Vulnerable

One

"Thank you Juan."

She stuffed a hard candy and a ten dollarbill into his hand.

He looked at them and shook his head.

"Mamma say that good deed need not be rewarded."

He gave her back the hard candy.

"Give to flying man , to make him feel better."

Juan then turned to her and held out the money to her.

"I give you, you make flying man better?"

She tried protesting but he simply waved it at her angrily. She gingerly took it and put it in her front apron to satisfy him. He ran back to his mother and they walked together to find a space closer to the door.

She looked back at the woman who now moved aside. She had been sitting in front of a bloodied man. She gasped when she saw him. Dry blood crusted on the edge of his face and was littered with cuts. His nose was slightly skew and dripping blood. His one eye was bruised blue and his upper lip was split. Purple spots on his neck disappeared under a blanket that the woman had thrown over him.

She knelt down and lifted up the blanket. Beside her the woman tensed. The blue of the shirt he wore was torn and there appeared to be a deep cut under his ribs. His abdomen was bruised badly. She put the blanket back down. From the looks of things he was well built, strong and unconscious. She lightly tapped him on his cheek but got no response. She took his wrist into her small hands but could feel no pulse. Her fingers she placed on his neck. She found a faint and soft beat. She sighed in relief.

But there was something wrong with his breathing. She moved to remove the blanket from his chest when the woman pulled the blanket up higher.
She looked annoyed and frightened.

"Please." The woman said " Not here."

She looked at the long corridor back to her room, at the man and then the woman. In her experience strong and well built meant heavy. She was aware that the woman was watching her every move and wished to but in but she simply ignored her until now.
Heavy meant that he was going to be hard to move. And she wasn't sure if he was going to survive the trip down the corridor of he had to walk on his own.

She couldn't pull him up and support from under his arm because from the odd angle his shoulder fell against the wall, she guessed that it was dislocated. The only options were to either treat him in the hallway or to carry him without disturbing his arm. She did not look forward to operating on a man in a corridor.

The woman seeming to understand what she was thinking. "I'll help in any way I can."

She nodded and turning her head whistled to her guard. She pointed to the blanket and he whistled back. She came to her feet as he disappeared into the doorway and started walking to collect the blankets. As the guard came out again Juan walked up to him and held out his arms. The guard looked at her and she nodded her head. Juan ran back to her and handed her the blankets a wide smile plastered across his face. She wondered why he was so eager to help this "Flying man". She managed a small smile back.

He ran back to his mother and they walked together to find a space closer to the door. She made a note to check up on them later. Turning around, she made her way back to the lady.

Or she would have, was it not for the stranger that blocked her path. Were it not for the fact that she knew him, she would have pulled out the scissors she stashed in her apron at the sight of him. He was tall and broadshouldered, nearly as much so as the flying man. His dark hair was slightly graying at the temples and a small scar running along the edge of his lip gave him the appearance of a man whom had experienced a lot. Much had changed since she last saw him in person. His eyes, however, resonated the same pain he felt when they first met.