Chapter 7

[Part 19]

A jingling sound tinkered at the door as the knob was turned. Opening it, Selphie stepped aside to let Vincent help carry in Cloud. She took the ring of keys from the lock and stepped inside closing the door behind her. Vincent dragged the teenager to an old worn out couch sitting in his tiny living room as he slowly sat him down. Cloud was losing consciousness and a great deal of blood from his critical condition.

"Selphie, watch him for a sec. I'm going to get some first aid stuff," Vincent told her. "All right," she smiled. He walked out of the room to get his supplies as the young woman sat down on a rough love seat in front of a short coffee table sitting between her and Cloud. "How you holding up?"

The teen opened his eyes and rolled them at the sight of her. "You're...really something," he muttered with a hint of sarcasm in his trembling voice. He took his hand and wiped away the red liquid pouring from his tender lips tasting the sickening saltiness of his blood. "I'm...use to it...anyway," he told her.

Vincent walked in with a white box with a red cross on it and a plastic bag filled with doctor like tools. "You're going to have to trust me with this because this is going to hurt like a mother."

"Whatever..." Cloud said. "Just get...it over...with."

"Selphie, can you give me a hand?" he asked.

"Don't even have to ask," she said readily. She jumped to her feet as she sat next to him on the coffee table. "What should I do?"

"Here," he handed her a bottle of disinfectant hand soap and latex gloves. "We need to keep everything clean, you know, make sure he doesn't get infected once we're done."

"Yes sir," she began to clean off her hands.

Rubbing the disinfectant thoroughly into his hands, Vincent informed Cloud, "From what I can tell, it seems you've got external wounds throughout your body, but your shoulder received the most critical damage so we're going to take care of that right away," Vincent slid his strong fingers into the glove stretching out its rubber material with a snap. "I don't think you want to stay up for it..."

"Knock me...out cold..." Cloud directed him.

The young man stiffed out a small laugh as he opened a box containing a tube filled with thick liquid. "How about this?" he prepared a needle filled with the unknown mixture. "I'm going to inject this just above your neckline. You'll only be out for a short amount of time, but long enough for us to complete the operation." He nodded gratefully as Vincent continued. "I think the only way we can get that thing out is by pulling it out, after that the rest should be easy."

"Just...do it...already," Cloud pleaded.

The man laughed at his struggling friend. "All right. You two ready?" They both nodded. "Let's do this."

Vincent flicked the end of the needle squirting out a little bit of the contents to test it. Making sure it was fine; he leaned towards Cloud gently shifting his chin to stick the needle in his neck. After injecting the liquid into him, the teen became groggy almost instantly.

"Works like a charm," Vincent said as Cloud fell asleep with his head going limp against the couch's pillow. "Time for the hard part. Can you get the things in those pouches ready?"

She picked up the plastic pouch and unfolded the flaps to reveal the tools in it as he stood up and placed his hands on the spike examining the wound. "Man, you lucky son-of-a-btch," he mumbled to himself. He slid the opened pouches of tools to lie before him. "It's not close to his heart, but this is definitely going to take a long period of time before it heals."

He opened another box with another row of tubes containing mixtures of fluid unfamiliar to Selphie. She watched him as he performed the same process he did on the shot that knocked the teen out cold. "What's that for?"

"We need to pull that piece of wood out," he answered in deep concentration. "We won't be able to successfully get it out without losing a large amount of blood. Fortunately, I have a sedative that can slow the blood flow in a specific area of his bloodstream."

"Wow," Selphie whispered with her eyebrows arched up. "You really know what you're doing."

"Piece of cherry pie," Vincent winked playfully at her before injecting the sedative to Cloud's wound. "All right, we need to wait for this to take an effect." He looked back at Cloud's wound. "Damn..." He took the tools out and began the operation. "This is going to be a long as night."

[Part 20]

A shivering chill of fear shocked the interiors of his body as he jumped at the terrifying thunderclap. His eyes were paralyzed with dread as a bright glow of light flashed briefly through the cracks of his folded blinds and held his breath as he waited for the raging explosion to quake his small apartment room. A loud boom cracked through the silence causing him to cry out in terror.

His face was painted with fright as he scrambled under his sheets and shoved his index fingers into the holes of his ears. He began doing what he'd always do when he wanted to block out the harsh sounds of mother nature's release of anguish, sing the lullaby that she'd sing to him every night when she tucked him to sleep.

"Lullaby, say goodnight, wish that you my love, will be dreaming. You're my world, my heart, and my soul, never to part..." he stopped as he heard a creaking sound through his clogged ears. Pulling his fingers out he peered from under the blanket trembling with dread that it may be the boogie monster coming to get him. His head popped out revealed to cold fresh air that made his lungs feel cool and dry only to see that it was just she.

She had come to check up on him as she looked inside through the opened door. "Hey sweetie, what's wrong?"

"I'm scared," the tiny boy peeped from under his covers. "Ah!" he screamed as a thunder roared above him quivering in his bones. He threw off the covers and crawled across the bed and climbed into her arms.

"Aw, you poor thing!" she laughed amused. "It's only a storm. Here." She sauntered towards the window maneuvering passed discolored toys that piled on the floor as he began to try and shake off her firm hold.

"No!" he cried. The window appeared brighter and brighter the closer he got to it. It seemed to reach out to him with terror threatening to take his life away into the bitter cold of dripping tears. "Stop! I'm really scared! Stop!"

She hushed his whining as she pulled the cord dangling by the window's peeled frame and lifted the blinds layer by layer with each tug. The child gazed out of the window through the shiny droplets of water to see nothing but rainfall and a bright flashing light that zigzagged through the shadowy darkness lingering above building tops.

"You see? It's only rain. There's nothing to be afraid of," she held him at her waist as he laid his head against her shoulders whimpering. A crack of malice burned through his ears waking his tired eyes and yell frightened.

"But that's really, really scary!" he loudly muffled into sweater as she pulled him away from her.

"Yes, yes it is, but you can't just run and hide under your blanket every time you're scared honey, you need to be brave and face your fears," she put him down on the bed and sat in front of him. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she told him, "You have to be strong. If you're not, he'll come for you again. Do you want that man to come again?"

"No..." he shook his head quietly.

"Then you can't let what you're scared of make the best of you," she stroked his soft hair as she kissed him lightly on the forehead. He nodded as she smiled with love. "That's my boy."

[Part 21]

Through thick eyelashes, a pair of cerulean marbles adjusted to the blurred colors shadowing the ceiling. Blinking away the stiff, sticky residue from his eyes, Cloud had awoken calmly without thought. He had just about gotten ready to get up as he cried out in agony. Sharp pangs of electricity bolted through his veins as he lightly grasped at the pain throbbing his shoulder with his hand. Taking short breaths, he slowly settled back into the couch draping his arm over his face from the radiating ray of sunlight burning into his ice cobalt eyes through a small slit in the closed blinds.

He was suddenly stuck with a state of confusion as he saw that he was lying in a place unfamiliar to him. He couldn't remember where he was or how he had gotten to be there. He couldn't remember why he had to cringe with every breath he took because of the pain burning in his shoulder. Questions ran through his mind while his eyelids drooped heavily draping his sight. He didn't have the strength to move nor did he have the will to fight against the drowsiness taking over him. Forgetting his disorientation, he fell asleep as he remembered the only thing he had not wondered about, the face of a stranger.