she tried to drag herself anywhere- away- gotta- away- where- somebody was pulling at her, but she couldn't understand their words, the ringing in her ears was too loud- let go of me, LET GO OF ME-?!
Where am I where am I where am I where am I- forcibly rolled onto her back, the young blonde woman coughed, and blood spilled over her bottom lip, onto the carpet as she strained, trying still to sit up, two sets of hands wrestling her down onto her back, feminine voices around her, concerned, very. They were lying- why am I bleeding- the ringing in her ears, it was so god damn loud, she screamed, finally, her voice breaking through, more blood leaking from her bottom lip, the taste of copper overwhelming her. For a moment, she collapsed halfway onto her side, retching, nothing coming up save for drops of blood and a broken, blood-curdling sob, her eyes clamping shut. Her skin- it felt burned, literally, but so, so cold, so cold...
After a long moment of sobbing into that pool of blood, tears frozen on her cheeks, red curls encased in ice beginning to drip around her, and onto her face, she collapsed in earnest, strength gone, and before she could ever begin to make sense of the voices around her she was, again, passing out.
=
"But we can heal her- and calling an ambulance could be a mistake. What if there are people who want her dead...? We don't know why she was left there, like that..." A quiet voice, not quite meek, but so soft it was nearly hard to hear.
"We have no reason to heal her- we should just let the cops sort this out!! I mean, what if we let a killer into our house, and now we're trying to nurse her back to health?! This is bullshit," The second voice seemed angry, stressed, vehement, borderline venomous.
"Maybe- but if she deserved to be dead, she'd BE dead, this seems like an accident, or an attempted murder... if she was some sick murderer, and her victim had escaped or something, police would be scouring the area, things wouldn't be so quiet... you have to stop... thinking without any logic... emotion isn't, enough..."
"Even so what the HELL made you think to bring her here?!" Not angry, no... just stressed...
"She was lost... I was lost, at one time, remember? What if they'd left me there...? You don't make the world a better place, by letting people suffer quietly... Besides, your roommate owes me..."
"It's not our job to make the world a better place," The angry girl huffed, and then there was the scraping of furniture. "It's our job to take care of ourselves, and it's always been that way, hasn't it?? Why the hell should we be worried about some random stranger?? So what if my roommate owes you, I sure as hell don't!!'
"Just because nobody was around to take care of you... doesn't mean that everybody has to suffer the same way," Came the first voice quietly, lethally, coldly. There was silence for a moment, then footsteps, the slam of a door as the young woman lay in bed, breathing deeply, feigning sleep still. Soft, silky sheets surrounded her, and a plush pillow lay under her neck and head.
"I know, that you're probably awake," The quiet voice spoke after a while. "If you're afraid, though... or you just need some time... the explanation can wait..." Hearing herself called out, the young woman froze- she didn't remember her name, or where she was, so an explanation may be out of the question. Still, the way she stiffened up certainly revealed her as awake, and she inwardly cursed herself.
"The truth is..." The quiet one continued. "Well, the truth is that I was in the same position once upon a time... and, somebody was there, to scoop me up... I just hope that you won't come to regret it in the, same way that I have... but you have a chance, to be much different..." A slow breath, and then, again, silence. "You are awake, yes...?"
"Mn..." The young woman in the bed forced herself to grunt, though it felt that her throat sat in knots, as though speech was the most impossible thing that she had ever attempted. No point in pretending though, not really.
"Relax, then... You tore your throat, screaming... I just, wanted to know... I cashed in a favor, and you're staying in the home, of two of my friends... they, owed me, for something... My name is, QiQi, I'm a medical student... so I got you, a week to recover, here... if you can't talk, yet, then I will, give you space... but I will be back, to check up on you..."
The woman who'd only just escaped the ice nodded, as best she could- she wanted to mutter an answer, but hanging onto consciousness had suddenly become so, so very hard, waves of exhaustion crashing over her like some sort of sick ride at sea, and the world was going dark. To the sound of QiQi's footsteps, she passed out, again, returning to the sea of unconscious.
=
"So this is her?" Another voice yet, this one light and curious. "I mean hey, I don't see a problem with it!! If the police should be involved, they'd be sniffing around by now wouldn't they? It happened RIGHT next to the campus after all. Besides, we have the room and the money, so what's the issue?"
"Okay, sure we have the money, but-"
"Sorry cat- you know I care about you, but there's no way in hell that I'm willing to throw somebody in need to the wolves! QiQi said it best- you think that the world has to be jaded because that's how it treated you, but it's not so. Try to lighten up- the world is a better place when we try to help others, and hey, I'd do the same for you, or anybody else!!" The cheerful voice called out, and there was a huff, more harsh footsteps and another slam of a door.
