Chapter 7
It wasn't too late into the day when it happened. Just a few blocks away from the bakery and the apartments, a building was set into flames. I don't know what caused it or how it happened, but suddenly buildings started to crumble. Luckily I wasn't outside, I was just in the bakery working. My shop went unharmed except for a few broken windows that shattered from the ground shaking so hard. As soon as the explosion happened, I didn't waste a moment to run upstairs. I flung open my apartment door and shouted.
"Toby?! Toby, come here boy!"
I needed to make sure my dog was okay. Toby is petrified of thunder or really loud noises, so I just knew he'd be freaking out from the buildings that were falling down.
"Toby!" I gave another shouted and started looking around the rooms. I checked everywhere but Toby was nowhere to be found. I knew he couldn't have gone far and that he's somewhere in my apartment, I just didn't know where.
Finally I was able to check the last room of the house, the bathroom. And that's where I found my dog, hiding in the bathtub with his forepaws over his face. His entire chubby little body was shaking from fear and a soft whimpering sound could be heard coming from my dog. I knelt down by the tub and reached out to pat my dog on the head. At first I startled him but when he seen it was me, Toby settled down and his face immediately went from fear stricken to happy. I couldn't help but smile.
"It's okay, I'm here now." I comforted Toby and picked him up out of the tub.
Tension was just beginning to die down, then I heard something on my roof. They almost sounded like...footsteps? But that was impossible, I live on the top floor, what would somebody be doing on the roof? I decided to follow the sound of soft thumps. It started in my washroom then went across the hall. I lost them for a moment, but heard the soft sound now coming from my kitchen. I ran down the hall and into my kitchen, Toby following right behind me.
I glanced up at the ceiling and closed my eyes, trying to listen to the sound again. But nothing could be heard. The footsteps stopped and for a brief moment I thought maybe I'd imagined them. My mind quickly changed when I heard a soft thud coming from my balcony.
I froze. My back was facing in the direction of my balcony, so I had no idea what was on it. A million thoughts were running through my mind to what it could be. A cereal killer? A robber? A thief? Is someone out to get me? Maybe it's a monster? Or the Shadow of the ship everyone was talking about a few days ago?
I tried to steady my breathing as I slowly reached forward and pulled a knife out of my drawer. Whatever was perching on my balcony, I was ready for it. And Toby was right at my side with me. So I cautiously turned around and pointed my knife straight at the double glass doors, ready for anyone who tried to attack me. But to my surprise, no one was there.
I glanced down at my dog and he gave me a confused look. I decided to approach the balcony to have a closer look. I knew someone was there, they just weren't standing up. I took a step closer, now I know that not someone, but something is laying down on my balcony. It looks as if he's hurt, or as if it's hurt. A rush of sympathy courses through me but I don't drop the knife. I just hold it down to my side as I slowly walk up to the doors.
"Hey...are you okay?" I called out to the creature on the metal surface outside. I know now that he's not human at all. I thought fear would take over me, but it didn't. For once I wasn't being scared or paranoid of the unknown. Toby was here, barking around my feet at this giant reptile like thing. It never responded to my call, so I shooed Toby away with my foot and opened one of the sliding doors, "Are you okay?" I repeated, but once again no response came.
Oh my gosh, he's dead! The thought erupted in my mind but quickly died when the creature turned his head towards me. I gasped at the sight on his face. Blood was pouring out of a cut just above his eyes, soaking them and turning them red. Or at least I think so, there was so much of it that I couldn't really tell if he had eyes or not. It made me a little sick to my stomach at the sight, I don't do well with blood.
Then, the sickly creature opened his mouth, revealing two rows of white teeth, just like human's teeth. And then, he spoke.
"H-help..." His voice was so soft, lower then a whisper and more fragile than glass. All the fear and the sick feeling in my stomached suddenly vanished. It got replaced with concern. This...thing was calling out to me, the begging tone and his hurt expression dug deep within me and broke my heart. I had to help this creature.
"It's okay, you're gonna be alright." I told him but it seems as if he blacked out. I walked out and onto my balcony and tried to pick him up. But he's a lot heavier then he looks. I tried a different matter. I grabbed his arm. The feeling of his skin was surprisingly soft, and not scaly or slimy at all. So I took him by the arm and tried to drag him into my house. It took me a little while, and I had to shift positions every now and then, but I managed to do it. Now the wounded creature was safely inside my house.
Toby came back into the kitchen and immediately started growling at the sight of the giant reptile-human thing. I hushed him and told him that this creature was a friend. Obviously I didn't know him, but Toby always accepts new people when he sees that I like them, but even my dog was still a bit sceptical.
