I stumbled trying desperately to run in my super tight leather black boots I stole from Hanna's closet. My breathing was heavy, my heart rate was doubled, I could easily hear it thumping in my chest as I turned each deserted street corner. 'How convenient for nobody to be out tonight' I thought to myself as I silently prayed that a random local would suddenly be strolling down the street, but it was no use, I should just give up now and stop fighting against my fate. 'I deserve this', I tell myself, 'after being involved in blinding an innocent girl'. Why do I even bother running? I slowed my pace and collapsed on the hard concrete, skinning my knees as I dared to look at the dark figure in the distance, approaching closer by the second. I tried to regain my last few breaths quickly while making out the killers face, but it was far too dark and my vision kept blurring worse and worse with each slap it's hand made in contact with my face. The only words I could roll around in my head were 'I deserve this' until any hesitation of thinking I should live was gone. I embraced my death as the figure kicked my legs twice with full force and I let out a shriek and a loud cry, as they brought their fist in full contact with my mouth.
That's when it happened.
The figure that was attacking me deservingly suddenly was slammed into the brick alley wall, followed by a cracking sound as their body fell to the ground and blood pooled from underneath them. I looked from left to right frantically, wondering if this person had the intentions of saving me or just had a better idea in mind for dragging out my death. I tried to make out the sobbing voice, calling out my name and shaking me violently. Fighting the darkness was becoming harder, and within moments I drifted into blissful consciousness.
That's when I recognized who the voice was. Before I could bring myself to fully process it, I was gone.
I woke up to gentleness. A hand caressing my cheek, a brush of hair behind my ear, a kiss on my forehead. I struggled to open my eyes, not for relief of being alive, but hoping to find that this person was the voice. The one that I had heard in the alley before I left reality. The one that saved me. This man was the reason I held on to my life instead of wishing I had died tonight. I felt like I could of seriously hurt him, not physically, but mentally if I had let death take over me tonight. I shudder reliving the feeling of being nearly killed in that dark, abandoned alley when he rescued me. It truly was a miracle. A constant beeping sound started to break me from my thoughts.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
It was nearly every two seconds, it was noisy and hard to block out. Question is, how did I just notice it? I tried to move, but I was paralyzed. All I could do was feel and hear everything more intensely, and it scared the hell out of me. I was mostly scared for him, I wanted to tell him I was alright. That everything was going to be okay. When about half an hour passed, I finally gained the strength to open my eyes and they immediately met with his dark green beautiful orbs, that were indeed watering.
"Jason?" My voice croaked out.
"Aria, you're okay." He breathed, wiping away a tear that had just fallen and came to sit on the end of my very uncomfortable hospital bed as he grabbed my hand, at least that was comforting.
"How did you find me?" I don't know why I asked this question first out of all things, but I had to know.
"I went to go meet a guy who called about my poster rewarding whoever had my sisters remains. We agreed to meet a few streets down from the alley you were at. I realized then, I couldn't change what happened to my sister, but I had an opportunity to save you."
"You could of gotten Ali's remains back tonight, but you saved me instead?" I whispered, feeling guilty after all this time and money he had invested into getting his sister back and I screwed it all up in one night.
"Of course I did." he murmured under his breath.
"What?" I asked, not being able to hear him.
"Nothing. Yes, Aria. It's fine. I'll reschedule it, I'm just glad I found you in time." He said that, and I watched his eyes grow sadder with those last five words. I doubt he knew it, but I understood him in a way that nobody else could. I could see through the layers outside of who he truly was. He probably only saw me as a reckless friend of Ali who just causes trouble and draws attention to myself. Jason and I have talked briefly, mostly small talk about Mike's break-in and I always started the conversation by saying "Thanks again, for not turning my brother in to the police." He probably avoided me just to stop hearing the same old sentence. I truly was grateful though. I interrupted my train of thought to look at myself, seeing multiple wires connected all over me and braces on my legs.
