Acatalepsy; auston matthews

• sixteen •

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Chaos.

The van attack created absolute chaos in the city of Toronto.

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Jessica spent too long processing that the van was driving straight towards her. She wasn't acting fast enough, since she was more confused than anything.

The rough pull of her sweater sleeve and hair brought her out of her daze as she tumbled to the sidewalk. Her sweater sleeve ripped from the friction of landing on the pavement and from the harsh pull on the fabric. Someone fell with her because she felt their leg under her body. Her left side was beat up from the fall.

The van missed by only a couple of inches.

Jessica stared at the sidewalk she had just been walking along; her belongings were scattered across the sidewalk and street, her purse had been run over by the van and was a few feet away. She didn't know where half her purse had ended up.

Her jeans had ripped along her hip from the impact of her fall, her arm was scraped and sweater completely wrecked; but she was alive.

"Are you okay?" The person who made to standup from half underneath her asked. His suit had been wrecked also.

Jessica nodded. "Yeah," The two helped each other stand up. "I think I am- Thank you."

He nodded. "Sorry, I think I grabbed your hair-" He began to apologize and Jessica stopped him.

She hugged the stranger, tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you. Don't apologize, you saved my life."

They stayed like that for a moment, each finally understanding that they both almost died. The gentleman moved to back away. Jessica couldn't help but feel as if she knew him. "Do you need an ambulance?"

Jessica shook her head, "I don't think so. Just scraped my arm bad. Could have been a lot worse. " She shuddered at the thought before she heard someone yelling. "Do I know you?"

"Maybe from another life," his answer was cryptic and Jessica couldn't help but feel as if she knew his eyes. They felt familiar.

"Jessica!" Steve's voice rang through her ears. She recognized a figure running towards her. He stopped when he was a few feet away and stared before looking up at the sky. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Steve? What are doing?" Jessica asked and approached him.

"I'm thanking God for keeping you alive, it was my fault you left the office for lunch and I watched that van plow down the sidewalk. I thought you might have-" Steve shook his head and grabbed Jessica's shoulders . "You're alive. That's what's important." He hugged her and she started to cry.

"Steve you've ruined my makeup," She joked. "I'm only alive because of this man-" Jessica turned to ask suit guy for his name, but he was already gone. "Where did he go?"

"Let's get you to a doctor, your arm is bad," Steve commented. Jessica's left arm was bleeding a little.

Jessica shook her head. "Take me back to my place, I'll bandage it myself and see a doctor is a few days. Let the more serious injuries see a doctor with less wait."