Picture of Jagger on the side-->

Two

          Have you ever seen an action movie where a fight scene happens so quickly that you don’t understand what’s happening until it’s over? That’s how I feel right now, expect I’m not watching a movie, in fact I can’t even remember a movie I’ve seen before.

            Two bodies hit the ground with a thump in front of me. It’s the woman and the tall man. The girl with the broken ankle is hobbling towards me, going at a snail’s pace while the other man is going for the school doors.

            As soon as my instincts kick in, I’m on my feet and moving backwards.

            “Use your gun!” Someone shouts. “Shoot her!”

            My eyes move towards the double doors only to find a teenage boy standing there. He’s reloading his gun as the man moves towards him quickly, but he doesn’t look worried.

            “Don’t just fucking stand there!” He screams. “Shoot her!”

            My hands shake as I grip the shotgun. My mouth feels too dry and my legs feel like they might fail me and collapse.  I swallow, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. I hold my breath as I raise the gun towards the woman.

            The boy continues to yell at me, struggling with his gun. Bullet barks defensively from the side of the girl, but she doesn’t even flinch. My blood starts to pound in my ears but it doesn’t block anything out, it only makes the noises worse.

            “Shoot her!”

            I don’t think. I just pull the trigger. There’s a loud bang, the gun threatens to recoil in my hands. I move in a way like I’ve shot a gun and it doesn’t throw me back. The girl groans, but it’s nothing compared to the scream I expected. Before I can question why she isn’t crying out, my ears are ringing.

            There’s another gun shot and then footsteps. I can’t move. The shotgun rolls out of my hands and I fall onto my knees. Just as the girl reaches for me, there’s another bang and then she falls to the ground, a small hole in the back of her head.

            “Come on, get up,” the boy snaps, hurrying towards me. Bullet quickly runs in front of him, protecting me but the boy shoves him away. I don’t feel like I can move. In fact, I feel like I might pass out. I just shot someone. But I didn’t kill her; the boy did. But I still shot her.

            The boy puts his own gun in his holster and grabs the shotgun with his now free hand. He reaches down for me and takes mine in his. I feel small, like a child as he helps me to his feet. His brown hair falls in his face as he helps me and when I’m up, he doesn’t let go of my hand.

            “This can’t be happening,” I whisper to myself. The boy starts tugging me towards the school doors, wanting to move faster but my feet can barely move the right way. “This can’t be happening.” He’s a head taller than me at least, probably more. Bullet barks at him but doesn’t attack. Eventually he stops when he realizes that the boy is helping me rather than hurting, but Bullet still stays as close to my side as possible.

            “Hurry up before more of them come.”

            More of them? There are more of those crazy people out there trying to attack us? What the heck is going on?

            When we reach the school doors they’re thrown open before the boy can even reach for them. I don’t have time to see whose inside before someone grabs the chest part of my white dress and yanks me inside. Everything is dark. My hand slips from the boy’s and fear starts to work its way back inside me. I feel Bullet pressed to my side but losing my sight makes the gesture less comforting.

            “What the hell were you thinking, Jagger?” A male voice yells.

            “Yeah,” a girl says, her voice practically spitting the words. “You risked your safety and ours!”

            “What happened?”

            “Did Jagger get her?”

            “What an idiot!”

            All the voices blur together and I can’t take it anymore. I cover my ears and try to get my eyes to adjust to the dark. When they don’t, I clench my teeth together and sink to the floor, trying to get away from the constant yelling. I feel Bullet lick my cheek and press his head into my neck, reassuring me that everything is okay.

            “Where did she go?” Someone yells, worry in his voice.

            “She was right here!”

            “Get the light!”

            Abruptly there’s a small beam of light, creating a circle on the brown floor. It searches until it finally hits my pale knees and shines in my eyes.

            “There she is.”

            I cover my eyes, my hands trembling in front of my face. The person holding the flashlight charges towards me, not taking the light away from my eyes. His firm hand grabs my upper arm and he roughly yanks me to my feet, not caring when I lose my balance.

            “How the hell did you find us here?” He spits, his worry turning into anger. I open my mouth to speak but no words come out. Not only do I not know what to say, but I feel like I can’t breathe; that the words are choking me. “Well? Tell me!” He shouts. Again, when I don’t say anything, he grunts. He squeezes his grip on my arm tighter and starts to shake me, as if it will shake an answer out of my lips. “How did you know to come here? Did you lead them here? Tell me!”

            “Cole, stop,” someone snaps. Cole stops shaking me but doesn’t drop his hand. “Just give her time to calm down. When I grabbed her she was shivering. She’s probably still in shock.”

            “It doesn’t matter,” Cole responds, his voice lower.

            “We need to know, Jagger,” the girl adds. I still can’t see anyone, but they all can see me from the light.

            “Just give her time to calm down.” When no one moves, I hear who I presume to be Jagger step towards us. “Cole.”

            Cole sighs agitatedly. “Fine.” He drops my arm and steps away from me.

            “The light.”

            Cole mutters something offensive under his breath and moves the flashlight beam to my feet, rather than directly in my face. As soon as the spots go away, I can barely see the three other people standing in the room.

            Cole is only half a head taller than me and has blonde, short hair. It looks like it could hang in his eyes, the way I remember Jagger’s had, but he keeps it pushed as far away from his face as possible. His skin looks tan, at least in this light and he looks strong, like he works out a lot.

            The girl, whom I still have no name for, doesn’t look much taller than me. I’m guessing I’m about 5’1 and she looks like 5’3 might be a stretch. She has dark hair, possibly black, that’s naturally curling over her shoulders. Her face is round and her eyes are big, kind of making her like one of those anime dolls.

