My Monster *On Hold

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Bye Livia, have a nice day!" my boss, Tom called after me. My name, as you have probably figured out, is Livia. My father was a history professor, and that was one of his favorite names. My mom liked it because Livia was a minor character in Romeo and Juliet. She always had a thing for the classics. A sad smile took over my expression as I thought of my parents. They had died in a car crash two years earlier, leaving my younger brother and I to fend for ourselves. I was lucky that I had turned eighteen only a short month before that dreadful day, or else my brother and I would have been put in foster care. We didn't have any other relatives, at least none worth mentioning. So there I was, on my way home from my job at the local bakery. The owners, Tom and Patricia, were an elderly couple and two of the sweetest people I had ever met. They gave us any extra pastries that didn't get sold during the course of the day. Today, being a slow day, I had a bag full of little odds and ends. One of which was my brother Jacob's favorite, chocolate eclairs.

The bakery was only a few blocks away from our little, run down, apartment, but I was running late and decided to take the back streets to get back a little sooner. That isn't always a smart thing to do, especially when you live in New York, but we lived in one of the safer neighborhoods. So I didn't think much about it.

While I was walking, I heard some groans. They were deep and hoarse. The man who was making these noises came into view within a minute or so. He was clutching his bleeding side, his face contorted in agony. I was never one who was able to stand by and leave another living creature in pain, and he seemed to be in a lot of it.

As I got nearer, the man became clearer. He was leaning up against the ally wall. His hand was covering a wound on his side which was bleeding profusely. "Oh dear," I gasped. "We really need to get you to a hospital or something. Wait just a second and I'll call an ambulance."

"No!" the man rasped, "No, there isn't enough time."

"Okay," I replied in a shaky voice, "Come on. You can come to my apartment, and I'll see what I can do." I was never good at thinking during tricky situations, and right now I was panicking. All I knew was that I had to try to help this man. He gave a curt nod. "Can you walk?" I questioned.

"Probably not on my own," he admitted before emitting a loud groan. Action had to be taken fast, so I slung the man's arm over my shoulder, supporting most of his weight. He was heavy, but years of hard work and picking up Jacob had made me gain some muscles.

"Come on," I said hurrying toward my apartment as fast I could with the extra weight. "My apartment is just around this corner," I said. We reached my apartment and I hurriedly unlock the door, thanking God that it was on the first floor. Jacob was there to greet me with a smile which faltered when he saw the man who was with me.

"Who is that, sissy?" he asked in his six year old voice.

"Someone who needs our help," I replied laying the man on our small couch. "Jake go get the first aid kit." I reached out to the man saying, "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt so I can get a better look at it." He took of his bloody shirt groaning at the effort of it. The man had a bullet wound, and it didn't look good. It was just above his hip, and it appeared that the bullet had gone all the way through him. If my memory was correct from my Human Anatomy class, it probably hadn't punctured any organs.

Jake was back now with the first aid kit. I started by disinfecting the injury with rubbing alcohol. The man hissed in pain, and I looked at him with sympathy. Getting a better look at the wound, I concluded that it would need stitching. I relayed this information to the man, and told Jake to get our wooden spoon and a glass of water. He came back quickly with the things I needed. I had the man take a pain killer and then placed the handle of the wooden spoon horizontally in his mouth. I had learned some basic medical skills from my mother who had been a nurse. The spoon was there for him to bite down on, so he wouldn't bite off his tongue.

I started sewing up the man's wounds and noticed him wince. When I was done, I wrapped a bandage around his waist. It seemed that he had gone unconscious sometime during this process because when I finished his eyes were closed, the spoon had fallen out of his mouth, and his breathing was slow and even. I sighed. That was a very stressful situation. I got up and stretched, leaving the man to sleep. Jake was probably starving and I was pretty hungry myself, so I made some turkey sandwiches, three to be exact. I figured the man on our couch would probably want something to eat when he woke up. I called to Jake when the sandwiches were ready and he wolfed his down. I ate mine fairly quickly as well wanting to check up on the stranger in our living room. "Okay Jake. Time for bed," I told him once we cleaned the used dishes. Jake nodded and hurried off to his room with me following closely behind. I helped him change into his race car pajamas and tucked him into bed.

I made my way to the living room and placed my hand on the man's forehead , checking for a fever. Luckily, he didn't have one. My gaze wandered to the stranger's face, and for the first time I was able to get a good look at him. He had a deep tan which suggested many hours spent in the sun. His hair was the darkest black and curls framed his face which was absolutely perfect. He had a perfectly straight nose and full pink lips surrounded by stubble which traveled down his chin. I glanced at his eyes which were flickering open. They were a pale silver which greatly contrasted against the rest of his dark features.

Get yourself together Livia, I thought to myself. He's just a man. An extremely attractive man who happens to be laying on your couch with a bullet wound in his side. The day had really taken an unexpected turn. I was snapped out of my thoughts when the man tried to get up. I pushed him back down as gently as I could and said, "I'm sorry, but you should really get some rest. You don't want to open those stitches back up. I noticed that his shirt was still off and that I was currently pushing down on his sculpted chest. I quickly retracted my hands as I felt a blush make its way up my cheeks. " I'll go see if I can find you a shirt to wear," I mumbled. As an after thought I added, "Please don't get up." The man nodded and the corner of his mouth twitched a bit.

I crept to the small closet containing the few articles that Jake and I had kept to remind us of our parents. "Here it is," I whispered to myself as I found a shirt that had belonged to our father. Tears threatened to make an appearance as I began to think of my dad. I pushed them back and focused my attention to getting back to the man on the couch. When I reached him I handed the shirt to him saying, "You can wear this while your shirt is being washed."

He shrugged the shirt on and finally spoke, "What's your name?"

"Livia," I answered. "Yours?"

He looked at me like he was assessing something, "Titus, Titus Steele." He continued to stare at me as if he was waiting for something.

"That's quite a name. I'm sorry, I should have asked sooner. Are you hungry or thirsty?"

Titus' eyes widened a fraction as if he was surprised about something, "Sure. Could I have some water?"

I nodded and gave him a smile, trying to get him to relax a bit, "What about something to eat? We don't have too much, but I'm sure I can whip something up."

"Whatever you have is fine."

I headed to the kitchen and poured some nice cold water into a glass. I grabbed the left over turkey sandwich as well before hurrying back to Titus. He ate like he hadn't eaten for years, scarfing down the sandwich and giving a moan of satisfaction, "That was the best sandwich I have had in years."

"I'm glad you liked it," I replied with an embarrassed blush.

"Your name really suits you," he said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Thanks," I mumbled, my blush growing stronger. "You should probably get some more rest. Here's a blanket," I continued, handing him a worn out blanket I had gotten from the closet. He nodded and we said our good nights before I stumbled to my room, lost in thought.

A/N Picture of Livia to the side. The YouTube video is Work Song by Hozier. I listened to that while writing this chapter. What do you think so far?