Enraged

She ran tepid water into the tub, trying to keep from staring. Even after the hell he must have gone through, his body was stomach-tightening. Dipping the washcloth into the water, she ran it lightly over his shoulder. The water had already turned pink, and blood and bruises covered almost every inch of his body. She followed the line of his head down to his shoulder, grazing the cloth over a particularly nauseas cut. His breathing remained steady but shallow. A deep cut had been made on the top of his pelvic bone; it had been stitched up, but most of them had fallen out. That would have to be cleaned up. She swallowed hard as she surveyed his body. He didn’t look older than she was. The water needed changing, and Nya reached under the motionless body to remove the stopper. Her fingers grazed over his lower back, and she froze as his body tensed. What would he say if he woke up and found himself naked in a bathtub with a strange woman reaching for his ass? He didn’t move, and she continued, searching numbly for the tip of the rubber stopper.

A couple of years ago, when she was leaving from her parents’ funeral, her brother rubbing her shoulders mechanically, she found an injured puppy on the side of the road. Her brother said to let it be, that it probably had rabies, but she couldn’t help but try and save it. Maybe it was the woman in her, or maybe it was the emotional edge that hadn’t worn itself out from watching her parents glide into death, either way, the sight of the puppy wheezing for breath made her feel guilty. That’s the way she felt as she watched the water swirl out from the tub. He was helpless, but she knew at some time, he had been powerful. He wasn’t muscular, but rather small, lithe and pale. Yet, there was a certain power that surrounded him. As much as it sounded like a cheap movie trick, his body almost glowed with strength, even injured as he was. The water filled the tub once more, and she strained, trying to roll him on his side. He was halfway there, Nya standing up, bracing her feet against the side of the tub, when she gasped and let him thump harshly back. There was blood covering not only his back, but lower too. Oh God, what did they do to you? A hand flung out of the tub and snapped around her wrist, his grip surprisingly tight. She stumbled around her words like a child learning how to ice skate.

“You in the alley, and were hurt and Joe said a blue hat something.” She knew she made absolutely no sense, and if he wasn’t in so much pain, he probably would have had her committed. As it was, he let go of her wrist and eased back into the water with a deep grimace. His eyes rolled slightly, and she regained the use of her coherent tongue.

“I found you in an alley. You were hurt, and I took you up here to help you.” He didn’t seem to hear her but mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

“What?”

With obvious effort, he rolled his head to the side and stared at her. “I’ll hurt you.” She was surprised and didn’t quite know what to say. She picked up the cloth again and started cleaning his chest. He was drifting back into unconsciousness and growled pathetically as she brushed over the deep incision on his stomach. “I’ll kill you. Just leave me be.” It didn’t sound like a threat, more like a fact, and then, he was gone, somewhere in the tunnels of his mind, thinking who knows what. She actually thought about doing what he said, just dragging him back out to the alley, maybe covering him with a bathrobe and leaving him there till someone found him and called the police. The police, what would they do to him if they found him again? She doubted he would survive another beating. Besides, there was something about him. She believed that he would hurt her if given the chance, but that puppy drifted into her mind and there was no way she could leave him like this, even if he did have rabies.