Knots pressed her face to the glass, looking out the frosted window of the lodging house. She pushed a piece of her blonde hair out of her eyes and squinted harshly, trying to make out any movement in the dark. It had started snowing lightly about ten minutes earlier.
"see anything yet?" Knots jumped as the voice broke the tense silence.
"Not yet." She said not taking an inch of her attention away from the window. "They should be back now, I mean it's snowing! They wouldn't stay out there in the snow." She said, her voice starting to sound panicked.
"Knots." The voice belonged to Knots's best friend, Trinket. A sassy green eyed red head who was usually the dramatic one. She put her hand on Knots's shoulder. "You know Jack and Spot. They're tough and certainly not stupid. They're not gonna go and get into any fights, they know how to keep calm when dealing with other boroughs. Besides, it hasn't been snowing that long." She took a place in the window seat next to her.
Suddenly Knots saw someone walking up the steps to the lodging house, their head hanging down. "Oh my god, it's Jack!" Knots got up and ran to the door, she opened it just as Jack reached the handle. "Jack!" Knots wrapped her arms around him as they stumbled into the brightly lit foyer.
"Heya Knots." He said softly in a rough voice.
She pulled away from him and looked at his face.
"Oh my gosh…" she said, her voice cracking.
His left eye was already swollen and purple, his lip, cut and bloodied, and his chin, the host to a deep gash.
"I'm ok..I'm ok.." he said quickly trying to reassure her.
Knots shook her head while biting her lip to fight back tears. She hugged him again.
Jack took a hold of her face with both hands and looked her in the eye. "Listen, I'm alright. Ok?"
She nodded. "Here, uhm, take your jacket off. You're covered in snow and going to get chilled." She said starting to unbutton the damp coat.
Trinket slowly walked into the foyer, butterflies filled her stomach and her face had gone pale.
"wow…Jack are you ok?" she said in an almost whisper.
Jack swallowed hard seeing Trinket, Spots girlfriend of six months. "yea. Just fine…hey, listen Trinket…"
Knots pulled the coat off Jack and let out a small gasp.
His shirt was ripped both at the arm and on his side revealing two bloody gashes.
Jack quickly pulled his coat out of Knots's arms to cover his wounds.
His face was saddened by the expression on his girlfriend's face. He hated it when she worried about him. Knots took his hand and intertwined it with hers, kissing it. She buried her face in Jack's chest as he pulled her close, seeing a tear fall.
Trinket cleared her through. "Uhm Jack?" she said taking several steps toward him.
Jack and Knots broke apart, looking at her, knowing the question that was coming.
"where's Spot?"