Saved by a stranger

She walked faster this time. She got to my side before I could run, and raised the knife to stab me, eyes bloodshot.

With the last strength I could muster, I pushed her, screaming, when the knife sliced through my flesh. Staggering, I ran towards the front door. I pushed it open and hurried down the stairs, my bones screaming in pain.

“Stop!” she called out to me, but I didn't stop, even when I knew she was right behind me.

Blood seeped from the wound, and my eyes were almost blurred from pain and fatigue. I was famished, and my stomach rumbled as if to remind me I hadn't had any food yet.

"Stop, you wrench!"

I didn't do as she asked. My feet left tracks in the snow as I ran for dear life. My bones shivered from the pain and the cold. I didn't mind that. All I knew was I needed to get as far away from that house as I could, far from the woman who called herself a mother. 

The house grew smaller as I ran towards the distant lights in the darkness. I could hear her footsteps behind me, growing fainter with each passing moment, but I didn't stop. I only occasionally turned my head to look at her, just to make she wasn't close.

I saw a flicker of light from a distance, and that fuelled my strength. Ignoring my protesting bone, I ran towards it. The nearer I got, the more it became obvious that the light I'd seen was from a cigarette. I should have stopped then, but I didn't. 

Anything or anyone was fucking better than that devil chasing me with a knife. 

A sense of relief washed over me when I got to the car. The moment I got to where the stranger stood, I collapsed in front of them, my strength finally giving out. I tried to speak, but only a weak whisper escaped my lips.

The figure knelt beside me, their face a blur in my fading vision as my eyes closed. I felt their hands on my wound, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"You're going to be okay, I've got you,” the stranger said, his voice so gentle, I wanted to lean into the warmth and forget the pains I had endured all my life. 

I tried to open my eyes, but they felt heavy, like they were weighed down by a rock. I felt myself being lifted, carried, and placed into something soft. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't care.

All I knew was I felt safe with him...

....

I woke up to the beeping of machines and the sterile smell of a hospital. My head was pounding, and my body felt like I had a fight with the Hulk and lived to tell the tale. I tried to sit up, but a wave of pain washed over me, and I fell back onto the pillows. 

A groan escaped my lips, and a nurse hurried into the room, almost as if she heard my cry of pain and knew to rush in at the moment. “Ah, you're awake,” she said, smiling. “How are you feeling?”  She asked gently.

I didn't answer her. Instead, I licked my dry lips, trying to remember what had happened. It was a wrong move because the one I remembered first was my crazy mother with the sharp knife.

I grew cold, looking around frantically, expecting my mother to jump out of wherever she was hiding, with the knife poised to take my life. Gulping, I looked towards the confused nurse. “Where…where am I?” I croaked. My throat hurts, but that was the least of my problems. I needed to know my mum wasn't hiding somewhere, waiting to finish what she started.

Without answering my question immediately, she handed me a glass of water, and I took a grateful sip. “You're in the hospital, sweetie. You were brought here last night. You had a nasty wound, but the doctor says you're going to be okay.” 

I nodded, trying to process everything she just said.

“What about…the person who brought me here?” I knew it was that man, the one who had told me I was safe. It had to be.

“He stepped out to take a smoke,” she said, taking the cup from me so she could return it. “I'll call the doctor. Lie back and relax. Don't move much so you don't open the wound," she instructed.

I frowned.

Was the wound that much?

….

A doctor stepped in with the nurse a few minutes later, and just like the nurse, he practically fawned around me, asking if I was okay and all the general questions I'd read were asked in hospitals. I'd never been to one before. I only went to the pharmacy to get pain relievers. There was no need to go to the hospital. It wasn't as if I could afford it. Mum said hospitals are a waste of money.

After checking on me, the nurse took my vitals before they left. The second the door closed behind them, it opened again. Another nurse walked in with a tray of food, pushing it with a serving cart. 

My stomach rumbled at the delicious smell, and she smiled. “Breakfast is ready, miss,” she said.

She placed the over-bed table and arranged the food for me. I'd always heard that hospital food sucked, but what I was seeing in front of me didn't seem so bad. Not only was the smell heavenly, but it looked delicious. For the first time in my life, I got a full chicken leg and a wing. Then there were pancakes dripped with syrup. The bacon was just perfect, and the chips were fried to perfection. 

I salivated at the sight, gobbling the food up with my eyes.

“I didn't know whether you were a coffee or juice person, so I didn't bring any drink. Which would you like?”

“Juice, please.”