27;

Both girls were sitting on a curb some distance away from the alley with blankets wrapped around them. Ellie was curled inwards breathing heavily with her arms wrapped around her stomach. They watched as a plastic sheet, clearly covering a body, was carried out on a stretcher and put into the back of an ambulance by two paramedics.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

Riley let the right side of her blanket slip off as she put an arm around Ellie and rubbed her shoulder. "Throw up if you need to."

The older man whose phone they had used to call the police was nearby leaning against the wall, using his cane to stabilize himself. He decided to wait around for the cops following the unusual recent encounter with the two young girls.

He wore a long trench coat and was rubbing his arm trying to stay warm in the below freezing night air. The snow was slowly dancing all around them, clinging to their hair and coats as it finished its mile journey from the sky.

Not long after the initial call was placed did the police arrive and question the man. "Sir, if you'd please, tell me exactly what happened in the moments leading up to when those two girls approached you."

"Well, I was just on my nightly walk when I saw those two out of the corner of my eye hurrying around the side of the building. The one with the brownish hair was supporting the dark-skinned one who seemed to be limping pretty badly. She was also leaving a spotted trail of red behind her." The man traced the path of blood in the air with his finger. "They asked me if I had a phone, I said yes, and I gave it to them. I heard her talking to the police, so I stayed."

"Did you notice anything else? Anything suspicious?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so. Like what?"

"Somebody running down the street as you arrived, perhaps. Odd noises, anything that seemed off?"

"No, can't say I did. Just those two."

The officer flipped back the page he was writing on to reveal a fresh one. He nodded his head and moved on.

"Thank you."

He started to walk back towards the girls just as the ambulance doors were being slammed shut. He stopped and listened to the snow crunching under its tires as it pulled out from the alley and disappeared around the corner.

He clicked his pen and knelt down in front of the girls in order to maintain eye level and appear nonthreatening. "Hi, I'm Captain Parker. I just want to ask you about what happened tonight and get your side of the story."

Riley looked with concern at Ellie and then back to the officer. "Ellie's not feeling great. I'll tell you." The man focused on her and nodded his head. "We were on our way to a restaurant downtown for dinner. We were walking through the side streets to save some time when Ethan tried to mug us."

"Ethan? So you knew the assailant?"

"Yeah. We used to shack up with him and his group under the overpass when we were homeless." The officer was scribbling as she talked. "Anyway, I think because he recognized us he decided to try and kill us instead of just mug us."

"Why would that make a difference?"

Riley shrugged. "He was drunk and he lost his job, maybe he just snapped seeing us. I don't know." Parker acknowledged her reasoning and instructed her to continue. "He went on a rant about how his life sucked which was when he made it clear he wanted to kill us so he could get thrown back in jail. I ran at him before he could finish talking knowing what would happen if we waited. We got into a fight, Ellie got slashed, and he stabbed me in the leg."

She reached down and felt the hole in her leg which had been covered in a gauze like substance by one of the EMTs. "He was standing over me ready to… fucking, kill me I guess, which is when Ellie hit him in the head with some pipe she found. We ran out to the street, found that old guy over there, and used his phone."

"So you two managed to overpower a knife-wielding adult male?" He cleared his throat. "Right, well, I'll have more questions for you two later, but I think I don't need to trouble you anymore for now." He closed up his notepad he had been writing in. He motioned towards her leg then Ellie's arm. "I'll go ahead and drive you two to the clinic to get those stitched up."

"I think we just want a ride back to our place."

He raised his eyebrows. "You sure? I really think you shou-."

"Just take us home."

The officer parked his car outside their apartment building's entry after the short drive. "I'm going to get in contact with you two later, but for now just get some rest, okay?"

Riley nodded while Ellie seemed to not have heard him at all. The officer waited until they were safely inside before driving off.

They headed up the two flights of stairs, Riley taking each step carefully with Ellie's support, and then down the hallway to their room. Their knock let them inside where they promptly fell onto the couch in front of the TV. Marlene greeted them warmly whereas Joel had watched them closely as they had slowly made their way toward him. He saw the red-stained bandage on Ellie's arm through the tear in her jacket.

"Jesus, what happened to you?"

Ellie lifted her arm and observed the wound for herself, her expression never changing from neutral. "We… got into a fight." She could hear Marlene gasp from the kitchen.

"Who was it?" Joel's demeanor became stern.

"…some guy."

Marlene dropped what she was doing and came to join in. She observed the girls as they spoke and looked them up and down. Her focus rolled over the back of Riley's left pant leg that was pressed against the couch. She was able to make out a decently sized area that was stained red as well.

"My god, Riley, your leg!"

"Yeah, he got me too."

"That coward, attackin' two girls. Who the hell was it?"

Marlene put her hand over Joel's shoulder and held him back against the chair. "Calm down." She looked sadly towards the girls. "Are you okay? Do you need anyth-"

"What'd he look like? I'll fucking kill him." Joel was furious in his chair but was still being held back from getting up.

Aiden had come out from his room after hearing Joel's uproar. He stood by Marlene and scanned over the girls as well. "Holy shit."

Riley sighed and looked at Ellie. She didn't want to bring any attention onto her and what she had just gone through. "The cops actually found him just a couple streets over." Joel eased up on his grip around the chair's arm. "They arrested him. So, it's fine."