"Mn... am I too harsh...? I don't understand the want for others to suffer..." A pause, a slow sigh.
"Hey girly! You awake yet?? Sorry if you listened to all of that~" She called out, whoever she was. "Saw you twitch when we started arguing- sorry about that! You're alive, right? QiQi wants me to force some meds into you, but sheesh, it'd be awkward to wake up and meet you like that, so can you sit up for me? Eh? Eh~??" Playful, insistent, the young woman in bed mustered her strength and, groaning painfully, nodded, forcing her eyes open, a layer of grime breaking apart in her eyelashes as she slowly shifted, trying to sit up. Given a moment, she managed to prop herself up, sitting back against the headboard and swallowing slowly- in front of her stood a young woman with deeply tanned skin, dressed scantly in tiny jean shorts and a soft white sleeveless blouse full of holes like some sort of quilt along with a white bra visible underneath.
"She lives, let's go~!!!" She grinned wickedly, red-brown eyes gleaming happily. "My name is Mualani, and you were brought here by my friend QiQi- she's a doctor, and helped me out years ago- it's a long story, I'll tell you sometime. Good morning !! What's your name? Oh, sorry, I'm being a lot aren't I."
"I... nice to meet you, Mualani," The woman in bed yawned quietly and groaned- her mouth tasted of coppery blood, still, the yawn making it stand out more than before.
"Nice to meet you too, stranger. Pretty lady got a name??" She asked again gently, voice optimistic and pleasant, like an autumn wind blowing through her hair.
"I don't, remember..." She shook her head, swallowing that bloody taste again, planting her hands and sitting up a bit more, groaning. "I don't remember anything..."
"That's fine, that's fine, don't worry!! Y'know, sometimes these things just happen to people after heavy injuries and it's nothing to be ashamed of- we can figure out your name later or hell, maybe even come up with a new one for you if we need to!! Just for the record, if you heard my roommate whining, she's just... she's just a bitter girl, let me say it that way," Mualani sighed, glancing away with a shifty grin. "It's not my place to explain, but, try not to take it personally, okay? It's nothing against you in particular."
"Still, I'm sorry for intru-"
"Nope! No no no, you're not sorry for intruding, shut up, you're not allowed to be sorry~" Mualani smirked, sticking her tongue out playfully. "Sorry isn't allowed!! You needed help, and we were able to give it, honestly QiQi didn't even need to cash in a favor I would have done it anyway, but I guess in her mind it was just better safe than sorry- don't give me the chance to say no? Anyway, if you got nothing for me to call you, I can just keep calling you girly."
"S-Sure... well, thank you, for lending me a bed... I don't remember much, of anything, at all," She sighed, looking down. Long hair fell in ratty snarls around her torso- it was curly, but absolutely nasty, disgusting, full of blood mud, grime, sweat. She smelled, as well- that much was obvious even to her own nose. "I don't remember my name, or why I was there, or anything at all..."
"Yeah, so funny story there," Mualani spoke with a more somber tone, suddenly, frowning and curling a finger against her chin. "We've been checking missing persons sites for a hundred miles around here and there's nothing. Nobody has reported you missing, there's no police warnings on you, there's just... absolutely nothing, it's like you fell into the snow from another world or something. QiQi says that she couldn't see any signs of being summoned here from somewhere else on you, but yeah, we just can't find any traces of you. Granted we didn't have your name, I put in a lot of time searching..."
"Mm, sorry to have trouble-"
"No. Bad girl, stop saying sorry," Mualani reiterated with a playful grin. "You look to be about my size, so, wanna borrow some clothes? We can get you into the shower if you've got the strength, and let you get cleaned off, I saw your face when you looked down."
"Mn..."
"Don't worry," Mualani kept talking, humming lightly. "I've got jeans and normal outfits for you, okay? This isn't a bother or anything, I've got more clothes than I know what to do with- in fact? I've been meaning to throw some away, so you'd be doing me a favor since they wouldn't just be going to waste!!"
"I'd like, to try," She whispered, slowly shifting, swinging a leg onto the floor- she wore no footwear at the moment, but her socks were black, brown and gray from layers of filth. "I'm so... damn, dirty..."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up, we're all dirty sometimes, heh," Mualani smirked, narrowing her eyes and stepping forward. Seeing her move forward, the young woman reeled, eyes narrowing, and Mualani stopped, confused angling her head. "Hey- hey I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanted to help you stand up, let you lean on my arm. Is that okay?" As she spoke, she pushed long white hair back, the locks currently hanging a lot cleaner, prettier and straighter than hers, the redhead observed.
