02>< Bedtime and nightmares

LEVI

I groaned as I re-gained consciousness. I met two pairs of huge, bright green eyes staring down at me. Chubby, dirty faces owned those eyes. As did light brown skin and dark curly hair. One child was older than the other, the were both probably aged six and eight.

I then realised I wasn't supposed to be there. I sat upright abruptly then growled at the sharp pain in my side.

"Don't hurt them." a voice said, coming towards me.

A similar pair of green eyes and brown skin accompanied the voice, it was the vendor lady from the market. She got a stool and sat herself next to me as she addressed the children.

"Coco, Lila. Go get cleaned up then help Mica set the table. Tell Raven to bring in some dinner for the guest." The children listened and walked out of the room, leaving just the woman and I alone.

She gently pushed on my now bare chest to get me to lie back down. I could easily resist if i wanted to, but I let her do her thing. She didn't talk as she unwrapped the bandage over my injury ....... which had bled through when i jerked up ...... cleaned the wound and re-bandaged me.

"The bullet went all the way through." she explained as she leaned back to look at my face then dragged a small table with wheels to where I was so she could attend to my face too. "It was a deep graze and cut clean. I stitched and bandaged you up. You didn't break anything but you did get a bone injury on your right arm when you fell. That should feel sore and be swollen for a while.

Her eyes never met mine as she tended to my face and placed band-aids where they were needed. I was now the new owner of a couple of frozen and Sofia the first band-aids all across my face.

"Are you feeling ok?" she asked as she sat back again, declaring herself done with her work.

I didn't really give an answer as I stared at the lady for a while, trying to get a read on her. She watched as I sat up and gritted my teeth at the waves of pain. Just then, a teenage girl, about 16 or 17, walked in with some food on a tray. A bowl of soup and some bread.

"It's not much," the vendor lady said, "but you should eat up so I give you painkillers for .... everywhere. I'll be having dinner with my family so if you need anything, just ask."

With that, she and the girl walked out. I took in my surroundings. The room I was in seemed to be some clinic/study/bedroom/basement and a quick investigation revealed no weapons or anything, just a few clothes folded neatly and a bag. Also some stack of books next to the clothes. It was was small bare clean room, but lacked furniture apart from the table like structure I was on.

I took my chances with the supper and it was surprisingly good. I let the vendor lady and her family have their supper and then waited for her to come back into the room.

"Where am I?" i asked as soon as she walked in.

"My bedroom," she responded "I live in this house with my sisters."

"I'm going to need a lot more than that." I said, sitting up straighter.

"I had to get rid of the top half of your clothes because they were too bloody and you cant fit into anything of mine so I'll get you new stuff tomorrow. You were passed out for the rest of the afternoon and spent the next day completely asleep, apart from now when you just got up. I don't know you or anything, so I don't want to kill you. I just helped you out because you were going to die."

"You should have let me die." I scoffed. I could clearly see the confusion spread on her face, so i continued talking. "I'm an assassin, therefore it's highly likely that I'm a wanted man. You taking me in like this is putting a bounty on your heads."

I let my words sink in.

"Well, you're safe here for the next few days if thats the case then." she said easily. "they don't know us, they don't know where you are and in your condition, it's not a bad idea to hide out until you get better."

I stared intently at her for a while, did she hear anything i just said to her?

"I just told you the probability of you dying just increased and you're saying stuff parallel to what I just said. Are you good?" I asked.

"Would you rather take your chances out on the street?" she asked as she handed me some pain medicine.

"I don't need your act of charity and pity to keep me alive." I snapped. "for all you know, I could be the richest man in the world."

"I'm aware of that too." she said as she began to move around and put things in order. "I just saw you lying there and thought to help."

I chose not to object any further, it was her death wish, I could not care less. Also, I got shot. I wanted to lie down and stop talking, words didn't feel right. Heck, nothing did. I lay back down on the cold hard table.

"Hey," i said to her after a while.

"Simone." she said.

"Simone," I repeated, "where did you learn to stitch people up? You some kind of medical student?"

"I was." she said, taking down a queen sized mattress from one side of the room and begin to spread the bed. She then helped me off the table and guided me to the mattress.

