Isn't it amazing how the most painful occurrence in your life, can end up being the most wonderful thing that ever happens to you? Oh! You haven't heard the story. Well, dear readers, settle yourself down, make yourself comfortable, and prepare yourself for a tale full of friendship, love, heartbreak, and pain.
New York City. Center of the universe. Liani walked contentedly down the streets of Alphabet City. She was dancing. Well, not really dancing. It was more of a walk-dance down the sidewalk. It was Christmas Eve. There was a smile on her face. Let me tell you about Liani. She lives and performs on the streets of New York. That's right, she's homeless. Well, she was homeless anyway. Liani was a singer. Every morning near dawn, she would wake up, go scrounging for food, often eating scraps from the garbage cans in the alleys of restaurants. Then she would find a corner, sit on a trashcan, pull out her guitar, her prize possession, and begin belting into the street. She had a pretty voice, but at 7:00 in the morning, an angel's voice would sound ugly. She was normally kicked from corner to corner. But toady had been her lucky break. Liani had been playing her guitar and singing a slow, beautiful melody called Greensleeves, when a man had come up to her and offered her 20 dollars if she slept with him. She had agreed, and he had given her the money up front. Unfortunately for him, as soon as they had gotten to his bedroom, she had knocked him out, and left his unconscious self lying on the floor. Liani had then gone to the nearest store, and bought a chicken. She had cooked it on a spit, which she made spur of the moment. After her meal, which she shared with another homeless person, she had gone to a sidewalk sale and bought a coat. She now had $5 left, and she was extremely happy.
Suddenly, as she walked farther along, she began to hear a distant beating noise. The streets were already nearly empty. 'Who in their right mind is out tonight? On Christmas Eve? Even most of the homeless people are going places today!' Liani pondered as she neared the sound. It was drumming. Someone was drumming. And they were really good too! Liani shifted her trusty old guitar onto her other shoulder, and began walking quickly to the source. She didn't know why she was moving so quickly, but she just wanted to get there as soon as possible. The beating grew louder with each stride. Her heart seemed to beat in time with the music. Soon, she reached a corner, where the street lamp threw a shadow towards her. The shadow was either sitting or crouching, and it's arms seemed to be flailing. Liani slowed her pace, and soon she was standing in the shadow, and looking at it's owner. It was a young man, who looked to be about 22. He had very short, slightly wavy black hair, and a look on his face of concentration. She smiled as she looked down at the drummer. He was dressed in a pair of light blue jeans, a black shirt, and a large, slightly poofy red jacket. Liani smiled as she came fully around the corner. For a while, she stood there, half hidden in shadows, just listening to him play. Then, after a while, she reached into the pocket of her new coat, and searched around the huge pockets till her slender fingers closed around a crumpled $5 bill. She approached the young man, a shy smile on her face. He glanced up when she was about a foot away from him. Liani smiled a bit wider, and placed the bill on the edge of the bucket he was playing. "Here," she said softly. "You play well." As she walked away, she heard him call "Merry Christmas!" Liani turned, grinning widely. "Merry Christmas!" She replied. They smiled at each other. Then, she turned and began walking away, and he began playing again. They returned to what they had been doing. Angel, grinning slightly. He had just been made $5 richer! Liani couldn't get that face out of her head. The young man had had an oval face. He had a nice, smiling mouth, and brown eyes. He had a good nose. He was attractive, and yet all that Liani could think was 'Wow. He might make a good woman.' She didn't know why she thought this, but she did.
