"Well, I suggest you stay away from...whatever it is that did this for a long time, and don't exert yourself to much," the doctor told me after he finished stitching up my hand. The had taken care of the ribs, it wasn't as bad as it had felt like it was going to be, and they had taken care of my hand while I was there.

The nurse helped me up, and I tried not to show how much pain I was in. The doctor had told me that the medication should kick in soon. I had avoided the question about what happened, and he had left it alone, though after seeing my medical records from the hospital I normally visited it was obvious he had a few qeustions. I had made it all the way to the waiting room before he stopped me again.

"Do you have someone to take you home?" he asked. I didn't know what to say, when a voice interuppted.

"I'll take care of him," she said as she stood up from the chair she had been sitting in and walked over to us. I sghed and nodded to the doctor that I was with her.

"Good, remember...take it easy," the doctor told me before he finally left us alone.

"Let me help you," she said taking one of my arms over her shoulders. She was shorter than me, but she was pretty strong. I would have argued with her about it, but at the moment I was grateful for the help. We made it to the parking lot without incident, and she helped me into the car.

I kept my eyes shut as she walked around and got in. She started the car and pulled out of the lot. I opened my eyes and lookeda t her. I knew she wanted to say to say something, but she didn't bring up the subject that I knew was on her mind.

"Where should I take you?" she asked as we stopped at a light, looking over at me.

"The apartment buildings on main," I told her. After the demolition of the credit card company buildings, we had to leave the paper street house. The authorities were there the next day, but we had gotten everything out that would lead to our new home. One guy was in charge of an Apartment complex, so we moved in there. We used the facilities for our different needs, and it turned out to be rather comfortable. I was surprsied at what we got away with having now. It didn't use to be like this.

It used to be we got by on the bare essentials that we needed to live, and we worked fine that way. Now it was like Mr. Durden didn't even care what we did anymore, it was almost like everything was running itself. I looked ahead at the street, through half open eyes.

"What's your name?" I asked as the car started to move again.

"I never told you?" she asked with a half laugh. "I thought I had....it's Carissa."

"Interesting name," I commented. I knew I was falling asleep, so I tried to keep talking, but I also knew that she knew I was falling asleep.

"I had interesting parents....here we are," she said as she pulled into a parking lot, and after a couple minutes of searching, parked the car. She got out and I waited for her to come around and help me out of the car.

"Where are we going?" she asked me.

"C3," I told her as we started to walk.



"Can you go in early tomorrow and let Mike and Gary know that I won't be in and that they need to take care of things?" I asked her. I almost hated that I needed her help, but she had been pretty helpful already, and most of it wasn't necessary.

We passed a couple guys on there way out who looked at me, obviously wondering who Carissa was. I just nodded to them, I didn't really want to explain right

now.

"Yeah sure, I can take care of it," she told me as we reached the stairs. It didn't take long to reach my room. I knocked on the door with my free hand, and a few seconds later my roommate opened it.

"Jesus, what happened? You were fine earlier," he asked as we walked in past him, and she helped me onto the couch.

"I'll tell you later," I said looking at Carissa. He nodded an understanding before looking at her. After a few seconds of uncomerfable silence, she started to back out of the apartment.

"I'll see you later then," she said before quickly then left. I watched her go, and saw the quick glance she made back at me. She was a fairly odd person, she could switch personality modes on a whim from what I had seen so far.

"Who was that?" he asked again as he looked at me.

"Can this wait till morning, I'm a little tired," I said as I stood up and winced before going into my room and laying down on the bed. I managed to get my shirt and shoes off before I just gave up and pulled the covers over me, and let myself fall asleep.

I had no idea what I would be waking up to.