Comfort Her

"I didn't know what to do.

This girl I had just met, had wrapped her arms around me and was crying into my chest.

I slowly put my free hand on her far shoulder, and tried to comfort her.

'Thats okay,' was all I could think of to say.

'You won't leave me will you? Because you're my friend...' she mumbled, still crying into my chest.

'Thats right. I'll look after you.' her arms tightened around me and she slowly stopped crying before looking up into my eyes.

'You'll look after me.' she said to herself, 'You'll make sure he doesn't hurt me again.' she was saying it to herself.

I looked at her bruised face again.

I actually felt closer to this woman who I'd met less than five minutes ago, than anyone I'd ever been involved with.

I moved my hand from her shoulder and onto her upper back. She flinched.

I moved my hand back to her shoulder quickly and appologised.

'Thats okay,' she said quietly, 'It just stings where he hurt me.'

I noticed that it was almost totally dark, the streetlights weren't on and their was no moon.

'We should find somewhere to rest for the night,' I said, hoping she didn't take it the wrong way.

'I know somewhere.' she said.

She removed her arms from around me and took my cane-free hand, in her left hand, the gun I had given her in her right, still pointed towards the floor like the small metal machine was too heavy for her to hold.

I thought of what she'd been through and realised she must be exhausted.

After about ten minutes of walking through dark alleys Emma stopped infront of a small, low building with a large metal door and a 'Danger of Electrocution' sign.

I realised it was a power substation for the neighbourhood.

'Isn't it dangerous?' I asked, still holding her hand and looking the hut-like building up and down in the dark.

'All the power's gone.' she said, 'I found it a few hours ago.'

'Wasn't it locked?'

'No,' she said and removed a key from a pocket in her dirty jumper, and unlocked the heavy door. This action confused me until she led me inside.

The inside of the small room was quite spacious.

There were two large metal machines that completely covered two of the side walls.

One of the machines, the one to the right of the door, had a deep hole surrounded by a large blackened area around the hole.

Their was also an almost charcoal like dead body laying infront of the scorched machine.

'The key was on the floor next to him.' she said just looking at the corpse, 'He must have been working on it and had an accident.' Emma looked at me.

'I don't think it was an accident,' I said at last, 'Their were hundreds of explosions.'

She looked at me confused.

'Didn't you hear them?' I asked her.

She shook her head, 'I was in the hospital.' was all she said. She must have been anesthatised or something I decided.

She looked at the body again, 'I wasn't sure what to do with it.'

'Do many people come around here?' I asked.

'No. Their's nothing worth taking.' she explained.

'Okay, nobody should notice if he's outside then.' I said letting go of Emma's hand and putting the gymbag on the floor and then resting the walking cane near the door.

I limped over to him and Emma followed.

We each grabbed a leg, although I had to lean against the machine to reach it, and pulled the corpse out of the station.

We went about thirty meters away and then a little way down a side alley before stopping.

Emma was about to lead me back when I noticed that something had fallen from somwhere on the corpse.

I knelt down trying to block out the pain, and collected a half empty packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

'Do you smoke?' I asked Emma.

She shook her head so I threw the packet away and put the lighter in my pocket.

We got back to the substation fairly quickly and Emma, once inside, locked the heavy metal door.

The torch she had been using in the alley was already on and she looked for something on the wall for a few moments.

Then she found what she had been looking for; a small switch on the wall a few meters away, she flicked the switch and the room slowly illuminated.

'I thought the power was out?' I asked confused while picking up the walking cane that had fallen to the floor.

'The emergency lighting is battery backup,' she said matter-of-factly, 'It's usually about one-hundred hours supply.'

I looked at her for a moment and dicided I was too tired to ask futher questions.

The room was quite a bit larger than it first seemed and I noticed a few blankets in the corner opposite to where the body had been.

She looked at me, 'I'm tired.' she said at last.

'Me too.'

She turned her torch on and turned the emergency lights off, then grabbed my hand again and led me to the corner of the room with the blankets.

'I don't have many and its getting a lot colder in here now it's dark outside, so you'll have to share with me.'

I felt a lump in my throat, 'Are you sure?'

'Don't be silly,' she said, 'We're friends. Friends share.'

She sat on one of the blankets and waited for me to sit next to her. After a moment's hesitation I sat.

She placed the second blanket over us both.

I watched her close her eyes and did so myself. I was in a half sleep when I felt her arms wrapped around me again.

I placed my free arm around her and fell asleep.