LOLA POV
"Go on without me!"
"What?", my colleague, now several meters ahead, turned in my direction, giving me a bewildered look, "You're not going to pull back again this time, are you?", she addressed me in a slightly shocked tone, reviving a lock of red hair with an angry gesture, "You promised you'd take me to this party, you can't change your mind so suddenly!".
"I wasn't going to do it, in fact," I reassured her once I reached her; despite the high heels and the miniskirt that rose every two seconds forcing her to lower it with an angry gesture, she managed to be even faster than me wearing very normal sneakers, and a shocking pink running suit made up of a simple crop top and short shorts, "I just wanted to go back and check that I closed the car", I tried to come up with that little lie, but she was quick to deny me: "We came with my car, pumpkin. Try to think of a better excuse" .
Unfortunately I didn't even have one.
After a few minutes we found ourselves in front of the door of the club, manned by a bouncer who more than a human being looked like a double-door wardrobe for how much it was pumped up. He exchanged a couple of jokes with my colleague, looked me up and down not even he had seen an alien, and then pulled away to give us free access to what for me was just a waste of time.
I could never have imagined that from that evening my life would take a strange turn.
DONNIE POV
Almost two full hours had passed by now, but still no trace of the girl.
I took out my cell phone once more to make sure once again that I hadn't miscalculated the times. From what I had studied during my various night patrols, that was roughly the time when the young woman returned from work, but not even the shadow of her presence.
I sighed in resignation for the umpteenth time, finally making the decision to step away from my observer position.
What was I thinking? Whatever I was going to do anyway? She is probably already committed to someone and maybe now they are even together! But even if is not the case, what possibility do I have with her?
I jumped from building to building almost without even looking where I was going, relying on my instinct that automatically knew where to direct my steps to return to the shelter, when I heard voices in the distance, one of which was quite familiar.
"Get your hands off me you asshole!".
I covered the distance that separated me from that voice in two seconds flat, heedless of the slight burning in my leg that was still healing from the last fight, and quickly descended into the nearest alley, allying myself with the shadows to conceal my presence and be able to observe the scene: in front of me was the girl I was looking for, besieged by the unsolicited avances of a clearly drunk boy who was trying in every way to get his hands on her.
I felt the blood boil in my veins, so hard I felt it beating against my temples, as I angrily grabbed my staff, ready to fight to defend her.
Too bad it was not necessary.
With a force and violence that amazed even me, the girl put a finger in the eye of her attacker, then kicked him in the lower parts until she reduced him to his knees, then giving him another blow on the back of the head with the backpack she was carrying, leaving him laying on the ground unconscious.
I was so stunned by that demonstration of self-defense, that I didn't realize I was out in the open, a few meters away from her, that she had now turned in my direction, staring at me with an incredulous expression.
The only thing my brain could get me to process in that situation was to slowly raise a hand in a slight wave of greeting.
LOLA POV
"H-Hi ... H-how are you ...?"
He was greeting me. The humanoid turtle from my alcohol hallucination was there and he was waving at me. With the only difference that I was definitely sober and definitely speechless for that situation.
That... creature... was it real ? Hadn't it all been a creation of my liquor-clouded mind?
I was definitely confused.
A groan behind me made me jump and remember that the turtle and I were not alone; before that moron who had tried to approach me could get up I gave him another blow to the head with the backpack, to make sure once and for all that he stayed down.
One problem was enough for me to solve.
I turned back to the giant amphibian: "Try to get closer and I'll give you the same treatament, is that clear?", I threatened him, just to make him understand that I didn't intend to be the perfect horror movie's victim.
Hallucination or not, I knew how to defend myself and the pepper spray I had in my bag was just waiting to be used.
"Oh no! Don't worry, I don't want to harm you! I'm one of the good guys!", he flapped his hands in an uncontrolled way, taking two steps back, continuing to have an uncertain smile on his face, as if not even he was convinced of what he was doing.
He has a small gap between his teeth, I involuntarily noticed, Kinda cute.
"You... Umh... I saw you were in trouble and I ran to help you out...", he continued to justify himself, pointing first to the stick he was holding and then glancing at the man lying on the ground, "I must say, however, that you've already done it by yourself... Nice shot... ".
I shifted my weight from one leg to the other, holding the backpack in my right hand and carrying it over my shoulder, always ready to strike if needed. "Thank you... turtle... but now I have to go. Goodbye", I first took two steps back, to keep an eye on his movements ... and then I ran to the parking lot where we had left the car.
Hallucination or not, no one in their right mind would ever stay with that creature on a lonely street.
Too bad, however, that after not even one meter, I tripped over the laces of my own shoes and tumble on the asphalt, launching insults not very suitable for the language of a young lady.
DONNIE POV
I expected her to run away from me, after all who wouldn't; what most likely neither of us had foreseen was that she would stumble even two seconds later.
I immediately ran to her side, even though the rational part of me was practically screaming to let her go; I ignored it, as I did not gallantly with the protests of her who insisted that she had not suffered any damage despite the evident and visibly bleeding wound in her knee.
"I told you I'm fine!"
"You are not fine! You are bleeding and most likely the wound will become infected if we don't treat it right away!"
"Look, I know! Leave me alone!".
She gave me a gentle push, trying to get back on her feet without my help, but after a few seconds she fell back to the ground cursing the pain she was feeling.
I let out a frustrated sigh as I watched her stubbornly try again, getting the same, identical result.
She didn't want my help and I certainly couldn't force her against her will, even though I was worried about her (that would have been more of a Raphael move); I therefore stood up, taking a few steps back to give her the space she wanted and I sadly noticed how her body relaxed almost immediately now that I was no longer in her field of vision. I had evidently caused her more stress with my presence than her own fall.
With that realization in mind, I decided to turn my heels and walk away, mentally noting, however, to control her from afar, to at least reassure me that she could actually return home.
How she would do it with her leg hurting I didn't know, but I had to try not to get in it too much.
She was a human, a stranger I had met one time too many already, and she could be a problem in the future.
Better get away and get her out of my head for good.
LOLA POV
Finally, after the fourth (or fifth?) painful attempt I managed to get back on my feet. The knee seemed to explode at any moment as I felt the pain throbbing, but I struggled to ignore the sensation.
"That's it! See? I didn't need your help", I turned with a forced but triumphant smile towards the humanoid turtle who had finally shut up, but what was not my bewilderment in noting that apart from me and the poor man lying on the ground, there was no one on the street.
I distinctly felt my heart skip a couple of beats; had I imagined everything?
Yet I was sober, I hadn't even had a glass of beer!
"Are you telling me that I got hurt for nothing?", I shouted my indignation in the dark and the wind, then taking my head in my hands, running my fingers through my hair to calm myself.
It's all the stress, I thought, trying to find an explanation for what had just happened, Work is wearing me out, it's normal for me to have hallucinations. I should have stayed home to rest rather than accompany that hysterical red-hair!
Speaking of which...
"Loooolaaaa! I'm heereeee!". Here she was returning and, surprise!, a boy never seen before accompanied her.
"Hey! What did you do to your leg?", he asked me.
I caught the ball: "I fell and I hurt myself because of this idiot", and pointed to the body lying on the ground, "Please take me home, I'm bleeding!".
Luckily for me, red hair and new guy were still sober enough to understand the gravity of the situation, and in less than half an hour I was home again, disinfecting and wiping the dry blood from the wound.
With every hiss of pain I sent a swear to that creature.
"I swear on my collection of cans, that the next time I see it again, hallucination or not, I'll throw something at it !".
A promise that I would find myself having to keep very soon.