"Oh gosh..." I started talking to myself as I placed a hand on my forehead, "What do I do now?" I hadn't really thought this through at all. I didn't know what to do with him or even how to heal him. The last thing I want to be is a doctor, so I don't know what the heck to do, "All right Nicole, just calm down." I told myself and ran to my medicine cabinet.
I searched through the small, rectangular cabinet, looking for something useful. I didn't want to be completely helpless, and I knew that all wounds should be cleaned out with rubbing alcohol. So I got some of that, a wash cloth and a bandage wrap. It's probably not the best solution, but it's the best I could do.
I laid the body out on my kitchen floor. He was covered in deep cuts and bruises. No doubt he'd have scars when and if he gets better.
"Deep breaths." I told myself while I opened the alcohol and dabbed some on the cloth. It looks as if the cut going across his brow is the deepest, so that's the one I decided to clean first, "Ew, ew, ew, ew" I repeated over again as I could feel the blood soak into the cloth. It made me want to gag and pass out, but I knew that I couldn't. So I continued to clean. Once the blood from his face was all cleaned up, I noticed he was wearing a mask. It's hard to tell from the blood, but it looks as if it's a blue mask. And I didn't noticed till now, but strapped to his back are two swords. My first thought was, that can't be comfortable to lay on. So I took the swords out of their protective pouch and took off his mask. Then it hit me that maybe he was an assassin or samurai or something. That maybe this creature is dangerous and I shouldn't be helping him.
I throw the swords aside, scaring myself a little. Then I glance down at the reptile. His eyes are close and he appears as if sleeping. I know he's passed out, but he looks kind of peaceful. The doubt I once felt faded and I continued to help with dying creature. I wrapped up his head, covering his 'sleeping' eyes. If he wakes, he'll be greeted by darkness.
Next I went to his arms, they didn't appear to be broken, just a few cuts here and there. I had to wrap up his upper right bicep cause it was torn, but that was probably the worst for his arms. Then I moved onto his legs, cleaning out any cuts with the cloth of course. But it seemed his legs were fine for cuts and didn't need any wrapping. But his left ankle did. He already had some sort of wrapping on both his ankles, but one of them was burnt off, leaving his green flesh raw and pink. I quickly tear off any wrapping that wasn't burnt and re-wrapped his burnt ankle. I re-wrapped the other one too, even though it wasn't burnt. Finally, it seemed like he was all finished and wrapped up.
"I hope this is enough." I said aloud for anyone who could hear me. I sorta spoke to the creature, but knowing he was unconscious, it didn't really have much effect, "Let's get you to a more comfortable place." I continued speaking to him.
Once again I had to drag him my the arms, though this time a longer distance. I dragged him across my kitchen and into my living room. It took me forever to get him on the couch, but I managed. I laid him on his back and his arms to his side. He kinda looked like an undead mummy. By the end of all of this, I was exhausted. I slide to the floor and rested my head back on the armrest of my couch. This time, Toby came up to me and quietly put his head on my lap. Closing his eyes, Toby decided to sleep. I laughed a little.
I turned my head to the side to look at the reptile-human thing. Now that I got a closer, this creature kind looks like a giant turtle. I cocked my head to one side in confusion. How could this be possible? A giant turtle with weapons and a mask? It just doesn't make sense. I decided to push the thought in the back of my mind.
I sighed and got up, careful not to wake up Toby, I lift his head and carefully put it back down. I walked to the kitchen so I could clean up the mess. My white tiled floor now covered in blood. I took out my mop and began cleaning. I wiped up most of the blood, but there was still a tint of red on the floor.
"Well that's not gonna come out." I huffed and blew a strand of my long brown hair out of my face. I decided to put my mop back in the hall closet, then come back in the kitchen. I glanced at the time and it was almost supper time. As I was putting the medical stuff away, I began thinking what I was going to make for supper.
My thoughts were interrupted when I stepped on something wet. I jumped back in alarm and looked to see what I stepped on. It was nothing other then the blood soaked mask. I breathed a sigh of relief cause just a few feet away was the swords. I much rather step on the mask than one of the swords. I decided to wash the mask by hand. I filled up my kitchen sink with hot soapy water and I dropped the mask in. I'm gonna let it soak for a while.
Next I picked up the swords and glanced around the room, I didn't know where to put them for safe keeping. So with some quick decision making, I decided to just throw them in the hall closet. Once again I made my way back into the kitchen to start on cooking. I walked passed the balcony doors and something caught my eye. I looked out the glass doors and saw something, a shoulder bag. I opened the doors and quickly grabbed the bag. It began raining and I wasn't sure if this belonged to the turtle or not. Either way, I didn't want it to get wet.
