Jimmy rested his head against the ground and tried to breath through his busted lips, his nose felt mangled and un-whole. The headlights of the car faded out as they got further and further away. It seemed suddenly as if everything were in slow-motion. The echoed sound of the car engine disappearing into the night. He could see his breath in the faint light. After a minute he heard the door unlock behind him, little feet banging down the front steps, Lilly. He tried to sit up, rolling forward in a slow crawl. She was standing next to him, arms lose by her side, tearstained face, snot rolling off her chin.
"Jimmy..." Her voice shrill and scared.
"Go back inside." His head was spinning with the effort of sitting up. Her form blurring into shapeless colors before his eyes.
"Come with me." She tugged on his jacket.
"No just..." He tried to untangle her fingers from his clothing, the effort of it being too much. His head tilted sideways and time slipped away into blackness. It was only a second that passed as his eyes fluttered open again. His heart slamming back into his body, the slow awareness of his aching pained body coming back to him. Lilly's cold hands against his face. Her panicked sobs finally reaching his ears and bringing him back quickly.
He sat up and wrapped an arm around her body, scooping her in close to himself, even though it hurt. She buried her face in his neck, snot and tears smearing against his skin.
"I'm okay baby, I'm fine. Why didn't you stay in the house like I told you too?" He was trying not to lean into her for support but it was an effort to sit up on his own. His ribs felt bruised, not broken but aching.
"They left. They're gone now. I thought you were dead! I thought they killed you!" Her fists clutched tightly in the fabric of his coat.
"I'm okay baby, I'm okay." He whispered over and over to her. He could still feel Papa Doc's breath against his face, the gun lightly pressed against his nose. "I could end yo' shit right now, an' nobody even miss yo' ass." The words burned into his head. Nobody even miss you. Lilly was pulling on him, brown eyes boring holes into him, startling him out of his thoughts with their intensity. She was staring him down with determination in her eyes.
He let himself be pulled, rolled over and stood up on unsteady legs, let the head rush pass and then followed her slowly up the steps of the trailer.
--End