Wreck (open)

Lucas leaned his back against the brick corner at the intersection as he rested on the sidewalk. He enjoyed the feeling of the sun warming his face as it reminded him of happier times back in Florida. A dirty coffee cup sat on the pavement in front of him, a few spare coins inside. He had fished it from a trash bin a block away as he made his way to the corner for his new morning ritual. He used to enjoy a premium coffee every morning but that was in another life. Now, the price of hot java was just too high.

Once or twice an hour, someone would drop some change into the cup and smile at him compassionately, but for the most part it served to keep the people of New York at bay. He never thought he would resort to panhandling but the twisting hunger in his stomach had taught him the true value of pride. He was embarrassed at first and tried to hide his face but after a little while, he started to notice how the majority of people made every effort not to walk near him or even look in his direction. Hiding seemed pretty pointless now so he just sat and enjoyed the sun. Once in a while, someone would try to engage him in a short conversation or offer him a bite to eat. For the most part, he was a ghost, invisible to almost all that passed by.

A female voice to his left managed to cut through the sounds of the morning traffic and found its way to Lucas’ ears.

"What the heck?"

Lazily, the homeless mutant turned his head to find the voice and appease his curiosity. A young woman, only a couple of years older than him he imagined, had just exited the building he was leaning on. She had distinctive curves and silky brown hair which caught Lucas’ eyes and kept his attention past the initial glance. She wore a look of confusion on her face as she discovered something she did not expect on her hip. Lucas couldn’t see what it was from his vantage point as it was on her opposite side from him. The woman seemed to forget the object as quickly as she found it and moved her hand up to her head. . She seemed lost to Lucas. He understood that feeling all too well.

With her hand still on her head, the beautiful woman began to walk forward, seemingly oblivious to where she was going. He watched the woman as she made her way towards the curb and then stepped off into the busy street. A bright yellow Cab with a Broadway show marquee strapped to its roof sped along the lane towards her. It was going too fast. Lucas knew it wouldn’t be able to stop in time. From what he had seen of New York cab drivers, it might not even try.

The restful daze cleared near instantly as adrenaline ignited Lucas’ muscles into action. He rolled forward onto his hands and sprung into a full sprint, knocking his cup over and spilling his earnings into the street as he darted away. A tall businessman in a grey suit walked along between him and his destination, oblivious to anything that wasn’t happening in his blue tooth conversation. Lucas didn’t break stride. He put his shoulder into the man and sent him flying to the ground as he flew towards the woman on the street. He looked up to see the Cab driver’s shocked expression when he realized he was going to hit the woman who had just stepped in front of him. The shock turned to fear as he pounded his foot on the break. A squealing sound roared out from the tires as the cab left a trail of black rubber on the asphalt behind it. Too little, too late. The cab couldn’t possibly stop in time.

Pushing himself to his limit, Lucas stretched out his arms and dove off the curb towards the confused woman’s back.

The taxi bore down on the young woman despite the cab driver’s attempts to stop. The brunette raised her eyes as if in a dream and watched the car as it careened towards her. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Lucas flew towards the woman from the curb. His mind knew it was already too late and that he couldn’t get out of the way in time. He stretched his arms out to grab her in a desperate hope that there was still a chance.

Lucas drove into the woman’s side with his right shoulder and wrapped her up with his arms like a linebacker sacking a quarterback. He let his momentum pull the tinier woman in close to his body and hugged her limp body as tightly as he could. Dropping his left leg down to the ground as he connected, he pushed off the cement, spinning them both so he could turn his back to the oncoming car. He held onto the woman like a drowning man in a hurricane clutching a life preserver for survival. The young man shut his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth, awaiting the inevitable impact.

Time snapped back to normal and brought chaos with it. The impact from the cab threw the pair up and over the hood, directly into the windshield, where they left a spider web of broken glass as they passed. The yellow taxi continued to skid by and bounced the couple higher, over the Broadway marquee on the roof and past the driver’s door. Lucas gripped the lady with all his strength as the world spun around them. His back already throbbed and his left shoulder screamed to him to release his cargo but he stubbornly refused.

Opening his eyes, he found the world spinning out of control and no point of reference to focus on. It was like a child’s water painting where all the colors had blurred together. The sky and ground spun an intricate, swirling dance before the painted lines of the asphalt rushed up to embrace them both.

Both bodies landed hard on their sides between the two lanes of traffic and slid a few feet as the cab skidded clear. A rusted blue corolla in the second lane swerved wildly to avoid the couple and narrowly avoided running them over. Other sounds of screeching, honking and crashing vehicles began to mix together and branch out from the initial scene as the ripple effect of the accidents flowed outwards.