"You want to shuck the pants or no?" she asked as we hovered over her bed.

"Where are you going to sleep?" I asked as I tried to ignore the pain in my side, it was burning really badly.

"Not important." she said, her one arm still supporting me. "I might probably sleep with my sisters or just on the floor."

"That doesn't sound comfortable." I said.

"It doesn't matter." she said, "now, pants or no?"

"We can share your bed, it's big enough for the both of us." I felt Simone tense from beside me.

"I could hit you in my sleep or hurt you, you know. Not good for the stitches." she said.

"Trust me," I chuckled, "that is nothing compared to a lot of things I have endured."

She huffed then, clearly beginning to tire from helping hold me up.

"I'm keeping the pants." I said as I let her help me into bed, unable to ignore the burning in my side anymore. "well?" I said to her when she stood back and waited for me to get comfortable.

i watched her chew her lip for a moment then she took off her boots and walked away to get changed into a pair of shorts and a loose tee.

"I'm only agreeing to this because it's the most suitable course of action." she said as she slid down into the bed next to me, but at a very respectable distance, using her hands as a pillow.

"Yeah, don't get your panties in a twist, I want to sleep more than anything." I said.

She chuckled a little then her shoulders dropped, no longer holding back as much tension.

"What should we call you?" she asked.

"Levi." I said.

"Ok." she said as she yawned and began to drift off into sleep. "goodnight. Bathroom is down the hall and don't hesitate to wake me if you need anything."

"Night." I said.

It was like she was capable of staying awake for only a minute before she went flat in her bed. I observed the room silently, noticing that the window above the bed was slightly open and a warm breeze was blowing in.

I watched Simone sleep for a while, her lips parting slightly as she went off to dream about what ever it was she was thinking about. I finally succumbed to my own darkness as the pain meds kicked in.

I remember being asleep for a few hours, when i was suddenly woken by Simone gasping for air. My eyes snapped open, I was a very light sleeper. I had turned away from her in my sleep so I had to peer over my shoulder to see if she was ok or needed anything.

Simone was frozen in foetal position as she gripped the sheets and gasped for air, trapped in a nightmare. Her skin glistened with sweat and her face was contorted into one of panic and terror.

Her breathing shallowed and sped up as she tried to fight her demons, her skin shining with more sweat despite the breeze blowing in from the window.

Simone remained trapped in her nightmare for three more minutes when I was considering waking her, but I was concerned I would freak her out even more. I was thinking about turning around to wake her when her eyes snapped open and she inhaled deeply for air, one hand coming up to rub her neck as tears streamed down her face.

She didn't seem to notice me awake, and i didn't want her to, so I went back to pretending I was asleep. I felt Simone sit up and probably wipe her face as she tried to get herself to calm down, signalling that this wasn't a first for her.

That was probably the reason she felt so unsure of sharing a bed with me, she had nightmares. She then seemed to remember I was in bed with her, so she called out to me gently, likely checking if I was awake. I didn't responded and she sighed in relief.

"Didn't wake him." she muttered.

With that out of the way, she got out of bed then went down the hallway. I heard her open a door then I realised she was checking on her sisters. She remained there for a while before coming back to bed.

I lay in silence for a while as I listened to her try to get back to sleep. She finally groaned in defeat then got out of bed and began pacing. I turned to face her so I could see what she was doing. She froze for a while, but didn't notice my half open eyes in the darkness and went right back to pacing.

She then sat down at the small desk in the corner and began to read a text book. why? I thought about it and managed to piece it together. Simone wasn't rich, at all. Why else would she be at the market in the middle of the day instead of at a class or lecture?

She was probably struggling to fend for her siblings, hence she had to drop out of school because it was too expensive and also why she had to become a street vendor.

I knew i could easily just walk out of her life in the next few hours and get back to my own comfortable one, but something nagged at me to stay. I'm not sure why or what it was, but it felt right. I couldn't just leave Simone in all this pressure after she so clearly went out of her way to help me.

I wasn't feeling indebted to her, it was her choice to help, I was staying for my own reasons, reasons I was yet to decipher.