"Mn, I, let me try on my own please," The dirty ginger shuddered, looking away, and slowly laid both feet on the floor, taking a deep breath. Her breaths felt labored, and her head ached with pain, but, slowly, she managed to lean forward and then stand, imbalanced but on her feet, lurching forward to lean on the wall. Mualani looked concerned, and every bit of her body language screamed that she wanted to step forward and help, but she bit her lip and leaned back on the balls of her feet, sighing.
"Sorry, I just- don't feel bad, it's just not easy for me to stand here and watch you in this condition," She murmured, stepping back. "Cool if I grab you an extra brush?? I bet that hair would be nice and soft if you brushed it out~"
"Mn..." She, the blonde, slowly stood up properly, taking her hand off the wall. "I won't argue with you, but I'll also buy you, a new brush when I can... I think I can make it to your bathroom..."
"The good news is that I have two, actually!!" She grinned, once again, with an infectious sort of gentleness that left the injured woman with no choice but to relax, a bit. "Well, there's mine and my roommate's, so, you can just use mine. Come onnnnn~!!!" She turned, twirling on the balls of her feet into the hallway, and waited patiently as the blonde narrowed her eyes and slowly limped forward, groaning- her right foot ached, but it didn't feel broken so much as like it was healing from some sort of knife wound- there was an aching, stabbing sort of pain, there.
"Need a hand?" Mualani asked gently, angling her head.
"No," She shook her head, limping forward slowly. "Thank you..."
"Y'know I've read a lot of stories about somebody who loses their memories- movies, too!" Mualani laughed, stretching, and walked down the hallway as she, the ginger, spilled into the hallway, looking around. The hallfway was plain, a few photos of some beach and coastal town on the walls. "Thing is, in those stories the character is always so panicked, wondering where they are and what's happened to them... but you're so calm," She added, and moved forward, to another door. Though she could, from here, catch a glimpse of a nicely-furnished living room, she was guided through a door and into a bathroom. Simple, long and narrow, but the shower was surprisingly nice with a bench along one wall and more standing space than one would expect.
"Guess, I just wonder what's got you so calm. I'm glad you're not scared, but I guess I don't understand? Sorry if I'm being some sort of insensitive bitch, I just wish I knew what was going on in your mind?" Mualani spoke inquisitively, stepping back curiously and reaching into a drawer as the ginger wandered further into the room, tired, toward the shower. From a drawer, she produced a clean hairbrush, slowly setting it on the counter and sliding it down toward the ginger who took it, gently, into her hand.
"I guess..." She swallowed, thinking. "I guess if I had anything to miss, people would be looking for me? I don't remember anything, and nobody seems to remember me, so I don't know why I'd be sad..." She shrugged, quietly, groaning and shaking her head, closing her eyes, a vice-like pressure clamping around her head and digging into her temples.
"Mn... I'll leave you be, if you think you'll be okay. I don't wanna keep making your headache worse, fire girl!! I'll be in the living room, I called in sick to work so I could take care of my sick grandma- that's you, just a cover story~"
"You're... thanks," She mumbled with guilt infecting her voice, looking away. "I feel so... tired...?"
"Do you think you can do this? If you need help getting back to bed..."
"I think I can do this," She muttered, nodding quietly and slowly looking back up, at Mualani.
"Good, good. If you need any help, just call for me, okay? I'll just be reading a book or something so I can hear you clearly, don't worry." Mualani swallowed, and it seemed that she wanted to say something more, but she turned and walked away, waving as she went, closing the door to a crack.
"Mnf..." The ginger sighed and slowly stretched, gasping with pain as she raised her arms over her head, joints popping- it felt as if her spine was cracking and popping in fifty different places, pressure releasing. "Sh-Shit..."
"Fair warning!!" Mualani called from somewhere in the house, probably that living room. "Once the water has been running for a bit, I'll leave a change of clothes on the counter for you, okay?? Take your time, but yeah, just gonna poke my head in. Don't worry, I know you can hear me, we've got thin walls, no need to strain your voice~"
For a moment, the redhead contemplated answering anyway, and then she shook her head, slowly opening the glass shower door and looking down for the controls- there, seemed simple enough; a hot and cold slider and a bath-to-shower handle. Reaching down, she slowly gripped the hem of her soiled shirt and pulled it up, off, wincing at the pain in her joints, shoulders. Then, carefully, she spun her bra around to the front, unhooking, letting it slowly fall off, breasts spilling free.
