First off, thank you for all of the fabulous reviews!(: they mean the world to me! You all get a cookie! (: : ) enjoy! Next, I truly hate doing different P.O.V.s but this chapter is all Spotty boy:(. So I apologize.
Wishing You Well Chapter 3: The Five Boys
Spot's P.O.V.
I rested my head against the brick building somewhere in the far side of Manhattan and pulled out a smoke. It was the first time I had actually gotten a chance to smoke all day and my nerves were going crazy.
Although, not having a smoke wasn't the only reason my nerves were on edge. I had been waiting for Jack and a few of his friends for an hour now to discuss things about Harlem.
Lately, their leader, Venom, had been sending his little birds into my territory. I haven't quite figured out why yet, but I decided to bring Manhattan in on it just in case.
Just as my cigarette was down to a small bud, I saw four shadowy figures walking down the street. They were joking around and talking. I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes and walked towards them a little way. "Youse guys better have a damn good excuse of why you made me wait here for an hour." I said throwing my cig on the ground and stamping it out. The four boys stopped laughing and composed themselves.
"Sorry bout that Spot," a short boy with a cigar hanging out of his mouth said. His name was Racetrack, but we usually called him Race. "But we actually have a pretty good excuse." He smiled and fanned himself with his hat.
The four other boys nodded their heads frantically with huge smiles on their faces. "Well, what is it then?" I asked, not really in the mood for a lame excuse.
A boy named David scratched the back of his neck, "Well there was these goils…" I lifted my hand up with a smirk.
"Stop there my friend," I said jokingly with a laugh. The rest of the boys joined in. I stopped and made eye contact with the leader, Jack, who had matching brown hair and eyes. "Hey Jacky boy." I spat in my hand as he did the same and we shook. I went down the line of boys, giving the same gesture and they gladly accepted.
"So, Spot, what did you need to talk to us about?" A tall boy with tanned skin, who we all called Mush, asked. I looked around and lowered my voice.
"Not here." I whispered.
"We should get inside anyway, looks like nights comin'." David said in a low voice. We nodded in agreement and we began walking to the lodging house. It was a beautiful April evening. I had always loved springtime in New York, it was always so beautiful. Never to hot and never to cold, it was just perfect for the flowers to bloom. The flowers made me think of Nicole. Instantly my mood was brought down whenever she came into my head.
I pushed her out of my head as we rounded another corner into one of the alleys close to the lodging house. Suddenly, Jack stopped causing all of us to run into him. We all groaned and cursed under our breath but he didn't seem to notice. Instead he was staring towards the far end of the alley.
"Hey fellas, what do you suppose that is?" he pointed to a very large lump lying on the ground.
I squinted to try and get a better look but with the sun falling made it even harder to see in the dark alley.
"Maybe it's a bag of money!" Mush yelled. We all turned to face him like he was the stupidest person alive. He shrugged his shoulders and let his smile fall. I spun around and squinted again. This time though, I could see something. It wasn't a large lump, but two medium size lumps in a giant puddle. And from what I could see the puddle looked a dark crimson color.
Then it hit me. "Holy shit! I think its two different bodies!" I yelled. We all exchanged looks and took off running to the end of the alley where they were laying. Sure enough, laying before us was the bodies of two teenage girls lying in a pool of blood…and just to make matters worse, they were butt naked.
"Must be some whores who didn't impress too much," Race mumbled. "Still a damn shame they wind up dead in an alley naked…"
"Are…Are we even sure they're dead?" Mush asked. No one moved so I let out a small sigh as I got down on one knee. The knee part of my pants was covered with blood by the time I turned over the first body. She had sandy blond hair that just fell past her shoulders and she had very fair skin. She had rather large muscles for a prostitute but then again when you work the streets in New York, I guess you gotta be tough…from a basic look over though, she didn't look any older than me. And I could also tell that she wasn't the one that was bleeding.
It was her friend next to her. I had her back facing me, so I walked over to her side to almost immediately fall back on the ground. It can't be! She is a spitting image of her... Her auburn hair was behind her in a loose bun and her complexion was absolutely perfect. She had a heart shaped face and her closed eyes looked like almonds. Her cheeks were slightly pink as the rest of her face was ghost white, but that was probably as to account of how much blood she lost. Blood, you have to find were its coming from... Instantly, I shot back into reality and searched her body until I found a huge whole on her stomach. "How did I miss that?" I mumbled.
"So are they dead?" David asked. I looked up to see they were all still about five feet from the bodies. I rolled my eyes and went to put my two fingers on her neck to check her pulse but suddenly her eyes opened and he arm went up and caught mine.
"Help Rachel, please!" she pleaded in an airy voice. Her breathing was shallow and I gave a small nodded before her eyes slowly shut and I don't know whether she died or just blacked out again.
"Who's Rachel?" Jack asked. I pressed my fingers down on her jugular. Her pulse was barely moving but it was there. This one's a fighter…
"Well, I would assume it is the girl next to her, you bone head!" Racetrack said as he smacked Jack in the back of the head.
I snapped my head to look up at them. "Who can run the fastest?" They all raised their hands and began arguing. I rolled my eyes, "SHUT UP!" I yelled. The leader in me was coming out. They all silenced immediately and turned to face me. I faced to Racetrack. "Race," he seemed to stand a little straighter, "run and get the doctor. We can find a way to pay him whatever he needs, just tell him to meet us at the lodgin house now!" Before the word 'now' left my mouth, he was gone.
"David, go tell Kloppman our situation. Tell him to make fresh beds in the room in the attic." He nodded and ran off in a different direction down the alley. Then I turned to Mush and Jack. "Okay Mush, take off your shirt."