Lucas came to a stop with the young woman underneath him. He tried to rise up on his arms but his left shoulder buckled and he fell to his side. He ended up lying beside her between the two lanes. The taxi had been rear ended by a white minivan that had come to an abrupt stop beside them in the first lane. The driver, a young Indian woman, seemed dazed by the blow she had received from her air bag. She stared at the blood in her hands in disbelief, not realizing it was coming from her nose. The older gentleman in the silver Taurus opposite the minivan had more luck. He had clipped the blue corolla’s bumper in the second lane but other than shock, had escaped the incident unscathed.

Pain throbbed in Lucas’s shoulder and back as he sat up and looked down at the woman he had just saved. Her long brown hair was dishevelled and splashed across her face. He gently brushed it out of her eyes with his right hand and smiled down at her as she lay on the ground beside him.

”You sure know how to get a guy’s attention.” he chuckled. ”Are you ok?”

The young woman lay with her back on the pavement and her eyes closed. Her breath was heavy but she did not stir or answer Lucas’ question about her being alright. He leaned over her, thinking if he called out louder there might be a reaction and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, the woman startled him by coughing in his face. He sat back as the brunette’s face twisted into a wince while the air escaped her lips. The smile left Lucas’ face as his brow furrowed with concern.

"Nick?" , she rasped groggily.

She thought someone else had saved her. Someone she knew. At least the woman could speak. This was good news.

Without warning, the woman lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Lucas’ shoulders and buried her head in his chest. Lightning shot through his injured shoulder as she squeezed him. He closed his eyes and fought against the tears.

"Nick!" , she exclaimed. She sounded excited and relieved. The brunette released the pressure on Lucas’ throbbing shoulder and sat back and continued to speak "God, I thought I was going crazy."

Lucas waited for the look of shock and embarrassment that was sure to come when she realized her mistake. Her eyelids fluttered open and their eyes met but the look never came. The woman gently raised her hand and wiped some dirt from above his brow as if she had known him all her life. She examined his face for a moment but Lucas couldn’t rip his gaze from those hazel eyes. The look in their brown and green depths was vacant and distant. He had seen that look a thousand times before from his grandmother when the dementia took hold. The young woman was lost in some past memory and Lucas was playing the part of someone else. With grandma, he would try to get her back to her room at the nursing home. This woman was a stranger and in much better shape than an 80 year old. In his current condition, he doubted he could force her to do anything and didn’t know where to take her if he could.

The brunette stopped examining his face and spoke to him again. "Come on, let's get out of here. I know you like your cuts and bruises, but I'd rather not get flattened." She grabbed Lucas by the hand and pulled him to his feet and then proceeded to lead him around the front of the blue Corolla. They both hurdled the car’s mangled bumper with ease and sped towards a nearby alley. The Cabby jumped out of his car and began yelling obscenities in a foreign language as the pair disappeared from the scene of the accident.

Graffiti stained walls and rusted trash cans decorated the sides of the alley as they fled through to the next street. The young woman moved with a level of grace and confidence which surprised and impressed Lucas. She had just been levelled by a cab but instead of waiting for an ambulance, her instincts had taken charge. Whatever memory had a hold of this woman; it fuelled her and filled her with some kind of purpose. If only he knew what that purpose was.

He tried to see if he could spot any injuries on her as they ran. Her elbow was scrapped and bleeding but it did not seem to be bothering her. A little further down the arm, his gaze fell on her forearm tattoo. A name and address. Noel.

His heart sank. The poor woman’s name was Noel. Lucas’ original suspicions were confirmed. The woman suffered from some form of memory loss and the tattoo was meant to help her find her way home. A wave of pity flooded over him as he remembered watching the last few years he had spent with his dying grandmother.

"Where did RUPERT go?", she wheezed breathlessly over her shoulder as they ran, shaking Lucas from his thoughts and back to the alley which was speeding past. Noel was becoming winded and the couple would not be able run much longer. They burst out of the alley onto another sidewalk. A subway station entrance a few meters away offered shelter from anyone who might be trying to follow. Lucas took control and pulled Noel towards the stairs which would lead down to the platform.

”I don’t know where Rupert is”, he told her as he lead her by the hand. ”We might have some luck if we go to the address on your arm.”

New York was still pretty much a mystery to Lucas. He didn’t have a clue where the address could be. That didn’t really matter though. The most important thing was to find this woman some kind of help. If he could find a way to discover the location of the address it would be great. If not, a hospital would do just as well.