"Mn..." Taking a deep breath, she unbuttoned jeans that might have been blue at some point, sliding them down with her underwear at once, swallowing slowly, shifting, wincing as her right shoulder twitched painfully. Lifting a foot, dragging her sock off... then the other, she swallowed the knot in her throat again, naked now, and leaned against the counter a moment, planting her hands, winded by the effort that undressing had taken. "I'm so, weak..."
"I can help if you need, at all!" Mualani called, and she, the ginger, swallowed, trying to steady herself before replying.
"I... think I can do this. Your shower has a bench, and all..."
"Mhm! You're a strong girl, just let me know if you need anything. The strongest in fact!!" A playful laugh, and then quiet, the ginger slowly, painstakingly, stepped to the left, leaning down and gripping the shower lever, pushing it halfway into the hot zone, then yanked the lever, and leaned back, once again stumbling and leaning against the counter as a stream of water began to fall, a chilly breeze seeming to waft through the room, her nipples perking up slowly at the cold, breaths labored and heavy from duress.
"I can do this," She muttered quietly, and slowly stepped forward, off of the counter, brush in hand, planting her other agains the tiled wall, drawing a breath and lifting a leg, stepping into the shower. The warm water, turning hot, as she sank down into the bench and leaned back, setting the brush down beside her, hit the top of her head like a plastic sheet, hair too filthy to immediately become wet.
"Fuck..." Letting out a long, slow breath, the redhead leaned back and swallowed, closing her eyes, letting the water fall over her, slowly soaking into her tangled ginger locks. When she opened one eye, just a bit, the water flooding the floor of the tub was gray, and she grimaced, closing her eyes again, hating to look at the trails of mud and filth. When something seemed to crack in her hair though, she sat up, watching with wide eyes as a clot of dried blood fell- how badly injured was I- and then she gasped sharply, looking down. Among the streams of grime still flowing off of her, a small lump of metal hit the floor- a bullet, the point caved in, but there was no mistaking it. Reaching down, soaking red locks falling across her face, she picked up the bullet and sat back, spinning it downward and pushing her hair back. '9mm parabellum' read the metal- there was no mistaking it. So then, why was she shot...
Drawing a breath, she raised her hand to her hair, sinking her fingers into the snarls and searching... but there was nothing there. "'Cept now I gotta know..." Taking the brush, she sat up with suddenly renewed vigor, gripping the ends and starting to yank the brush through, wincing in pain but continuing anyway. Aside from the water at her feet, sliding down her body being gray, not much came out- it made sense she supposed, if she'd blacked out in dirty snow rather than mud and grass. Even so... clink, clink, two more bullets fell, both of their front ends collapsed to the floor. She kept brushing, starting down intensely and swallowing, a wave of nausea rolling over her- it was causing a headache, her eyes throbbing as she went, but she couldn't stop. Three used bullets...
"Am I bulletproof...?" Nah, can't be. Otherwise, why had she been unconscious at all- from the blood in her hair, she had clearly been wounded, she thought, brushing higher. As she went, groaning, stomach rolling with nausea due to the pain, her hair spilled out longer, falling in curly waves, almost the color of blood in the water, that damned brush yanking and pulling, savagely clawing away the grime until, finally, she was forced to rotate her wrist and yank down from above, untangling her roots. Chunks of dried blood fell, breaking apart some as they traveled toward the drain, but finally she leaned forward, groaning in pain, tips of her hair brushing against her thighs, her locks free of grime as she took a bottle of shampoo slowly from the wall, the taste of stomach acid on her tongue.
"Dropping off your clothes!!" The voice of Mualani, suddenly, as through the frosted glass she saw a figure drop clothes on the counter. "Doing okay? Don't worry, I don't care if you're in there another hour! Just wanna make sure you aren't dead. Oh, and when you get out, those painkillers QiQi left for you are out here in a cup~"
"I'm fine. I think," She spoke, noticing even as she did that her voice felt more solid now. "Head fucking hurts though, think I might be sick. Don't worry. I'll make it to the toilet if so."
"Dayum, she speaks!! Nice to hear from you. Enjoy your shower, focus on feeling better, and use as much soap as you need, bye~" She retreated, then, this time closing the door tightly. Sighing, the redhead grabbed the bottle of shampoo more securely and uncapped it, beginning to grind some into her hair, closing her eyes, running a toe over the bullets on the floor, rolling them back and forth.
"Oh, what to do..."