Elise walked out of her last class of the day, grinning. Her best friend gave her a high five.
"I'll see you later, right?" Elise nodded.
"Wouldn't miss it for anything Em. I know how much it means to you."
Em fixed her with a look. "You better not forget, ok?" Elise laughed.
"This concert is all you've been talking about for weeks. I won't forget. Now go get ready." Em nodded, and then walked off down the street.
"See you later!" she yelled over her shoulder.
"Bye!" Elise called back.
She readjusted her bag, and started walking towards her apartment. She reached her bus stop, and sat down. She had a few minutes to kill before her bus arrived. Elise pulled out her phone, and noticed she already had a text from Em.
You better not be late, it read, I'm sending a text every hour so you can't forget.
Elise laughed, and was just about to hit reply when she heard a thump from behind her. She whipped around, but there was nothing there that could have made the noise, she was the only one at the stop. The noise came again, and Elise located where it was coming from. One of the dark side streets. All of her instincts where screaming at her to let it go, but when she heard a small yelp, she began to walk towards the street.
"Hello?" she called from the entrance, "Is everything alright?" she took a step further, and almost walked into a pile of old cardboard boxes. She navigated around them, and continued into the street. It was getting dark, and Elise realized she could hardly see the way she'd come. She had just decided to turn around and go back when something, no someone, pushed her against the wall. She opened her mouth to scream, but the figure placed his hand against her mouth.
"I'd get down if I were you." he said, "Things are about to get ugly."
Then the sound of gunfire started. Elise dropped to the floor and crouched behind one of the boxed, covering her head with her arms. Through cracks in the boxes she could see the man firing arrows down the street from behind a box further down the street, and two people firing at him from the other end of the street. Elise wasn't sure how long it lasted, but finally, the gunfire stopped, and the man stopped firing his arrows. She crawled cautiously from her hiding placed, and once fully satisfied there were going to be no more bullets coming her way, made her way over to the man.
As she got closer, she could tell he was injured. He was holding his shoulder and breathing heavily. Elise reached his side and dropped to her knees.
"Thanks for warning me." she said. The man looked at her.
"Not a problem." he said, his voice strained. Elise gestured to his shoulder.
"Can I see it?"
"Well that's a little fast, don't you think? We've just met. I don't even know your name."
"Elise." Elise said.
"Well, Elise, nice to meet you. I'm Clint." he made to stand up.
"Just, let me see your shoulder. I think I can help." Elise said.
"I doubt it." Clint muttered, but removed his hand from his injury. The bullet had scratched the side of his arm. Elise gently placed her hand on it, and closed her eyes. Her hand grew warm, and she opened her eyes. They flashed silver, then returned to their normal brown. She removed her hand. The wound was already beginning to heal. Clint looked at her in shock.
"How did you do that?" he asked. Elise opened her mouth to reply, then gasped in pain and grabbed her shoulder. She sank to her knees, took a few deep breaths, then looked up at him.
"I don't really know. I've been able to do it since I can remember." she said through gritted teeth. Clint looked at her, concerned. "Are you ok?"
Elise glared at him. "Do I look like I'm ok? Just give me a minute." she took another deep breath, then got to her feet. Clint looked at her.
"Do you wanna explained what that was about?" he asked.
"It's a long story." Elise said. Clint arched his eyebrow.
"I have time." Elise sighed.
"Fine. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to absorb someones pain, getting rid of it for them. But the pain has to go somewhere so-"
"So you feel it." Clint interrupted.
"Yes, pretty much. But it passes pretty quickly, so it's not too bad." she grinned. "And I can help people with it sometimes."
"Do you know how you're able to do this?"
"I don't know. Sorry."
Clint looked at her for a second, as if deciding something.
"Elise, there's someone I'd like you to meet."