Marlene left for a moment and reappeared in front of them with a plate of leftover food in each hand and passed them off to the girls. "Why don't you girls go get changed out of those clothes? You can eat after since you obviously didn't make it to the restaurant. I'll clean them up best I can tomorrow."

They did as she suggested and left to their room. Ellie closed the door behind them and leaned against it as she watched Riley slowly and painfully change out of her jeans. She started reaching for another pair before Ellie stopped her.

"Hold on." Ellie pushed herself off the door and knelt down beside Riley. She eyed the bandage closely then looked back up at her. "Can I see?"

Riley lowered her brows at the request. "…why? I mean, sure, but why?"

"Knowing he hurt you might help."

Riley hesitantly nodded and allowed Ellie to pull down the cloth wound around her thigh. Ellie ignored the hiss of pain from Riley as she continued to move it aside completely. The wound was a long narrow slit in the back of her leg, about two inches wide.

"Does it hurt?"

"What do you think?"

Ellie covered it tightly when she saw that the agitation caused it to start bleeding again. "Good." She stood back up and walked over to the dresser to swap out her coat.

"It's good that it hurts?"

She reasoned it out while changing out her shirt that was bloodied at the sleeve. "Means he deserved it."

Riley was conflicted between feeling happiness or sadness for the statement. "...you know he did."

"Yeah."

She put on her lighter coat and piled the heavier bloodied one and the shirt together on the dresser. She swung open the door and walked out, leaving Riley standing in the middle of the room in confusion. She finished putting on another pair of pants and threw the bloodied one on top of Ellie's pile and followed out after her.

Marlene was smiling as they came out in their changed clothes. "Good. Feel nice and dry now?"

They nodded their heads as they collapsed onto the couch and dug into their food.

"We can talk about all this tomorrow. Just watch TV for the night and get plenty of sleep." She walked off towards her room to do the same before stopping herself and turning around. "And I don't want you going out on the streets tomorrow."

"Yes, Marlene."

Riley's sarcastic tone was thick, but Marlene let it slide and went to bed for the night.

They finished off their food and watched TV with Joel for the next couple of hours, neither party saying a word for the entire duration. It was mostly reruns of classic shows from the 60's. They didn't find the shows interesting, nor boring, just simply something to distract themselves with.

The beauty of the falling snow just outside the window starkly contrasted the poor resolution of the black and white TV. Its screen casted a hypnotizing light over the room and left them unaware of nature's own show just a few inches to their right.

Joel got up from his chair after the last program let up and stood facing towards the girls, his growlish voice in full effect. "If you two ever need anythin' or get into any kind of trouble again, tell me. I'll make sure things get set right."

They were caught off guard and could only nod at his request, him giving one in return before leaving to his bedroom.

"We should probably do the same." Ellie exhaled as she got up and then helped Riley off the couch. She provided an arm for her to support herself with as they walked back to their bed.

Riley was limping harshly, favoring her left leg as much as she could. "This sucks. I swear he hit a damn tendon or something."

"I think Marlene's right. You should stay off it for a while."

"We'll see."

Ellie stopped helping her as soon as they got through the door. "What does that mean?"

"It means… you know, we'll be getting less money if I do."

"So what? It's stupid to permanently injure yourself. I can't believe I have to tell you that."

"Alright, geez. Sorry."

Ellie rubbed a palm against her eye. "Let's just go to bed. I really want this day to be over."

Riley sat down on the side of the bed and watched through the window the snow lazily falling. The occasional passing car illuminated the air and, for a few seconds, temporarily turned it into a galaxy of swirling and drifting stars. She was shook out of her gaze when Ellie fell onto the opposite side of the bed facing the wall and, consequently, away from Riley. Riley herself laid on her back and stared at the black and white stripes of light that were a permanent ceiling fixture at night.

Ellie tried getting to sleep for over an hour but was no more tired from when she first laid down as the night's events were incessantly replaying through her head.

Riley managed successfully early on, but the searing pain from the hole in her leg kept waking her up whenever agitated against the bed. She sighed as she felt a tension in the air. "You awake?"

Ellie ignored her question and chose instead to stare at the featureless wall and listen to the quiet roar of the cars as they passed by. She adjusted herself slightly which answered Riley's question and prompted her to continue.

"Ellie, I know you're having trouble seeing it, but it was his choice. He easily could have left us alone and we would've been happily eating at the Italian place tonight. But he made his decision, and that's on him, not you. I would've done the same. So would've anyone." She turned her head to face Ellie who now had her knees close to her chest. "Sorry. I'm not very good at this."

Ellie breathed out only a couple of words, barely audible, but enough to be heard. "Keep going."

Riley sighed slightly and tried to think of the best words she could without screwing it up. "He was an asshole, Ellie. And if you feel like shit now, imagine how much worse it would be if we had run and he found someone else and actually did kill them?"

She took a pause before speaking again with an obvious increase in emotionality in her voice. "You don't deserve to feel guilty. You're too amazing of a person to have to deal with that."

She turned onto her side and faced out the window again. "I don't know what else to tell you. You'll get through this at your own pace, you can't rush it. And don't forget I'll always be here for you. No matter what." She closed her eyes and settled in for the night. "You'll get through this. You're strong."

She tried hard to ignore Ellie's muffled sniffling but instead reluctantly let it be the focus of her attention as she fell asleep.

The story's gonna take a bit of a dark turn. So... enjoy?