"What happened to me?" Was the only thing I could manage to get out while staring at everything. I held back the tears, feeling helpless now as I realized I'd literally be able to do nothing on my own for weeks.
"Well, both your knees are sprained. You lost a lot of blood. I don't know if you can feel it due to the medicine they gave you, but your face is bruised up pretty bad." He said with sympathy.
"My face? Oh god. Do you have a mirror? I have to see how bad it is." I started to panic, looking around for any type of reflection I could use to observe my wounds.
"Aria, don't." Jason said with a stern tone.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, you're still beautiful." He said staring into my eyes, with a completely serious tone. I looked down, almost ashamed of how self absorbed I sounded right now. I was nearly killed and my major concern was how my face looked. I should just be grateful that I'm alive, that he saved me.
"I'm sorry." I said just above a whisper, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Why are you sorry?" He nearly laughed, which was a first.
"Because, I sound ridiculous. You saved me from dying and I wanted to see how my face looked." I laughed, tried to make light of the conversation.
"Aria, it's understandable. Typical girl move. I should be the one sorry though, you just got the shit beat out of you." He said as his eyes drifted to my casts. I decided I better tell him now than never.
"Before I went unconscious, I kept hearing your voice. I couldn't make it out at first, but then I realized it was you. I was so grateful Jason, so relieved. Like you were my knight in shining leather." I laughed because he's always wearing it, the laugh he let out too made me smile. "I know this might sound ridiculous but you made me want to live through it, and when I felt you shaking me, I wanted to let you know that I was alright. I was so afraid you would have thought you didn't get to me in tonight. I guess the point is, you saved me, and I wanted to thank you for that." I said and nervously searched his face for any signs of me stepping out of bounds by my long thank you. When each second passed I grew more anxious, he probably thought I just had too much medication and hallucinated this whole thing. Great. He fiddled with his thumbs and just kept looking down, when about two minutes passed he finally looked up at me.
"Um, can I get you something to eat or drink? You must be starving. You know what I'll just go grab you a salad and some water from the cafeteria." He got up and grabbed his leather jacket, slipped it on, and left the room before I could even reply. I totally just made a fool out of myself and now Jason would probably avoid me at all costs now. I felt like I had embarrassed the both of us. I sat there blankly trying to process my thoughts when a few minutes later the door opened and Jason was back with my food.
"Thank you." I smiled as I took my water and salad and began eating.
"Aria, what did you mean by when you said 'you made me want to live through it', why wouldn't you want to live?" He said, never leaving my stare. I didn't know weather to lie or be completely honest with him and make him abruptly leave again. Something about him made me feel comfortable enough to tell him anything though, I wanted him to know.
"I guess after everything I just thought I deserved it, you know? I accepted that it was my fate to die like that. Then when you saved me, I thought it was fate, there wasn't a single soul on the streets and then I'm probably seconds away from dying and you show up. It just made me want to live after that, if that makes sense, that maybe I have a purpose here." I smiled at him.
"Aria... nobody's fate is to have their life taken away by another person." He said, and I could tell I just hit a nerve as he was probably connecting tonight with what happened to Alison. I actually had managed to make things worse, I didn't know that was possible. "Maybe though, it was my fate to save you." he said and managed to smile back at me. I let out a yawn as my eyes scanned the room for a clock, which read 9:45 P.M.
"I should go and let you get some sleep." He said starting to get up and gathering his things. I was hit with sadness at the thought of him leaving, I was really enjoying his company. He seemed to be making everything okay.
"Yeah, Goodnight Jason." I forcefully smiled.
"So, I'll stop by around noon tomorrow? I'll pick up your favorite, pizza with green peppers." He looked at me as if waiting for approval. I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face at that he actually wanted to come back tomorrow.
"Yeah that'd be great, thank you." I said as my sleeping medication started getting heavier to fight, and in under a minute I was passed out.
"Goodnight Aria." He whispered as he shut off the lights and left the room.