Meera was sitting at the table getting ready to snack upon a heaping plate of bacon, when the pan clattered to the floor. She turned and screamed.
"Mom?" Running outside Meera scan the vast area and saw nothing, not my mom, anywhere. She I calls out her name until her voice is hoarse and Rix is clawing the door. After she gives up hope she stalks back into the house ignoring the long gash marks in the wood. Rix's shadow-like appearance trailed at my heels. Meera paced around the house, waiting for anybody to show up. After checking, and rechecking the house, which confirmed her mother was nowhere to be found she made a decision. Latching the blue leash onto Rix's collar Meera didn't bother to lock the door behind her. Bounding to the car she slammed the trucks door and revved the engine. Rix was sitting in the passenger seat staring at Meera with a concerned expression.
Hitting the gas pedal with unnecessary force the truck jolted forward causing Meera to hit the steering wheel with so much power she could feel the bruise forming along her rib cage. A bark echoed from Rix but was quickly lost in the squeal of tires dragging across the dirt road. Her hands nervously trailed through her blonde, almost white hair.
Speeding across the lowly maintained roads of the rural areas was very bumpy and prompted her nervous nature. Rix could sense her discomfort and nuzzled her loose hand. It had an extremely soothing effect, and the muscles in Meera's arm began to loosen up. Until she came across an overturned silver SUV. Her foot didn't have a moment to hit the brakes before a loud scream echoed, a moment later she realized it was her own voice crying in terror. Then the tree was all that she could see and with a sickening crumpling of metal Sheera's forehead hit the front of the steering wheel. Well, so much for airbags, she thought. Turning to the passenger's side she saw Rix's form curled into the smallest possible configuration, and to make the situation a picture of irony, the airbag had been triggered for Rix.
So she began laughing hysterically, but it turned into loud heaving sobs. Opening the jammed door she coaxed Rix out, while the tears caked on her face.
"Hello?" a voice asked.
"Who's there?" Meera replied looking around the landscape. All she could see was her car twisted around the tree, and a flipped car a few feet behind her. Cautiously she approached the car and she saw a hand sticking out of the crushed window. Glass was scattered around the floor, and there were trickles of blood spilling from a few mangled cuts on the arm.
"Alex. Could you help me?" His voice was a badly masked attempt to shake off pain. Meera could tell, from his tone and Rix's whimpering as he sat next to the damaged arm and was licking around the pieces of jagged glass protruding from the bloodied flesh.
"Is that your arm?" Her voice trembled as she swept up her waist long hair into a very awkward, messy bun.
"The one sticking out the car? Yeah, that's mine." There was an attempt at nonchalance was failed when a high crack in his voice revealed the pain. This created a sense of urgency that made Sheera dash to the side of the car where Rix tended to Alex's arm. Ignoring the glass shards Meera tried the first thing that came to mind, opening the door. It was too bent to work anymore, so she let out a cry of frustration.
"What do I do?"
"Do you think you could just get my seatbelt off and I could crawl out?" Meera shook her head, then realized he couldn't even see her.
Crawling down onto her hand and knees, disregarding the glass she scooted through the window, for once grateful of her childlike frame. It had always bugged her that she had never grown to a full sized person but stayed the same size as a fifth grader. For once she was thankful when she slid through with ease. Alex wasn't anything like she expected, he had luscious dark hair, even when it was clumped with dried blood, and it was still gorgeous. His jaw was squared and he had full lips, which were at the moment drained of any color, which brought her back to her original mission.
"Where is the belt?"
"Right under my right arm." He muttered using his head to gesture toward the injured arm. Her hand moved to gently raise the shredded arm while Alex's face scrunched up, but he didn't make a sound. With a click the seat belt retreated and he was free. Slowly Meera backed out of the car, and Alex dragged himself across the car following her out the window, more carefully than Meera. She couldn't really blame him, he was injured enough, no sense to add any more damage.
"So, what's your name?" He asked as he plucked out one piece of glass from his bloody flesh, then dumping it into a small pile. Every shard he took out was followed by a short lived wince, so feeling left out she started to help peel away the shards from his arm.
"Sheera." Rix had joined them and had started licking the wounds. Meera tried to push him away but Alex just waved his good hand away from my waving hand.
"No, it's alright. Dogs have antibiotics on their tongues, it should help. Meera, that's an interesting name, any story behind it?" She moved onto the glass in his side, where his shirt had been ripped apart into shreds of cloth. Meera had a small disorder, she felt the need to keep busy, and feeling useless is not her strong suit.
"My dad used to have meerkats, intelligent, curious creatures. My dad said I reminded him of a meerkats as a baby. So it was turned to Meera. A little odd." Eventually his whole body was clear of any glass, and some color had returned into his face. Rix was playing nurse as they talked, once they had finished clearing Alex off they had moved away to the side of the road to lean against a tree.
"It's a cute name." He said as his hand reached to touch hers he gasped. "You didn't say anything about the glass in your hands."
Turning her hand over delicately in his he stared at the gashes and began tending to them.
"It's nothing, just a couple cuts. I'm used to it." She admitted. His eyes trailed to the old puckered scars that crisscrossed along her arm. What nobody else knew, is that they also decorated most of her clothed skin. A gasp emitted from his lips, and Meera wouldn't meet his eyes, she was too embarrassed to say anything. It was a secret she guarded from many people. Even her mother had not known, she just thought it was the mean cat down the road who kept attacking the children walking to the bus stop. At least that's what Meera had told her.
Pulling her arm away from his loose fingers, she cradled it closer to her body. She had hid her marks under long impractical shirts, and hoodies. It hadn't been a problem because, well nobody bothered to pay attention to me. When Meera had shifted, her shirt rode up revealing the mess of scars that embellished my abdomen. Now she was just uncomfortable and squeamish as his face turned into an expression of worry.
"Why would anyone do this to themselves?" Her fingers tangled within themselves and she mumbled with the shirt to pull it back down where it covered her flaws. Biting her lip she tried to say something.
"I was in a bad place." Voice trembling Meera reached over to causally tear the glass from her bloodied knees.