Tinsley Walker despised running. Yet there she was, as she counted cement square after cement square as she sprinted down a sidewalk in a neighborhood on the richer side of town. A neighborhood that was known for being pretty safe. A neighborhood, where the chances of someone chasing after her were very slim, but still, the voice in her head screamed run faster. She picked up her pace, forcing the pain that was spreading throughout her legs to the back of her thoughts. The wind picked up out of nowhere, whipping her sweaty, dirty blonde semi-loose ponytail into her face, which forced her eyes to close in surprise, her hands frantically flew to move her hair out of her mouth and eyes, but her legs had not quite got the memo to slow down. She ran right smack into a light pole, and then everything went pitch black.
And then Tinsley heard something. A raspy, angelic voice seemed to be calling for her, but only from what felt like miles away. She could not make out what the voice was saying, not matter how hard she tried to. Then the voice stopped and it went radio silent, and then finally the voice came back again. This time around, the voice sounded 10 times closer, and even more angelic than it did the first time. Tinsley had to think twice about whether or not she was being beckoned into heaven by an angel. Just as she was about to decide if she was okay with that or not, she was thrown back into the real world, and reality. All of the sounds of the world hit her at once, as well as a new throbbing pain in her temple.
The voice did not belong to an actual angel, but nonetheless someone with just as good of intentions.
"Hello? Are you okay?!" The woman's voice called out once again. All of Tinsley's senses came back to her in a rush, and she became intensely aware of the irritating, itchy, and ticklish feeling of the blades of grass that poked and scratched at her legs and neck. Her eyes flew open as she shot upwards, only to discover that she had no strength to hold her body up, and began to fall back towards the direction of the pavement. Tinsley closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact. The impact never came. A soft pair of hands caught her before she could cause any more damage to herself, "Woah there, careful now."
Tinsley groaned out in pain, and felt the size of the lump on her forehead with her right hand, and then groaned again, this time at her stupidity. She opened her eyes again and came face to face with a blurry upside-down stranger, who was staring directly into her own chocolate-colored eyes. The only facial features she saw clearly were the woman's striking green eyes. It really did feel like she was seeing an angel.
"Is this heaven?" Tinsley asked, just to check her theory.
"Nope, I don't think so." The green-eyed potential angel in disguise stranger replied.
"And I'm not dead?" Tinsley asked, but it came out more of a statement. She was still trying to make sure she wasn't in heaven. None of it felt truly real.
"Once again, I don't think so." The stranger repeated, but her voice contained no sign of annoyance that Tinsley had practically asked the same question using different words.
"Damn. That's a shame." Tinsley muttered under her breath. She knew that was a dark and twisty response, but it seemed that her filter had left her the second she had run smack into a pole. She attempted to stand to her feet, only to find herself swaying like a drunk sailor, and then she proceeded to crumble right back into the woman's arms. Maybe on another day, Tinsley would have found it romantic to fall right into a woman's arms, but this situation was only feeling more and more embarrassing.
"Oh? And why is that a shame?" The stranger asked, sounding genuinely taken aback, all while she helped stand Tinsley upright. She began to guide Tinsley in the direction of her car, which was in the middle of the street, hazards flashing.
"Because I have a shitty life and no will to live," Tinsley admitted with brutal honesty, surprisingly easily, to her lifesaver, and then simultaneously realized her lifesaver was trying to take her somewhere.
While the warning alarms that blared into her head weren't as loud as they probably should have been, they were present enough to cause Tinsley to question it, "Woah! Stranger Danger! Where are you taking me?"
The woman seemed to still be processing Tinsley's previous blunt response and then finally after a few seconds, responded to Tinsley's sudden concern, "I want to take you to my house to get you some ice for your head, it's only a couple of blocks up the road. You hit your head pretty hard, and I'd rather not leave you alone just yet."
They both stopped and stood silently as Tinsley took a minute and weighed the chances in her head of this woman being a threat to her, and then in the end decided that she really did not care enough. The mystery woman watched her patiently, waiting for Tinsley to answer. Tinsley gave a quick and neutral-toned "Okay", and the woman acknowledged it with a singular nod, and walked Tinsley up to her car.
The mystery woman, without any heads up or warning, let go of Tinsley for a split second, with the intent of opening the passenger side door for Tinsley. She barely managed to open it in time before she had to save a yelping Tinsley, whose legs had given out on her, causing her to twist her left ankle. The woman's arms shot out and grabbed her waist, steadying Tinsley, once again, "Woah there. Are you okay?"
Tinsley nodded, even though her ankle was still feeling the pain of the twist. The woman, with her hands still planted firmly on Tinsley's waist, guided her into the passenger seat, covering Tinsley's head with a hand on the way in so that she wouldn't hit her head. The mystery woman closed Tinsley's door and then made her way over to the other side, getting in quickly and shutting the door. Tinsley attempted to buckle up, but with her vision still pretty blurry, she was having a hard time finding the hole and was beginning to get very frustrated. The woman reached over, put her hand over Tinsley's own, clicked the seatbelt into place, and then put her own seatbelt on.
The car lurched forward, and Tinsley got the sudden urge to giggle like a child, and she acted on that urge. She giggled like a child and then said the first thing that came to her mind, "Riding on the magic school bus."
Tinsley saw the quick flash of blurred motion in her peripheral as the woman's head turned toward her slightly, "Why are you singing that?"
Still, without a filter, Tinsley giggled again and closed her eyes, "I'm singing it because I'm excited because I'm going on a field trip to your house."
If the woman had any reaction of any sort, Tinsley had no idea what it was since the woman said nothing.
A few long minutes later, the car turned left, pulled into a driveway, and lurched to a stop. Tinsley heard the woman put the car in park and heard her get out. She closed her eyes and held her breath in silence, and then her silence was interrupted as the passenger side door opened, a woosh of cool air accompanying it. Tinsley kept her eyes closed and slowed down her breath. This reminded her of when she used to do this as a kid. She would close her eyes and pretend to be asleep so that her mom or dad would carry her inside. That was before everything though, before things changed.
The mystery woman placed her hand on Tinsley's upper arm, and shook gently, "Hey, are you awake?"
When Tinsley didn't respond, the woman, who seemed to believe Tinsley's charade, removed her hand from Tinsley's arm, reached across her body, and unlocked her seatbelt. Tinsley got a whiff of the woman's hair, a warm strawberry smell, one not too fruity, but not too dull at the same time. It smelled so oddly safe and comforting and familiar, but she was having trouble placing it. Her body and her mind were both begging to smell it again, craving that feeling of safety, a feeling she hadn't been experiencing much lately. Tinsley continued to play asleep, as the woman, quite effortlessly, got her out of her seat and into her arms, holding Tinsley the way princes do when they find their princesses in the movies and sweep them off their feet.
The strawberry smell floated back through Tinsley's nostrils, and her whole body relaxed immediately, rendering her to a type of sleep Tinsley wasn't receiving much of these days.
- HEYYYY Y'ALL THIS CHAPTER WAS SUPER LONG SO IM SPLITTING IT INTO TWO CHAPTERS. HOPE YOU GUYS ARE HAVING A GOOD DAY! LOVE - A
CITEȘTI
The Cards We Are Dealt (Scarlett Johansson Fanfic)
DragosteTinsley's cards are shit, but she's going to play them anyway. What else could she possibly have to lose? She already lost her chance at a good childhood, the cards dealt to her stained with memories she's still salty about. She's attempting to surv...