"What?" he cried out.
"Just fuckin' do it!" he quickly slithered out of his as I did my own. He threw it at me and I wrapped it around the blonde girl, who I am assuming to be Rachel. I put my own around the girl sitting in front of me, be sure to tie it extra tight around her wound. "Okay, Jack, I need you to lead the way. Find us the fastest way of getting there." Jack nodded. "And Mush, I need your help carrying them." His eyes widened a little but he nodded in agreement.
He bent down and pick up Rachel like she was nothing but I'm sure she weighed more than she look. I then did the same with the other girl, but I had to be more careful. From what I could see, she couldn't lose any more blood if she was to live. So I gently rested one hand under her head and the other on her back. I picked her up like I was going to carry a baby and hiding its face. I tried to press the wound against my bare chest in order for more pressure to be added because my shirt was already a deep crimson color.
"Ready?" I asked once I had her situated. They both nodded and we bolted down the alley.
"It's only about three blocks from here," Jack yelled back to us. I let out a small breath and decided to do something I had only done about twice before…I decided to pray.
Dear God, please help them! Just please give them safely to the lodging house! Don't let her die, I have seen so much death. Please don't add this to the list. Amen
My arms ached so badly and my lungs were burning. But we couldn't stop, not even for a second. We reached the steps quickly and ran up them. David was waiting for us just inside the door, which is where he took the lead. He led us up the stairs into a room that held two beds.
I put the girl I was holding on the bed closest to the window. Immediately I sat down on the bed and pressed down hard on the wound. I felt three pairs of eyes on me but I shrugged them off. I knew they were probably shocked because the closest I've been to a girl without them trying to rip my clothes off or kicking them out of the lodging house in the morning.
The doctor arrived seconds later, out of breath, with his brief case tightly in his hand. His assistant standing next to him, giving a faint smile. Racetrack popped his head in behind him. "Which one is worse?" he asked rolling up his sleeve.
"Her!" everyone said, pointing to the girl on the bed before me. The doctor rushed over and pushed me out of the way.
"Please, give us space." The doctor mumbled. The boys piled out of the room with me reluctantly following behind them. But not before I looked back at the girl on the bed, I needed one last look at her face, to make sure she was going to be okay, but the assistant was blocking it from my view. I went out of the room and down the stairs.
When I arrived at the bottom, the four boys were sitting in the main sitting area. Mush still didn't have shirt on but a blanket draped over his shoulders. He had a single blood smear on his face. I looked down at my own body and realized I was covered in that girl's blood. Yet, somehow, I really didn't want to get clean, my hands were shaking really bad. All I really need right now is a smoke.
"Hey fellas, I'm gonna go out for a smoke." I announced. "Come get me when their done." Before they could respond, I was out the door, sitting on the steps. The sun was at the lowest point in the sky, so people on the streets were thinning out.
I pulled out my last cigarette from my pocket and a pack of matches. I swiped one of the matches but it didn't light. That's when I noticed that not only my body was covered in dry blood but my pants matched with the same crimson color. "God dammit..."
I held the cigarette in my mouth and pinched the bridge of my nose. There was a little shaking noise next to my ear. I looked up to see Race holding out box of matches, "Want some company?" I shrugged and grabbed the box. He sat down next to me and pulled out his cigar.
I swiped the match on the back of the box and lit Race's cigar and then my cigarette. I took a deep breath in. Immediately, my nerves were calming down. We sat in silence as we smoked. The streets were emptying out now that it was dark outside. I looked up at the stars. They were only a few out because it was so early in the night, but the ones that were out were twinkling brightly. A small smile crossed my lips.
I found my favorite constellation was out though, "Orion, the warrior." I mumbled.
"What?" I jumped at the sound of Race's voice. I had totally forgotten that he was still out here with me.
"Nothin'." I said. My smoke was done. I threw it into the road and brushed my bangs out of my eyes. I felt a pair of eyes on me. I looked over and saw Race staring at me. "What?" I asked defensively.
"I'm just curious Spot…" he began. "How did you know to put pressure on her wound?"
I bit my lip. "Common instinct, I guess." I rubbed the back of my neck.
"But still Spot, you probably are the reason that goil has a chance at living." Race said. He turned back to the road, signifying he had nothing else to say.
"Yeah well…" was all I said. It was all I could say. We sat in silence once more until the door creaked opened behind us. We faced ourselves towards it to see Jack standing before us.
"Docs all done with em. Says he wants to talk to us," he said. We hopped to our feet and followed behind Jack. We all met in the sitting area and the doctor was wiping his hands.
"They are both very weak but stable. The blonde came away with a twisted wrist and a few cuts and bruises, so she should be fine in a few days. But I can't tell if she may have a minor concussion or not, I won't know that until she is awake. The other one, however, well she is lucky to be alive." We all took a breath in, "But ironically, she is stable." We let it out in unison. "She lost a good amount of blood but like her friend, she should be fine in a few days."
"How is that possible?" Mush asked.
"Yeah she had a giant, gaping hole in her stomach!" David said in shock.
"I can't explain it either," the doctor said scratching his head. "It's like one minute her body is fighting very hard to stay alive and then the next, she knew she would be fine."
I rubbed the back of my neck, "Well thank you doc. We will pay you back as soon as we can…" he shook his head.
"No charge," he said with a small laugh. "Just bring me a free paper for the next few weeks." We exchanged glances and nodded all at once. He and his assistant left without another word. Once more, we all seemed to let out another deep breathe that we had been holding in.
"Well, there is one problem that we don't have to deal with," Jack said. "But now we have another one." We all looked over at him and he walked over to the empty fireplace. "What are we gonna do with two goils?"