            I can’t see what Jagger looks like, no matter how hard I try to see in the darkness. He stands just outside where the light reaches. His arms are folded across his grey t-shirt and I feel his eyes staring at me, even though I can’t see them.

            “Go tell the others that everything is fine,” Jagger orders to Cole and the girl. “I’ll take care of her and we’ll meet you in the gym. Good?”

            “Good,” the girl and Cole reply in unison. Cole sounds more than slightly pissed. He hands Jagger the light but he shakes his head no, not wanting it. Once it’s clicked off and the footsteps fade away, Jagger finally moves.

            “Are you coming?”

            I look around, speechless. Coming where? I can’t see anything; not even my own two feet. The only thing I can hear is Bullet panting beside me, his warm breath tickling my hand.

            “Well?”

            “I can’t see,” I tell him honestly. My voice comes out a whisper and I feel like I can finally breathe again.

            “I guess that’s too bad.”

            I hear him walk away and I’m too scared to call for him to wait. What if there are more crazy people out there and they try to attack me? Or worse: what if Cole comes back?

            Bullet nudges my hand until I dig my fingers into the fur on his neck. Once I have a good grip, he starts walking and I trail behind him. Everything about this seems familiar, though I can’t remember why.

            As soon as we’re out of whatever room I was in before, I can now see. Light streaks in through the windows lining a hallway and Jagger waits for me, leaning against the brick. His arms are still crossed and he’s scowling at me. After a moment of looking me over and making my cheeks go pink, I realizing that he’s actually glaring at my right knee and not me.

            “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

            This time he waits for me to follow him, if only for a second. He leads me down a few hallways before he enters the girl’s washroom. He holds the door open for me and lets me through, but once I’m in, he lets it slam without letting Bullet inside.

            “What about him?” I ask worriedly. Despite Bullet only being a dog, I felt like I needed him around me at all times.

            “He can wait.”

            Jagger gestures for me to get up on the marble counter but I honestly don’t think I can. For one, I’m wearing a dress and for two, my limbs ache with the thought of it. Sighing, he moves towards me, his hands reaching for me. Instantly I flinch back, away from him. All I see is the woman, her mouth wide open to show her teeth as she reached for me.

            “Up you go,” he says, grabbing my waist. Before I can protest, he swiftly lifts me up and onto the counter. I quickly adjust my dress as he lets go of me and starts running the sink to my left. “Just going to clean your cut.”

            I have a cut? He cups his hands full of water and moves to my leg. Without warning, he drops the cold water on my skin and starts to wash away the dirt from my knee. It stings, but only slightly. When he’s done, he heads into one of the bathroom stalls and grabs toilet paper. As he wraps my knee in it, I watch him.

            His eyes are blue, but not the usual kind. They remind me of the ocean but there’s so much brown in them that up close they don’t look the same way they did at a distance. He chews his bottom lip as he wraps my knee, as if he’s concentrating. When he’s done, he exhales quietly and straightens out.

            “Anything else hurt?”

            I don’t know what to tell him. But before I can decide, he’s looking over my shoulder and into the mirror. Out of nowhere, he’s leaning towards me, as if he’s going to kiss me. My breath catches and then the moments over. Instead of coming towards me, he leans his head over my shoulder. I can feel his breath on my neck and his fingers in my hair as he starts to examine the back of my head.

            “I think I fell,” I murmur, looking down at my lap.

            “You didn’t hit your head when you fell outside just then,” he says, moving back in front of me. He watches me, his eyes narrowed like he’s trying to figure me out. “How did you hit your head?”

            “I think I fell,” I repeat.

            “You think?” I nod and Jagger shakes his head in frustration. “I have no idea how you managed to get here with such a head injury, but we’ll deal with that later. First we need to get you a bandage.”

            I don’t respond as he stares at me. His eyes look me over again and I feel myself grow embarrassed. Still looking down, I don’t see him move towards me. Suddenly his hands are around my waist and he’s placing me on my feet. As soon as he grabbed me, he lets me go. He moves past and holds the door to the bathroom open for me.

            “Sorry,” I mumble to a whining Bullet. He presses against my side as we follow Jagger down the hall.

            He takes me into an empty classroom and retrieves a first aid kit. He seats me in a chair and drags one in front of me. He sits in it and reaches for my head to start wrapping gauze around it.

            “What’s your name?” Jagger asks, his eyes flickering to mine before moving back to what he’s doing. I open my mouth to respond but close it, looking down. “You don’t want to tell me?”

            “No,” I reply, my voice quiet. “That’s not it.”

            “Then what’s so difficult about giving me a name?”

            “It’s kind of hard when you don’t exactly know what it is,” I whisper.

            Jagger pauses, his hands freezing around the back of my head. If circumstances were different, he would look like we he was going to hug me. His chocolate-blue eyes meet mine and he stares at me for a long time.

            “You don’t know your name.” It’s not a question, but a frustrated statement. “How does someone not know their own name?”

            “I told you I fell.”

            He grunts in annoyance before moving his hands again. He moves the gauze around my forehead and lifts up my bangs so they don’t get wrapped in it. Lightly, he presses his fingers on back of my head and I wince.

            “Does this hurt?”

            “No, it feels like sunshine and rainbows,” I mutter, glaring at him. For a moment, a smile creeps its way onto his lips and then it’s gone.

            “For someone who claims she can’t remember her name, you sure remember your attitude.”

            I try to come up with a clever remark but end up empty-handed. Bullet rests his chin on my knee until Jagger is finished. Once he’s given me a one-over, he stands up and heads for the door.

            “Well, I guess it’s time to introduce you to the others.” I stand up but don’t move as he stops at the door, waiting for me. “What? Are you scared?”

            “No,” I lie.

            “That’s good.” Jagger grins. “Because you will be.”