Post
by Wetterl » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:23 pm
Chapter Eight - Lost Again
The days pass and I continue feeling depressed. The runs take a lot off of my mind, though, and I can actually feel how it's getting better. I guess that's what Emi does to people, give them a smile on their face. She's just that kind of person.
Lilly hasn't called, but I'm not really sure what I'd do if she did. I'm not even sure what I feel right now. It's likely that it would end up with me blaming myself again, so it's probably for the better. Just being able to think that makes me feel good.
Today is Sunday; the day I take off to leave Yamaku for a few days. It feels slightly off to visit a girl like that just a week after my girlfriend's left, but Emi and I are no more than friends, and all she wants is for me to feel better. I thank her a lot for that, even if she doesn't want to accept my thanks. I think that she sees potential in everybody and just thinks of it as showing them what they really can. Maybe that's what it really is, but she still deserves a lot.
I look up to check the time from the clock. Quarter past ten. Just above three hours until departure. My eyes wander down the fall to fall on the phone on my desk and once again think of calling Lilly. The thought scares me. After our last conversation I felt even worse, and I don't want to feel like that again. Emi would probably kill me. I try to tell myself that she's sleeping and I would wake her up, even though I know that that's not part of the reason at all. I'm scared of facing my past, that's it. I'm scared of facing the thoughts that she brings to my mind.
Three hours. What should I do in three hours? Emi specifically told me to save myself up and not eat anything, since there was supposedly a meal to be ready for us once we arrived. “...enough food to feed the country for a year!” is an exact quote from Emi. I wonder how Rin would react to that. It would be worth hearing, that's pretty sure.
Suddenly I hear a familiar beep from my phone. A text message.
“Please not Lilly please not Lilly please not Lilly” are the only thoughts I can find in my mind. I look back at the phone, relieved when I find the name on the screen as Hanako. I have nearly forgot about Hanako these last days, with all this “living in the moment” I've been forcing upon myself. I get up from the bed I've been sitting on for quite a while and head for the desk.
Grabbing my phone, I press the button to open the message. Included seems to be a picture, which I look at first. It's a picture of Hanako and Naomi on some train, which seems to stand still in the middle of nowhere. Through the window you can see a grassy field and in the distance there appears to be a lake. It's quite a beautiful picture, even not considering the two girls. Naomi's eyes are closed and her face gives off a bright smile. Hanako's smile is not as big as her companion's, but it's clearly visible. From this angle you can't see her scar at all, which I presume is something she made sure of. They probably asked a fellow passenger to take the picture, since it's clearly not taken by the two on the picture.
I press the back-button to go back to the text.
“Hope you're having a good time, I know we are. See you in a week. /Hanako”
The message doesn't sound like something written by Hanako, but then again, what does? I read through the message a few times before looking at the picture again. I wonder how jealous that picture might make Natsume; a girl besides herself sitting next to Naomi, together for two weeks without anybody else. The thought makes me chuckle.
I decide not to send anything back, since I don't really have anything to say at this time. Mentioning that I'm staying at Emi's house could be taken in a way that it's not supposed to, and I don't feel like trying to explain it to Hanako. It would be pretty meaningless to explain it to her anyway, since there's no reason for her to know.
Extremely bored, I put the phone into my pocket after deciding to go for a walk. I don't really have anywhere special to go, but I guess checking to see if I can find Emi would be an idea. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't find anyone around here anyway, and even if I did I don't really know anyone.
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump.
Emi running along the track is quite an amazing sight. Her body moves like it's a wind following the lines of the track, knowing exactly where to go. It's her face that really shows her love for running, though: She seems to have lost all thought and just run because it's what she knows the best to do and it's like nothing else could give her that emotion. It's like this is where she's really herself.
She notices me and gives me a wide grin. I return a small smile, which seems to be enough of me, according to her. She speeds of at the track again and I continue watching this amazing sight. Like an eagle gliding through the air towards it's prey without the prey. As she seems to have finished the main part she slows down and continues at a much slower pace to cool down. She turns around and starts running backwards, looking at me the entire time. We share a small laugh and she goes faster. And faster. I'm surprised that she can actually keep this speed going backwards, but I guess nothing's really strange when it comes to Emi. She seems to have reached her max speed and gives me a grin that looks more like a challenge than anything else. Of course I don't dare take it.
