Survival

17. Head Over Heels

"Sorry kid, you're gonna have to get moving."

That gruff voice wasn't familiar, but the phrase was and so was the tone. Liam cracked his eyes open, though it felt like they were frozen shut. The bare early-morning light burned his eyes, even as watery as it was. His joints creaked and protested as he sat upright, watching the police officer move away, making his rounds to make sure everything was as should be.

Liam's clothes were still damp, and clung to his skin uncomfortably. At least the ever-strengthening light of day would soon warm him up. Stretching, he got to his feet. He could see his breath in the filtered morning light, thanks to the lack of cloud cover keeping the warmth in.

Liam looked around at the park, taking in the dull green of the trees speckled with dew from the moist early hours of the day. The sun was just rising, and that meant that it was time for him to go, or risk judgmental stares and whispers or harassment from kids his age that were... more privileged than he.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice the girl jogging down the pathway he was standing in the middle of. She too, did not see him, entranced in her running and the sound of music in her ears.

So, when she collided with him, he didn't have the foresight or strength to hold them both up, and instead, they tumbled to the ground. Liam's back connected with the ground, forcing the air out of his lungs. His head hit the floor with a dull smack. To make matters worse, the girl landed right on top of him, crushing his chest and making it impossible to gather lost oxygen.

She scrambled to her feet, yanking her earphones out of her ears hurriedly. "I'm so sorry!"

Liam sucked in a deep breath, almost too tired to get up.

She offered her hand to him, surprisingly. Staring at her hand, he waited for her to realize how unkempt he looked, to remove the offer. The red headed girl didn't, she only stared expectantly at him, concern shining in her eyes and embarrassment coloring her cheeks. Startled, he took her hand and got to his feet.

"It's alright," he reassured.

An awkward silence ensued when she didn't let go of his hand. "You're so cold," she finally said.

Liam smiled and pried his hand from hers. "Kind of happens when you sleep on a park bench."

She frowned then. "Why would you-" The girl bit her tongue, pursing her lips. "I'm sorry," she offered instead.

Liam was impressed that she cut herself off to spare him the whole story. He shrugged; no longer worried about the pity some people seemed to regard him with.

"I'm Lea," she supplied sheepishly.

That was what surprised Liam, the fact that she treated him with any sort of normalcy. "Liam," he replied, albeit hesitantly.

Lea glanced at her watch anxiously. "I have to go," she said.

Liam nodded, wondering why she seemed to be waiting for his permission to leave. Highly polite, she was, it was definitely a trait not many people had shown, at least towards Liam. "Sure."

"See you later?" She persisted.

Liam could feel the confusion mounted clearly on his face. "Uh, well, I'm always around somewhere," he supplied, for lack of anything else to say.

As she walked away, Liam felt human, for once. Who else had treated him as remotely nice as her? No one.

God, Liam missed the days where he had real friends, and a real family, he even missed school. Now, he couldn't even see past the memories of Stephanie's wild eyes, her father's yells for his children, the shots that had followed her as she led the danger away from Alexei and him.