A Hand You Must Not Reach For And One You Must Protect

The boy pulls you to your feet and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handkerchief. He then walks over to a nearby hose and turns it on as he wets half of the handkerchief until it's practically dripping wet leaving the other half dry.

"Hey!"

One of the boys say as he steps in front of Noah blocking his path, "What do you think you're doing, didn't you wanna get back at Rose for what she did to you during your sparring session?"

For a moment there is only silence only interrupted by the swift autumn breeze that blows through the schoolyard carrying beautiful multi-colored leaves through the air before letting them slowly flutter until they lay still on the hard ground.

He takes a deep breath letting out a long sigh breaking the silence and in a completely different tone than how he was talking before says "I thought we were gonna have a rematch no beat a defenseless girl who is too weak to even qualify in the tournament."

He bumps the boy's shoulder as he rushes past heading back over to you.

"Forget this." The older kid storms off as the group of kids follow close behind.

He holds the cloth by both sides and raising it just above your forehead as he says in the same soft tone he had before.

"close your eyes."

"Ok." You say in a wobbly voice as you quickly close your eyes as tight as you can as you shake anticipating the pain that is to come.

Noah begins to ring the water out over your forehead and immediately you can feel the stinging pain of water seeping into fresh cuts.

You can feel every cut one big cut on your cheek which has been leaking blood down your neck ever since you were originally slammed down.

He then not missing a beat begins to gently clean the blood from your wounds he then ties the handkerchief around your forehead and with a smile he says, "All done, when you get home get that checked out you should be fine for now though."

"Thank you," you say clutching what remains of your stuffed rabbit in hand.

"Hey if they try that again I got your back" The boy runs down the dirt path waving a goodbye.

The vision ends and the world is once again empty.

'He was always helping me was I really that weak...I can't let that happen anymore from now on I'll fight with my own power.'

There is a flash of light that immediately shocks you awake.

You are still in the dark world but the ground well at least what you think is the ground is hard and steady and you can once again move freely.

Suddenly a disembodied voice echoes through your mind.

( Mommy over here!)

You look around slightly confused as you notice a dim light has appeared in the distance.

'Maybe this will wake me up...or kill me, either one is better than infinite darkness'

You head towards it hoping and praying it can lead you back to the real world.