Anthony's eyes bulged open as he sputtered out water from his mouth. His heart beat a mile a minute as he gasped heavily, his lungs finally allowing him to breathe. His vision was blurry and he could still feel the sharp pain on his shoulders and stomach where he had been forcefully hit that day. Anthony put his hand to his forehead and rubbed his eyes as he tried to see what was before him.
"Amie?" he whispered. Anthony did his best to focus on the girl, and who she was, but his head was constantly pounding that it seemed that he was continuously spinning. Anthony felt a twinge of pain as he looked up at the girl and thought of Amie. Her long blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and her brilliant blue eyes looked at him with concern. Anthony could see her lips moving, but no sound came out, as if all the sound was turned off.
"He's talking!" said a boy who was crouching next to the girl. The ends of his curly long brown hair fell onto his forehead as he looked at Anthony with dark brown eyes. His fair-colored skin glowed in the dark as the moonlight shone above them. Unexpectedly, his brow furrowed when he realized what the boy had said.
"Amie? Who's that?" asked the girl as she looked down at Anthony with confusion. The girl looked at her companion and back down at the boy before her. His matted black hair was strewn all over the place and his wet clothes clung to his body. She could see that he was trying to regain his strength as he hastily opened his eyes and tried to talk, although he couldn't hear them.
She placed her hand on Anthony's forehead, in an attempt to push the hair out of his face, but instead felt the scorching temperature of his temple that shot up through her hand. She gasped as she quickly drew her hand away and looked up at the boy next to her.
She shook her head and uttered, "Skittery… there's something wrong. He's… I think he's sick. He's burning up badly. We better get him back…" her voice faltered as she looked up at Skittery. His eyes widened as he heard what she had just said.
"Strider… we're all the way on the other side of Manhattan! He was obviously stupid enough to get thrown in by Spike and now you want me to take him back?" answered Skittery, his dark brown eyes flaring at Strider.
"But we can't just leave him here!" retorted Strider as she looked up at Skittery with determination. She knew she was going to win this argument. Arguing was one of her so-called talents. She had always won her verbal battles, as long as she was persuasive and determined enough.
"Just think of what would happen to him if we did! You wouldn't want to know that the next day, he was found dead just because you didn't want to take him all the way back to the Lodging House!"
Skittery sighed and looked down at the boy he had just dragged out of the water. She was right, if he hadn't pulled him out, he wouldn't have had a chance of existing. He ran his hand through his brown hair as he decided of what he would do. He turned to look at Strider uncertainly, her eyes still searching for an answer. But his thoughts were interrupted when Anthony started coughing hoarsely. He pressed his eyes and put his hand over his mouth in an attempt to stop, but unfortunately didn't work, causing him to roll over and gasp heavily for air. Skittery shook his head as he carefully hoisted the coughing Anthony from the ground and swung his arm over his shoulder.
"The things I do for you…" muttered Skittery. He looked at Strider who was smiling contently and eagerly stood up from where she was sitting before. "Now, you gotta hold his other side in order for this to work… you wanna get home don't you?" asked Skittery as Strider quickly nodded and grabbed a hold of Anthony before he could have a chance to fall down.
Anthony blinked his eyes and suddenly felt someone pulling him up from where he was lying. His head throbbed with pain; his throat was dry, his temperature shot up, and his eyes felt like burning. This was not his day. Slowly, he felt himself moving, with the help of two people at either of his sides. Anthony hung his head groggily as he thought of what just happened. He had just ran away from home and right at that minute, he was pushed into the river, and now he was being moved by people he didn't know. He inhaled a breath of air as he came to the conclusion that he had no choice but to trust them.
***
"There's a somebody I'm longing to see… I hope that he turns out to be… someone who'll watch over me," Strider hit the last note of the song and smiled to herself. It had been taking her days to make sure she had it right. Ever since she had heard Medda sing that song at Irving Hall, she couldn't get it out of her head. She had always loved music and singing, although she was really shy around the boys and tended to hide it from them.
Strider glanced out the window as she waited for the boy to wake up. The sunlight streamed through the window, leaving patches of sunlight on her face. She was stuck watching the boy they found yesterday. She was glad that she could skip selling for today, although it meant that she couldn't make money. But she needed a break. Anyways, Skittery was there for her, being the big brother type he always was.
Strider turned her attention to Anthony, who was still sleeping peacefully on the bed. 'He had gone through a lot,' she thought to herself. It wasn't easy carrying him back to the Lodging House that night, considering that he was really heavy, or at least she thought he was. Skittery was much stronger.
"There's a saying old, says that love is blind…" sang Strider as she twirled today's paper in her hands, which was given to her by Jack, in order to keep her busy. She began to sing from the top again, thinking that the boy wouldn't be awake for another hour.
Suddenly, she stopped as she heard groaning coming from the bunk bed where the boy lay. He put his hand in front of his eyes in order to block the sunlight out of his face. He slowly sat up, but fell back down as pain shot throughout his body. Anthony sighed and looked around at his environment. There were bunk beds lined up on each side. The walls were bare and empty with a few windows, here and there. The room was scattered with clothes and belongings. At the very end of the room were two doors, which lead to separate bathrooms. On the left of the doors was a staircase leading downstairs. There were also several other bunk beds, which seemed empty, except for one right next to him. His senses suddenly perked up as familiarity dawned upon him. He had seen her before.
"Hey… you're awake…" said Strider as she swung her legs over her bunk bed and walked towards Anthony's bed. She leaned down and placed her palm on his forehead to check his temperature. "Well, at least you weren't burning like last night…" She gave him a comforting smile and sat at the edge of his bed.
Anthony finally remembered who she was. She was the first person that he saw when he came out of the river. But she couldn't have dragged him out of there. She seemed petite and little, like a small porcelain doll. He looked up at her eyes and found that it was blue. Anthony smiled to himself and thought 'Too much blue eyes in my life…'
Strider, thinking that he was smiling at her, grinned and said, "So what's your name?"
"Um…" Anthony tried to think of a name, any name. But his mind became blank and came up with nothing. He didn't want to give his real name. If anybody would come looking for him…
"Do you even remember your name?" asked Strider slowly, emphasizing each word, as if she was talking to a three-year-old.
"No…" Anthony shook his head, thinking that this was a better way to go. "What's yours?"
She beamed, her blue eyes sparkling back at him, and answered, "Strider."
~*~
I know it took me FOREVER to get this up, but its finally here! It took me almost a whole week to figure out what would happen!
Shout-outs
Loner: ^^ thanks! i'd love to read some of your ffs!
Mayo: lol, you're welcome! just bookmark this link so you can keep up with the updates!
Puck: wow, thanks for asking me! tell me if you have any updates with your site! ^^
Strider: lol, here's your big break! haha! i hope ya like how i portrayed you! oh yeah, and i picked "someone to watch over me" since we did "crazy for you" last year! so i practically know it by heart!
tysangel14: hahaha! i love race and all... but MUSH is my favorite!!!
Sagey: where do i begin? lol! thanks for helping me think of ideas of what to do for this chap when i was stuck. it was really hard to come up with what i was going to do. haha, isn't it funny that your skittery "obsession" helped? :)
Spazjoslyn: haha, thanks! sometimes it comes naturally when i'm in the mood... :P
Sapphy: lol, you'll find out soon enough!