William felt as if he had been in a very long dream. He struggled to open his eyes and saw everything in front of him as blurry.
He thought he must have gone mad because he thought he saw Ellie.
He closed his eyes and opened them again, and then he saw clearly.
The girl at the podium was wearing a light purple dress, looking very sweet and obedient, with extremely clear eyes, like crystal apricots.
She said: "Hello everyone, my name is Ellie."
William stared at her, not daring to blink.
He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, she would disappear again.
Crystal clear tears rolled down his cheeks, and he quickly wiped away the tears from his face.
No one noticed the boy sitting in the back row, alone, shedding tears for the person on the podium.
"There is an empty seat there, can you sit there?"
"Okay, thank you, teacher."
William watched Ellie walk towards him.
She sat next to him again, just like before.
This time, William didn't wait for her to speak, he spoke first: "Hello, new deskmate, my name is William."
"I'm Ellie."
Daniel looked at William a bit strangely. Why did William take the initiative to greet someone today.
William stared at her, his eyes moistening involuntarily.
He hurriedly withdrew his gaze; this was their first meeting, and he couldn't scare her.
But he still couldn't help looking at Ellie, unable to resist stealing glances at her.
Ellie noticed the gaze of the person next to her and said, "Is something wrong?"
William said to her, "I heard that you have good grades, can I ask you questions in the future?"
"Sure."
Daniel heard the conversation behind him and almost fell off his chair.
Was William possessed?
What did he hear?
Questions?
He might not be awake yet.
William hadn't seen her for five years.
His mind kept replaying the last time he saw Ellie.
Her cold hand, her closed eyes, the hospital sheets were white and neat.
In this English class, William took the initiative to spread the book in front of the two of them, and he said, "You just arrived and don't have a book, do you? Let's share."
Ellie looked at him and said, "Thank you."
...
Ellie told SuSan the night before that she didn't need to be picked up.
She left the school gate with her backpack.
The platform is a distance from the school gate, and she walked slowly.
Suddenly, her backpack strap was pulled hard, and Ellie turned around to see a fierce face.
The man had a fleshy face, a long scar on his eyebrows, and in the hot summer, he was wearing long sleeves.
Ellie was frightened and stunned. This was the face she saw on TV a few days ago.
The man who killed nine people and fled into City A.
She gripped the backpack strap tightly, forcing herself to calm down.
She dropped her backpack and was about to run, but the man grabbed her back, dragged her into an alley, and felt her legs trembling.
But the man firmly grabbed Ellie's wrist, and she couldn't break free.
He took out something from his pocket, a bright knife, shining coldly, and he said with a grin, "Since I'm going to be caught anyway, it doesn't matter to take a few more with me before I die, and you're the first."
Ellie's lips were bitten white, and she desperately tried to break free, but how could a thin girl break free from an adult man's restraint?
"Is there anyone... mmmm."
Ellie was muffled by him.
At the moment the knife was stabbed down, she closed her eyes in resignation.
The expected pain did not come, and she opened her eyes.
She saw a pair of hands holding the man's hand.
That was her new deskmate.
She watched the man take out another knife from his pocket and stab William's shoulder.
"William!"
William groaned in pain, pulled out the knife, snatched the knife from his hand, and then threw it far away.
He turned his head and forced a smile at Ellie: "I'm here, don't be afraid."
He covered the wound on his shoulder, stood up, and kicked the man between his legs.
The man raised his hand and gave him an elbow strike.
The two wrestled together.
William punched the man in the face and then stood up.
He stepped back, pulled Ellie behind him, and said, "You hide further back."
The man laughed and said, "Interesting, you're the second."
Ellie stood behind, trembling all over, and dialed 110 and 120. Her speech was somewhat incoherent.
William wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and punched the man's abdomen.
The man coughed up a mouthful of blood and was about to counterattack.
William directly kicked him in the head, and the man fell to the ground.
William's eyes were slightly red. He pressed the man to the ground, and punch after punch fell on his face: "The person I am reluctant to touch even with a finger, who the hell are you."
"What the hell are you?"
Ellie didn't understand what he meant.
"William!"
Listening to Ellie's slightly trembling voice, William came back to his senses. The man was knocked unconscious, and William also sat down on the ground, out of strength.
Today, after the evening study class, he followed Ellie and found that she didn't have SuSan to pick her up and went home by herself.
It seemed that many things were different from before.
He was not at ease and followed her carefully, afraid that she would find out and think he was a pervert who followed people.
Unexpectedly, Daniel came up, and William made a shushing gesture to him, asking him to go first.
As a result, when he looked up, she was gone.
William almost rushed over.
Ellie looked at him, her eyes red, and she reached out to cover his wound, but she couldn't cover it.
Such a large wound, the blood kept flowing.
She couldn't cover it no matter what.
She didn't understand why someone she just met could block the knife for her.
She emptied her entire backpack and found that she didn't have anything to stop the bleeding urgently.
William raised his hand and wiped it on his body again and again. He gently wiped away her tears with the pad of his finger and said, "Don't cry, my hands are dirty."
Ellie's tears kept falling.
"You bled, a lot of blood."
William just looked at her, then raised his hand and rubbed her head, saying, "Don't be afraid, I won't die."
He finally met her again, how could he be willing to die?
Ellie cried and couldn't say a complete sentence.
William looked at the marks left on her neck by the man who choked her, reached out and gently touched them, and said, "Does it hurt?"
"No pain."
"Are you scared?"
"No fear."
"Good girl."
After William finished speaking, he fell onto her shoulder, out of strength.
Ellie was frightened and held his face, constantly saying, "Don't sleep, don't sleep."
"I'm not sleeping, I'm just a bit tired, let me lean on you."
He leaned on her and felt that everything was so unreal.
William was taken to the hospital, and the man was also taken away by the police.
William woke up in the hospital, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw her.
Her eyes were still red, like a little rabbit.
William struggled to sit up, and Ellie held him and said, "You have a shoulder injury and need to rest, don't move around."
"It's okay." William took an apple from the table and the knife next to it.
Ellie watched the apple turn into a puppy's head in his hand.
He handed her the apple and said, "Have an apple."
Ellie was a bit stunned to take the apple he handed her, and for a moment, she couldn't react. Was she the one who was injured or him?
"Today, thank you, or I would have lost my life."
"You're welcome."
He was glad he made it today; he couldn't accept her departure again.