After a couple of seconds, a man approached her. She had a vague sense of foreboding, which she paid no attention to at all. "Hey lady!" The man called. "Can you tell me how to get to the subway?" Liani smiled at him, and said "Yes." She went over to where he stood, and the feeling grew. He smelled of alcohol. She pointed at a spot on his map, and said "Just go north for about-" she was cut off. She saw a man advancing towards her with a bat held tightly in his hand. Another man lunged at her. On impulse, she kicked as high as she could. She heard a sickening crunch as her foot made contact with his nose, and felt something warm and damp coat the toe of her bare foot. She turned, not missing a moment, and ran. Her coat, the one that seemed like such a blessing for her a few minutes ago, now weighed her down. But she moved at swiftly as she could. If didn't help that the bottom of her beloved guitar now banged against the backs of her knees, nearly making her collapse. Liani ran into an ally, thinking that she could lose her pursuers in the shadows. But the street lamps became her enemy, and soon, she was at a dead end. The muggers came upon her, and struck her down. They stole her coat, and took her guitar. Then the one she had kicked hit her, hard, on the back with his bat when she tried to stand. Blood began seeping from a large, but shallow cut on my cheek. The blood poured silently onto my lips, and I tasted it's bitterness against my tongue. Tears rolled down into my cut, and it stung. The muggers, damn the bastards, had fled, cheering each other. I began coughing violently, and rolled cautiously onto my side. She lay there, hair in her face, dirt on her clothes. Liani curled herself around to check for more, possibly serious, wounds. There was blood on her foot, but it was not hers. It was from one of the attackers. She groaned, and began coughing again. She could still here the beating from the drummer. Liani wondered if she should call for help. Another coughing fit overtook her body. She lay there helplessly, her small frame shaking. She thought the sound of the drums seemed to pause, hesitate for a minute, but she supposed that it only seemed like that because her coughs seemed to be drowning everything else out. The hacking sound echoed through the ally. The drumming had continued, but now it stopped again. A voice called, "Hello?" Into the mouth of the alleyway. Liani tried call out to the person, but she couldn't stop coughing. She heard footsteps, and tried to pull herself back into the shadows, but it hurt when she tried to move. Liani moaned in pain. The footsteps seemed to move faster. A voice asked, "Oh my god, are you ok honey?" It was a male voice, but it was slightly higher pitched than a normal male voice. The voice belonged to the drummer. She looked over at him, and grimaced, saying "I've been better." He probably knew she had been mugged, because he knelt down in front of Liani, and asked, "Did they get anything?" "I didn't have any money, but they took my coat and.." She looked around, and groaned. "Shit.. they got my guitar! The bastards!" Liani muttered. He pulled out a cloth and began dabbing some of the blood from her face. "Thanks." She said, quietly. "It's nothing." He replied with a sympathetic smile. Before he was finished, She had another coughing fit, and had to turn her face away. When she was finished coughing, he looked at me, and said "I'm Angel." In a quiet, gentle voice. She looked at him for a moment. After a moment, she whispered "My name is Liani.." in a wary voice. Liani groaned, and wiped fresh blood from a cut on her lip. Angel looked at her for a moment, then said "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." Next thing she knew, there was a pain in Liani's legs and arms as Angel helped her to her feet. Liani moaned softly, her limbs protesting against their new arrangement. They walked out of the alley, with Liani leaning slightly on Angel. After a long, slightly awkward silence, Angel looked over at Liani thoughtfully. "Hey, have I seen you before?" He asked. Liani smiled, and said "Ya. Before I got mugged, I saw you playing. You're really good, by the way." Angel smiled proudly at this. "Thank you." He said happily. "Anyway, I gave you $5, remember?" Angel looked at her questioningly. "That was you?" "Yeah." I replied. A moment later, Angel stopped. "This is me." He said quietly. We entered the apartment building, and began climbing numerous steps. Finally, we reached Angel's loft. As soon as he entered the apartment, he called "Hey Mimi! We have company!" A pretty girl popped out from behind a cabinet. She had long, wavy brown hair, almost as long as mine, she was thin, had about the same figure as me, and had large, innocent, brown eyes. She looked Latin. When she saw Liani, she gasped. "Oh my god! What happened?" "This is Liani. She got mugged." Angel said, leading Liani over to the squishy couch. "Sit down.. that's it. Careful now, one of the legs is missing!" He told her as she sat. The couch suddenly rocked backwards, making me groan slightly. "Oh my god, are you all right?" Asked Mimi. Liani suddenly burst out laughing. After