Ruben or August

Chapter 5

He convinced me to climb back into his car. I wasn't reassured and it didn't help when he said that the trip was going to last half an hour. At first, I had closed my eyes and concentrated on the song lyrics. We had stopped a few times for me to get out and breathe, and each time he hadn't said anything.

A few minutes before we had gotten to our destination, I had found the courage to open my eyes and look out of the window. We must have driven away from Brighton and we seemed to be heading further into land. I didn't recognize the scenery's, but I didn't do long journeys in a car anyway.

'We're nearly here.' He said getting off the main road. I didn't answer or say anything and just looked at the road. He drove really well and it was smooth too. I liked his driving and it made me feel at ease. He parked the car on the side of the road and got out. I unbuckled my seatbelt, and followed him. It was dark now and I felt worried to as where we were. I then started to panic, following a stranger maybe wasn't the best of ideas I thought.

I slowly followed him and mentally slapped myself when I realised that maybe I should have watched action films so that I could have ideas to defend myself in case he had bought me here to kill me.

'Look.' He said pulling me out of my thoughts. He was pointing towards a little sandy bay next to the river where we could sit. He jumped down the few rocks and landed on the sand. He then held out a hand for me to catch, but he seemed to of had fun jumping so I decided to try.

'Wait!' He shouted. But it was too late to wait and I had already landed when I realised what he said. The way I landed didn't look like the way he had arrived on the sand. I had managed to lose my balance as I had jumped and as a result I had more like dived towards the sand. And my wrist was the first of my body to touch the ground.

'Ow.' I screamed. I quickly held my wrist and tried not to cry at the pain. 'Are you alright?' he said in a panicked tone bending down at my level. He quickly and gently peeled my hand of my wrist and carefully pulled it towards him. 'No... don't touch...me...please.' I said through gritted teeth due to the pain. 'I need to have a look Elie.' He said firmly. I shook my head no and I could feel the tears pour down my face. The excruciating pain coming from my wrist was making me feel sick to my stomach and I was feeling angry. If I hadn't of followed him, then all of this wouldn't have happened I thought.

'I think it may be broken.' He slowly said. I looked down and I nodded. My wrist had swollen and look a little out of shape. I compared it to my other wrist and sigh thinking about having to go to hospital.

'Here.' He said pulling me up. 'Let me drive you to the hospital.' He said starting to walk me over towards the rocks to climb back up them. 'I'll help you up.' He said climbing up in one go and then handing a hand out for me to catch. 'I... what if I fall.' I said feeling panicked by the whole situation.

The drive to the hospital was silent, Ruben hadn't put the radio on this time and I the only noise breaking the silent were my sobs. Not knowing where the closed hospital in the village we were was, he decided to drive down to Brighton. He had found me some pain relief medicine, but unfortunately it wasn't strong enough for a broken wrist.

'Can... can you stay with me.' I asked in between two sobs. He had just sat me down in the waiting area of the emergency department. 'Of course. I'm here.' He said and then drew me in to a hug. We sat there for a moment until my sobs were gone and until the waiting room was half empty.

'Elie Ware.' Said a nurse standing with what looked like my chart in hands. Ruben slowly helped me to get up and we followed her through. She let me get onto a bed and I closed my eyes feeling overwhelmed. I tried to breathe a couple of times, eight to be exact because that was my favourite and lucky number. I felt a pair of strong hands grab mine, and I knew they were Ruben's. 'I'm sorry...' I whispered my eyes still closed. 'For what?' he asked clearly puzzled. 'I... I ruined our date.' I said.