Trying for something different, let me know what you think.

Hera Bellona stood in the dark alley. She lit up a cigarette and checked the time, 3:07. This asshole was late. Probably got eaten by a demon or ghost she thought to herself though she didn't laugh at her own joke. He was just being a dick. No matter what she'd heard as a child, demons and spirits didn't exist, at least not in this realm. And if they did, they certainly weren't restricted to 3am...she should know.

Headlights pulled her from her thoughts as they flashed across her and died.

"Bout fuckin time", she mumbled as she shuffled to the car pulling out the cash she'd made tonight and carefully counting out 200. This asshole wouldn't give her change if she miscounted..

"Lovely night we're having."

"Shut the fuck up"

"No need to be bitter chica"

"You're late. I got things to do."

"or men... What you havin? The usual?"

"No, just give me some yeyo and an ounce of dro."

"Didn't make any money chica? Too bad I got some good shit tonight, oh well. 200, thank you here you go. Need a ride? Oh wait you've already had a few today" and with that he started the car and sped off chuckling to himself.

"Man I hate that douche..disgrace to Mexicans everywhere...but he does have some good shit" she added after examining her goods. She began walking home through the rain, taking the long way and staying in the shadows of the back roads and alleys, she didn't want to be seen. As the rain picked up she lit up another cigg and wrapped her arms around herself wishing shed brought a jacket. Then it happened.

She'd been sloshing through the flooded alleyway between her shitty rundown high rise apartment building and an abandoned warehouse mumbling to herself about burning both down and robbing the landlord, when a black figure fell from the roof of the warehouse and landed not too softly in the water in front of her. Not so surprised as mad that she was now covered in the nasty alley wastewater (though shed already been soaked from rain) she realized the figure was a man and this man was badly injured. Without thinking she bent down to examine him. He was lying face down in the murk so she flipped him over and stared at his face for a few seconds pondering about how he looked familiar. But then again she saw so many men each day why shouldn't he? Seeing that he was unconscious she started debating what to do. She didn't want to leave him in the alley but she also didn't want to call an ambulance and draw attention to herself. So opting for the stupider action she decided she'd take him inside, try to wake him up, and go from there.

Now glad she hadn't brought a jacket or bag with her that morning so her hands were free, she tried picking him up bridal style seeing as he was small, larger than her still but she was a strong girl. When that failed she decided shed go half piggy bag and just drag his ass into the building, a few more scrapes couldn't really hurt him much more right now. She bent down and using mostly her leg muscles heaved him up onto her back and began the slow decent up the stairs into the side door, down the hall to the shitty small elevator, down another hall to her apartment and into the living room where she dropped him roughly on the floor. She may be kind but she wasn't a saint and the whole process had taken at least 10 minutes. Sighing she made her way to the bedroom to change, but as she was passing the bathroom she heard her little guest rustle and groan. Letting out another sigh she instead grabbed the first aid out of the bathroom and headed back toward the living room. Mr. Inconvenience (which is what she'd decided to call him) had curled into the fetal position and was bleeding all over the carpet, or at least getting it wet and a little bloody. When he was better he was going to be cleaning the stains out..

As she bent over him again she noticed he was clutching at a spot on his side and it must've still been bleeding because his hand was coated in fresh blood. Trying to get a better look to determine how bad it was she gently attempted to move his hand, and failed. She tried a litter harder, and failed again. Now annoyed she yanked his hand away and mumbled about the "strong little unconscious bastard." The wound wasn't very deep or very wide, it just needed to be cleaned and closed. But to get to it she'd have to get his shirt off, which judging by the difficulty of just moving his hand, wasn't going to be fun. Hera sat for a moment debating the best way to do this when an idea hit her. Maybe he wasn't completely unconscious. By the way he'd been clutching his side he was probably still semi-conscious. So with this in mind she decided to try hopefully the easiest option first. She bent down to his ear and said in the softest kindest voice she could manage, " I need to take your shirt off to clean your wounds, please raise your arms when I prop you up." No reply.

Still hoping it would work she propped him up on her leg and repeated "Please raise your arms." At first nothing, but after a few seconds Mr. Inconvenience started to slowly raise his arms upward though it looked as if they both weighed a couple hundred pounds by the way he was struggling. When he got them far enough in the air that she could get his shirt off , she peeled it off and tugged it up over his head. Once she'd cleaned him up the best she could, which really meant once she'd cleaned out and stitched up the biggest wounds...and run out of bandages, she plopped down next to him. After resting for a few minutes she started to pack up what she could of the first aid and pile up what she would throw away. When she picked up his shirt it was still soaked and she decided she'd wash it for him. Then she decided to just wash his whole outfit since his pants and shoes were still on, and still soaked with the alley murk. She tugged off his shoes, and pants, noting that despite the condition he was in he had a pretty nice looking build, and took the bundle to the laundry room. Using the last of the detergent and grumbling about having to buy more she grabbed some blankets and a pillow off the linen shelf and went back to her guest. He'd again curled into the fetal position which annoyed her because he could tear open some of the wounds that way. She set the blankets down and put the pillow by his head then rolled him over onto his back and tucked the blankets a little too tight around him, just to help him stay on his back.

Not really tired but not wanting to use the goods she'd purchased before her guest dropped in she decided she'd better stay up and watch him. She got up and headed toward the bedroom. She stopped by the dresser and pulled out the rest of the money and counted it twice. Only 300 left, it really had been a slow night, there'd only been 3 guys and they were all cheap. She threw the money on the dresser, grabbed a blanket and a pillow, and went back out to the living room. Opting to sit against the wall she propped her pillow against it sat down and wrapped the blanket around herself. She sat and stared at her guest for awhile watching as he twitched now again in his sleep, he'd gone limp a little while after she'd tucked him in so she knew he wasn't semi-conscious anymore. She'd lit up a few cigarettes in the past few hours which had calmed her down and as light started pouring in through the window she fell asleep too.

======= the next day..========

It was just getting dark and Hera was getting hungry. She'd slept on and off throughout the day not wanting to leave Mr. Inconvenience alone in her house. Her stomach had been growling for a few hours now and it had just made a yelping noise so she'd finally given in and decided to cook, worried it would start talking to her next. She kept it simple, some veggies some rice some meat and grabbed a yogurt and bottled water out the fridge. She'd made Mr. Inconvenience a plate too just in case he woke up. Settling back down against the wall she began to eat. When shed finished and washed the dishes she sat down next to him. She watched him sleep for a few minutes deciding how much longer to wait before trying to wake him up so he could eat and drink when she noticed something she hadn't before. He had a headband on, and a very dirty one at that. Muttering about how that cant be good for him as it appeared to be growing mold and the damn landlord for not taking care of the alley murk, she reached out to take it off. As her fingers closed around the tie in the back a hand shot out and grabbed her around the wrist followed by a pair of ruby reds opening up for the first time since her guest dropped in and all but literally shooting out flames at her.

"Don't." Mr. Inconvenience said in a hard voice.

"Its dirty, you'll get sick.."

"I said don't.", and with that he was back asleep still holding her wrist.

"Well isn't he a shining ray of happiness..."

So what do you think?? Let me know!! Is it good, bad, decent, ok, could be better? Does it suck and need to be incinerated? Should I give up and become a hermit living under a rock? Do you think I should mention pie more? Did you sit in something sticky at lunch today and just feel like telling someone that it pissed you off? Tell me Im open to anything, really anything, I really mean anything. But Im going to Florida on Tuesday, I'll try to have something more up or maybe this first chapter edited/added to, whatever floats my boat.. before I go so check back. Thanks :) Write on Read on mah dudeesss(dudettes, sorry)