a while, her new found friends began laughing as well. "You two," Said Liani, with tears in her eyes. "Are the only ones I know with a reclining couch!" We all laughed loudly at that, but soon Liani's laughter gave way to coughs. The other two watched her with sympathetic looks on their faces. She finished soon and all three just sat there, staring off into space. After a while, Angel stood, and went into a small room which Liani supposed was a bathroom. He returned a moment later with a large, white box. There was a red cross on the front of it. A First Aid Kit. He opened it, and began rummaging through it. After a while, he pulled out a bottle of thick, slightly yellow liquid, and a roll of bandages. He sat down next to Liani, and said, "Where are you most in pain?" "My stomache." The young girl replied. "They kicked me in the stomache." He nodded, understanding. "Now comes the hard part." "What?" Asked Liani. "Convincing you to take off your shirt so that a complete stranger can dress your wounds." He said with a small giggle. Wait.. giggle? Liani ignored the fact that her new MALE friend had just giggled, and smiled at him. Nervously. You see, she was no virgin, but she had just met this man less than an hour ago, and now she had to take off her shirt! But she felt comfortable around him, and so, with some difficulty, she pulled her shirt off. She tried to do it in such a way that there would be no pain, but that would have been impossible. Soon, she was sitting there, her old, white bra out in the open. Liani felt cold. Angel looked at her stomache, and said "Oh, honey.." In a sad voice. Liani looked down, and saw that her entire stomache was red. Not from blood, though there was some. There were already forming bruises. Angel touched one of the bruises, and Liani quickly shrank from his touch. "Ow!" She yelped. "Sorry!" Angel pulled the bottle and bandages towards him, and screwed off the top. He went back into the medical kit, and pulled out a cloth. Then he poured some liquid onto the cloth. He gently brought the cloth onto one of my wounds, saying "Now this might sting a little.." softly. Liani yelped. It stung, and it was nearly unbearably cool against her burning skin. He smiled weakly, apologetically at her. "Sorry." They said at the same time. Mimi was sitting cross-legged on the floor, her elbows bent on the table top, her chin in her cupped hands. She watched our quiet exchange with some interest, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two of us each time we said anything. After a while, Liani began squirming. "Hold still!" Exclaimed Angel, laughter in his voice. "I'm nearly done!" He pulled the bandages towards the two, and doused the roll of cloth with the liquid, which by the way smelled suspiciously like turpentine. Then he gently wrapped the bandages around Liani's stomache. She giggled. "That tickles." She said, grinning. Angel raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm barely touching you!" He said, mischief dancing in his eyes. "I'm ticklish!" Liani wailed as he continued wrapping the small roll around her abdomen. She squealed as he gently started tickling the sides of her stomache, and pushed herself deep into the couch, pushing him away by his stomache with her feet. They all three began laughing. Then Angel addressed the rest of Liani's wounds, and put away the First Aid kit. He returned shortly. "Ok, Liani, stand up." He said, raising his arms for emphasis. Liani grinned, saying "I can't." In an apologetic way. Angel sighed loudly. Then, he took Liani's hands and pulled. Hard. Liani went straight up into the air. As soon as Angel's hands were out of her own though, She fell back onto the couch. Hard. The sudden shock to her body sent pains shooting up her abdomen. She clenched her teeth. Then, quite calmly, and with the support of the couch arms nearby, she stood. Then, she peered around the large room. There was a fire escape. "Would you excuse me for a moment?" She asked in a strained voice. Angel and Mimi nodded. Angel's hands covered his mouth, and Mimi's eyes were wide. Liani walked to the fire escape door, and stepped into the night. Then, making sure that the doors back into the loft were all the way shut, She opened her mouth wide. A loud, high note came leaping from her lips. She doubled over, clutching at her stomache. People 5 floors below, out on their own escapes for a smoke, looked around in alarm in search of the scream. The note lasted for about 30 seconds. When she was finished, Liani turned in a dignified sort of way, and returned into the loft. Angel was trying not to laugh. Mimi was laughing her ass off. Liani sat back onto the couch, folding her hands calmly in her lap. Then, she seemed to realize what she had just done, and burst out laughing herself. Then Angel lost control, laughing so hard that tears came out from the corners of his eyes. When they had all finished laughing, Angel helped Liani to her feet. Mimi took her hands, and led Liani into her room to find something to sleep in. Liani ended up in a short dress that Mimi never wore anymore. That night she slept on the couch, the best damn sleep she'd had in years.