And then it all goes wrong. A twig that seems to have blown up on the track with the wind is stepped upon by her left leg, and flies up in the open space of the right one. The sudden change makes her right leg move in a slight angle, which combined with the lost balance from stepping on the twig causes her to fly backwards in the air in a fall.
I start sprinting towards her as she gives away a shriek. All the power in my body is put into my legs and I run faster than I have ever done before, and probably faster than I ever will. Mere seconds after she's fallen I'm there beside her, on my knees. I out my arm under her back and push her up up slightly.
“Are you okay?!” My words come out as shouts, but that's not something to care about right now.
“I... I think I'm fine. Just a scra-” Her mouth stops moving as her eyes get stuck on something. I turn to see whatever it is that she is seeing.
Her leg. It's bent.
It appears as if her left leg took all the force of the fall, resulting in it bending. It's not a pretty sight, Emi's leg in that state, but I guess it's better than if it had happened on her hand or something else that actually contained bones.
“M-my l-l-leg...” She seems to be in shock from seeing her leg. I guess it would make sense, it's sort of like losing a leg for the second time for her. I turn back to her face and I can see something in her, something that I'm pretty sure I've never seen before. The look of someone who lost it all for the second time.
I realise that she can't walk like this. I have to carry her. As I put my left arm further behind her back and my right arm under her knees she snaps out.
“You don't have to! I can walk! I promise!” I ignore her, even if it will result in her pouting at me. Sometimes you have to take the consequences.
Being quite light, it's easy to lift her. She can't weigh much more than 90 lbs. Her complaints die off as she realises it's useless. She does hit me on the arm once, though. I walk towards the nurse's office, carrying Emi. It would probably look really idiotic to anyone watching, but the school's still pretty much empty. I feel a slight pain building in my arms, but I guess that's what happens when you're in the shape I am.
As we come up to the nurse's building I let Emi open the door, since it's a lot easier for her. A few minutes later we are in front of the door with the big, fat letters spelling out NURSE. Emi knocks on the door, and soon it is opened to show the purple-haired man I have come to know as Nurse. He takes a quick look at us.
“Oh, another couple who wish to have my blessing?” His trademark smile fades away when he sees Emi's leg. He immediately moves into the room and I follow. I put Emi down on a chair and continue standing next to her. Nurse kneels and inspects the leg.
“What happened?” he asks.
“She fell,” I answer.
“I fell,” Emi continues. Nurse continues to remove and inspect the leg for a minute or two.
“You didn't get hurt anywhere else?” he finally asks, standing up and looking directly at Emi with his worried face. His worried face looks a lot like most people's angry face, which I presume would put most people off.
“Just some bruises, nothing important,” she answers, still with her own worried look. Nurse looks at the metal piece in his hand.
“Well, you're not using this leg again. I could get the school to fund a new pair, due-” He's interrupted by Emi.
“No, I'm paying. I wouldn't want money to be spent on me because of something that's my own fault.”
“I would say it's more my fault.” Nurse turns to me as I say this, probably having forgotten I was in there to begin with. Emi turns to me with a smile I wish I could tell was fake, but all Emi's smiles look as natural as the others.
“Don't be silly, I was the one running backwards outdoors. I should have known something like this would happen.”
“Well, whoever caused this doesn't matter now. All I can say is that if you want to keep running you're going to have to get a new pair. You're lucky it didn't press up and hurt you, then you'd be in a wheelchair for weeks.” Finally, Nurse's trademark smile returns. “It could easily be taken in another way if you were to go carrying each other around like that, so I'm suggesting you borrow a wheelchair. Unless that's the case, of course.” Emi hits Nurse and points her tongue at him. His smile goes wider as he walks into one of the rooms connected to the office and rolls out a wheelchair. He puts it next to Emi who pushes herself over into it. We get out of the office after saying goodbye and start heading back to the dorm. During the conversation, Emi seems to have taken off her right leg, too.
We walk (well, roll in her case) back towards the dorm building, but we have to take an extreme detour to be able to get there since the dorms are blocked by stairs and Emi won't let herself get helped moving again. I take out my cellphone from my pocket and see that we're leaving in two hours. I tell Emi this and she smiles. I think these next few days are going to be quite enjoyable.
Just a small town girl.
