Anamnesis: A Girl's Resilience

Chapter 3

Wren's eyes widened in surprise and she felt a jolt as whoever had grabbed her, yanked her behind the bus shelter.

Panic began to rise and she started to try and squirm her way out of their gasp.

They let out a grunt and their grip around Wren began to loosen.

"Wren—" the voice muffled as they struggled to form words. They breathed heavily and after only a few seconds the grip around Wren was released.

She turned around to reveal a man who had a familiar hoodie, a mask over his mouth, and a baseball cap and let out one of the hugest sighs of relieve she had ever released.

She recognized the furrowed brows and the eyes almost immediately. He was a bit frail, and seemed to have weakened drastically and his face burned the same red as she had left him.

"Those..." he breathed shakily. "Aren't the type of..." he put his hand up to his head in pain.

Wren looked back at the three men who had been bantering. The man who had pulled out his cigarette, hadn't spotted her.

"... people we should be seeing," he struggled to let out the rest of the sentence. "Why are you—" he began but was shortly interrupted by bouts of dizziness and the loud roar of the bus pulling up to the station.

Wren looked at Damien and then looked at the bus and she began to shift.

"Are you stupid...?" He let out as he weakly grabbed her shoulder.

"I..." she trailed off. He was moving... Did that mean he got a little better?

"We need to... go..."

She contemplated for a second before realizing it was probably best to listen to Damien.

As the bus doors opened, with a large gust of air, two other men slowly stepped down, and seemingly reunited with the three that had been bickering. Both of them didn't have caps or jackets, but rather were dressed for a pool party. The one to the left wore sunglasses, and an opened button-up shirt. The other wore a tank top, some long swim trunks, and looked as though he was already tired of the situation.

Wren turned her attention back to Damien who had let go of her shoulder and was teetering and struggling to keep his balance.

"Are you ok," she whispered as she quickly held him steady.

"I'm fine," he said under his breath and brushed Wren's hands off his shoulder. "Leave... need to leave..."

"The medicine..."

"Medicine... for what," he uttered.

She paused. "Um, you."

He halted at the words she had voiced.

"I'm... fine. Don't. Put us in danger for me." He coughed

"But—"

Damien shook his head again, too exhausted to form more words. He beckoned for Wren to come as he used the wall to help him walk steadily.

As she began shifting towards him she felt something around her wrist. She turned and was met with one of the men.

He gave her a kind smile, "Are you all okay?"

The man had taken off his hat and his bouncy light brown curls sat messily on his head. The rest of the men who had previously seemed to have been arguing had quieted down and began to shift their attention on the situation.

Wren glanced at Damien and then back at the man and opened her mouth in attempt to answer but was interrupted:

"We're fine," Damien responded in a hoarse voice as he made his way back towards Wren.