I have to admit that I wanted to look in the bag, just to see what was in it. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want to look inside, just in case it does belong to the turtle man and in case he has some personal things in there, so I set it on the chair of my kitchen table. And this time I finally got around to making supper.
It was after supper when I got a bunch of visitors just knocking on my door seeing if I was okay. All of them were my neighbours or other people who live in this building on different floors. I got a few questions about the bakery since by now everyone knows I'm taking care of it and running the shop, they're wondering what I'm gonna do with the broken windows. If it's not obvious, I'm gonna call a repairman to fix them.
At that time, I decided to go downstairs to the bakery and clean up the glass mess. I put a note on my door telling people where I would be in case people wondered where I was. I also locked my door so no one would walk in and find a 6 foot turtle laying on my couch. I figured it was safe to leave him alone, I think it'll probably take a good day or two before he wakes up.
In the bakery, I got out the red broom from the storage closet and began sweeping up the broken shards on glass. Each piece seemed to shine in the low glow of the setting sun. And when I look at them, it's actually kinda pretty. Like a fallen chandelier with the broken glass that decorates the flooring. If an explosion didn't just happen, I would actually take a moment to appreciate how beautiful this looked. But I got right to cleaning. The fire was died down and everything seemed to be at a pause. Ambulances were long gone to the hospital for all those people who got injured or killed. The only evidence that showed an explosion even happened are the crumbled remains of the buildings. So sight of the bombers.
"Nicole?" I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
"Hey Marie." I greeted her but kept sweeping, "Careful, there's glass everywhere." I warned. I expected an answer right away, but didn't get one. Marie is usually very talkative and me the silent one. Now it's roles reversed. Something seemed strange, off almost. I turned around to face Marie and got her with her head down and arms extended by her sides. Her hands were neatly folded in front of her and soft sniffling sounds could be heard, "Hey...are you alright?" I asked and made my way over to her.
Marie looked up at me with tears in her eyes, making her blue crystals shine brightly. Sadness and worry were etched hard across her face.
"Marie, what's wrong?" I reworded my question from earlier. I could see my friend upset, I just didn't know why.
"M-my, uh...my grandmother was c-caught in the explosion." Marie stuttered, letting the tears stream freely down her face. I immediately reacted and pulled Marie into a hug. Her Grandmother must have lived in the buildings that exploded. So knowing what Marie must be going through, I let her cry into my shoulder for a few minutes, just until she calmed herself down enough.
"Hey, are you gonna be alright?" I asked while sill holding Marie in my embrace. This time, she backed out of the hug and wiped her eyes. Though they were still fresh with tears.
"Yeah, I just need some time to myself." Marie fake smiled brightly.
I smiled back, "Alright, I'll walk you up to your apartment though."
At that note, I guided my sad friend back up four flights of stairs. She offered to go help me put up tarps along the window borders, but I declined. She gave me one last smile before opening her door and disappearing in her apartment. I sighed from exhaustion, I really didn't want to go put up tarps, but knowing myself like I do, I won't be able to sleep at night if I don't. So I walked back down the stairs and got out tarps from the closet. You can find almost anything in that narrow yet long space.
It took me a good hour to get up all the tarps to cover all the broken windows. Not to mention there was still some shards of glass attach to the frames. So this took me a little while to get all done. But by the end of it all, I locked the door to the bakery and ran back up the stairs and unlocked the door to my apartment.
I was expecting Toby to come running to me, but he never did. I narrowed my eyes in confusion and walked in. I called out softly to my dog, but got no reaction. I turned into my living room and sure enough Toby was there, guarding the turtle like thing that laid unconscious on my couch. Soft grunts and cries could be heard. Toby was here right by his side to make sure everything was alright. Like me, Toby doesn't like to see things hurt or injured.
When the creature let out a slightly louder cry, I flinched. Though I couldn't see his eyes, his mouth was parted in a frown that showed fear. A part of me wanted to go and comfort the poor thing but the bigger part of me kept my distance. I don't know this...person, I don't know if he's dangerous or not. But still, I couldn't help but feel bad for him and wonder, what is going on in his head?
Oh boy...it's been a long time since I updated. I'm super sorry for that...over a month, sheesh. Anyway, I'll try to update more recently, but I can't promise anything. This fanfic seems to be going particularly slow. But it will get finished, I promise you that! Anyway, enjoy the chapter and hope to see you again soon. As always, please fav/review, thanks a bunch for reading! ^^
