(warning: still talking about injuries)
When Nancy had finally become stable enough to walk, she went outside to check on her neighbors, assuming they had experienced the same tremors.
Opening the front door, she was shocked to see a young stranger with pinkish-ginger hair and colorful - although somewhat odd - clothes sitting on their knees in a pile of glass surrounded by several demolished TV's. They were sobbing and looked badly burned, bruised, and cut.
Nobody else had come outside yet, and Nancy could see very clearly that this person was not in good shape. So, she did the only thing she could think of.
"Um, excuse me." She started. "Are you... Are you okay?"
The stranger flinched, but they did not answer and did not look up. In fact, they shrunk lower, pulling their arms in and resting their head on the glass-covered ground in front of them.
Nancy fidgeted with her sleeves and stepped a little closer. Nancy had no clue who this was or what happened to them, and yet, she felt compelled to help. "I'm not sure what happened, but it seemed like there was an earthquake or something of the sort. It was pretty jarring, but... it looks like something worse happened to you? I'm sorry, I'm just not sure what I should say..."
Still no response.
I can't believe I'm doing this. She thought. This is a complete stranger. I shouldn't. But they need help. It'll be okay. Hopefully.
"Would you like to come inside for a bit? You look really hurt and maybe my husband and I can help you. Maybe you'd like to talk about what happened? We can call someone for you if you'd like. I just don't think it's a good idea to stay on the road here, especially with all of this broken glass everywhere. You'll get more hurt."
The young stranger slowly lifted their head to glance at her. They had relatively heavy eye makeup that would have distracted from the circles under their eyes had it not been messed up from their crying. Their hair had clearly been done up nicely, but was disheveled after whatever those tremors had done to them. Worst, though, was the blood that was running down their face from their forehead.
Nancy ran the rest of the distance to the stranger. "Oh dear! You're bleeding a lot. I really think you should come inside, we can help you stop the bleeding and call someone to come help you after," she said, offering her hand
The stranger dropped their head again, mumbling something, but it was too quiet for Nancy to hear. Slowly, still looking down, they sat up.
"Okay..." They whispered, taking her hand and standing up, not bothering to brush off the glass on their legs and arms and still refusing to look at her again.
Warily, Nancy turned to lead them back to her house.
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It's A Temporary Title, Okay?
FanfictionWARNING: INFREQUENT UPDATES Kennith's little project didn't go quite as planned. Now he's found himself at the front door of a lovely couple facing a lot of tension. Maybe he'll find what he needs in them, and maybe they'll do the same with him. THE...
