Chapter Thirty-Seven
"What the hell happened to your face, Girl?" The boy asked me.
For a second, I lost focus and completely forgot what he was asking me. The only thing that was going in my head was the fact that he was the person behind this door and he was the one who denied me entry. The same person who asked me to leave or face the consequence of facing the police. He was fighting with a robber or pick - poketer
And I just helped the same person. Damn ... this seemed to be a recurring theme in my life. Helping a jerk be a jerk. First Mike and now him.
A finger snapped right in front of my face. It brought me out of my haze. Feeling like an idiot and still not feeling the guilt of helping him, I spun around to leave this place without saying anything. When he grabbed my arm and stopped me from leaving.
"Hey, where are you going?" The boy asked. I spun around and pulled my hand out of his grip, snatched with anger. I glared at him before speaking.
"Didn't you just threaten me a few minutes ago that you would call the cops on me if I did not leave this place?" I snapped at him. My snark did not go in vain because he seemed to remember what was going on and who I was. I could see the wheels turn around in his head.
He glanced at my face, and then scanned me from top to bottom. Maybe, he seemed to remember from a few minutes ago when I had asked him for medical help. I knew for sure that he thought I was bluffing when I said that, but now that he was seeing the evidence for himself, the reality must be setting in on him.
His continuous glance at my face reminded me too, that I was roaming around the streets the whole day with dark, red belt marks on my face. During my hunt for shelter and worries about other things, I completely forgot that I was beaten by a belt.
Now, all the weird glances from people, whoever saw my face made sense. They were not staring at me because I was a teenager who was roaming around the streets for no reason, but they were looking at the marks on my face. Now, that I think about it, I was roaming around clutching the side of my stomach too. Where I had been kicked. Everywhere I had been hit, there was a foreign and familiar ache. I was so busy thinking about all the stuff that all the pain from the beating seemed to just blur. That, and maybe the fact, that I was so used to getting beaten when I lived with my family did not come as a surprise. It was like second nature to me to handle all this pain.
A tap on my shoulder brought my attention back to reality. I jolted when I felt his finger on my shoulder.
The boy took two startled steps back, taken off by surprise by my sudden reaction. "Whoa ... ho ..." He said and raised his hand like the police had caught him doing something illegal. "I didn't mean to ... were you even listening to what I was saying?" The boy questioned.
I blinked rapidly to gather my wits and tried to bring my focus to his words. "Huh?" I asked when I finally managed to focus all my attention on him.
"I take that as you didn't." The boy commented, letting out a big sigh. He looked tired as if he had been working for hours and hours on end.
Now that my mind was finally working, I noticed that this male species that I had been calling, 'the boy,' was not a boy. Well, sort of. He appeared older, older than me. Unlike I suspected earlier, he was not a boy. Well, certainly not a teenager. He looked mature but there was a hint of boyishness on his face. He was a foot and half taller than me. White shirt, blue pants, brown hair and brown eyes. And by the looks of him, I knew that he usually did more than physical hard work. Not a gym workout type, but a helping with weight stuff type.
"I should leave," I told him and I whirled around to do just that but his next words stopped me.
"No, you shouldn't." He said. I turned around to see if he was serious or not. His grave expressions made it clear that he was not joking. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. The owners are not here and I am taking care of this place alone. So, I had to be careful. I can't risk letting in a stranger." He explained. He shrugged.
He was right. He just could not let a stranger come into this place at the end of the night when he was alone guarding this place. It would not have been a reasonable thing to do. However, I was still salty by his remarks from earlier when he threatened me with cops, even though I told him about my condition.
"So, what, I'm not a stranger to you anymore?" I asked him, using one of my most bitter tones. I did not know why I was taking my irritation and anger out on him when I could see his reason so well. Maybe it was the fact that he reminded me of Mike or perhaps I just wanted to get my frustration out. I could not control how things went in the morning and thought taking it out on him would make me feel better. And it did, but at the same time I felt like a jerk for doing it to him
"You are. But, now I know you were not lying when you asked me to let you in for medical reasons. And you also know the name of the owners of this place, so I guess you're legit. Plus, you just helped me fight with a pick pocketer. So, I owe you now. Hence, I request you to just stay here. It's not safe at night, especially for a girl, but you also need some medical first aid help." He told me.
"So, please, come inside." He gestured for me to go inside.
Knowing that this was my only option and I would be stuck outside in the open to sleep, open for predators, I decided to stay in. He was only one person, I could take him down if he tried anything. On the other hand, outside I was an open prey. There was less danger for me to stay than sleeping outside. Not to mention, I would get to eat here and I was bloody hungry.
As if on cue, my stomach let out a big howl in protest of being hungry. It was loud enough for people around me to hear. Despite the situation, I felt my cheeks warming up. I heard a chuckle covered by a forced cuff. Embarrassed, I glared at the person in front of me.
"Well, I guess you are staying here." He remarked hearing the hollow noise from my stomach. I could see that he was holding in a grin.
"Please go inside, I will prepare something for you to eat, and then I will bring in the first aid kit." He said. With that, he turned around and disappeared into the kitchen.
I stood in my place thinking if I made the right choice and should go back outside. My stomach let out another growl. Finally, caving in, I walked into the house. My pride could take some rest but my stomach could not.
Today had been a hell of a day and this night was going to be the same.