They descended the steps into the cold cement tunnels leading to the subway station. Lucas slowed his pace so Noel could walk beside him but he continued to hold her hand, hoping it would bring her some feeling of comfort and security. He turned and looked at her as they walked. Was there a chance she remembered something of her life that could help Lucas get her home? He had to try as there were few other options he could think of.

“Hey Noel, I got pretty turned around back there. You have any clue which way it is to get back to your place?” , he asked her hopefully.

Lucas focused on the details of the map he had been handed by the beautiful woman beside him. His eyes devoured the page as he searched for any hint to the mysterious brunette’s identify. The first thing he found was her apartment. It was clearly marked beside a place called “Sanctuary”. It was probably a place that Noel felt safe like a park or coffee shop. It was a good bet that someone would recognize her there if no one was at her apartment. Both locations were in the south end of Brooklyn. About half a dozen stops along the orange F line would bring them within walking distance. It wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to get there if the trains were running on time. He started to fold up the map when the name “Rupert” in capitals caught his eye. He stopped and studied the entry more carefully. “RUPERT checkpoint”. Scanning further he saw many more entries around the city with the same heading. Something wasn’t adding up.

When Noel had asked about Rupert, she wasn’t talking about a person. She was talking about something different. Rupert seemed to be some kind of underground network that operated out of every day businesses throughout the city. Lucas struggled to make sense of this new discovery before the possibility dawned on him. When it came to him, it seemed obvious. Noel didn’t just have some form of memory problem, she was schizophrenic. It all made sense. The confusion, the detailed fantasy, the arm tattoo and the erratic behaviour all pointed to the same conclusion. Lucas finished folding the map and stuffed it into the back pocket of his jeans and turned around to face the woman he had saved in the street only moments ago.

Noel’s face had turned pale and her eyes fluttered slightly. “Oh crap.” She said and fell to her knees. She raised her hands to her eyes and held them there, supporting her head. Lucas saw the problem. Blood had begun to matt in the hair at the back of her skull. She had suffered a blow to the head when the cab had hit them. During their flight through the alley, her long brown hair had been bouncing with each step and hidden the injury from Lucas’ searching. Now that she kneeled before him, he could see it clearly.

More conflicting thoughts assaulted Lucas’ mind. Noel could have a concussion too. Nothing made sense any more. Was she brain damaged, schizophrenic or concussed? Maybe it was a combination of the three? This was all beyond the young man’s abilities. He was in over his head and he knew it.

Lucas had fallen through the cracks when he came to New York and lost his way. Fate had forced him back on the path he chose but was punishing him for straying too far from his promise to his grandmother. All Lucas knew was he had to help this woman somehow. Only one thing he could do would help for sure. He would take some of her pain away.

"You're right; I might have notes at home. Just... when we get there, stay out in the hall, okay?" Noel whimpered as she wiped her nose with her knuckle. The woman fumbled with something in her ankle purse while Lucas knelt down in front of her. He gently reached out and took the brunette's hand in his. Looking into Noel's face, he tried his best to sound calming and supportive.

“Noel, I am going to take away some of your pain now”, he said, pausing to give her a chance to understand every word. “This won’t hurt at all. The truth is.....it....well, it is going to feel really, really great.”

Closing his eyes, Lucas focused on the energy flow of Noel’s life. He could feel its vibrant stream coursing through her veins. He reached deeper, trying to find that spark which he could draw from and pull the pain away. It shone in his mind like a beacon and he wrapped himself around it and began to draw it’s warmth into himself.

Agony stabbed at him from the inside. He felt the skin peal from his elbow. The back of his skull exploded as vessels ruptured and the blood began to pump through his newly formed wounds to dribble down his neck and arm. The mutant clenched his jaw to fight off the new sensations of his devastated body and a groan escaped his lips. Noel was strong. Stronger then he thought. She was much more hurt then he realized yet she had hidden it from him during their escape from the accident.

Lucas opened his eyes and looked into Noel’s face to see the blissful ecstasy his gift had bestowed upon her.

"How did we meet?" she breathed.

Those beautiful hazel eyes fluttered open and bore into Lucas’ sole. He felt like a 6 year old sitting in front of the principal. Without the pain to cloud her thoughts, Noel had found focus. She seemed clearer, more aware, but something was still missing. Her memory was still fractured. Using his mutant powers allowed Lucas to help the injured woman’s physical suffering but by doing so, he had given her the clue she needed to figure out he was not her trusted friend. The veil was partially lifted and the man behind the curtain was nothing more than a stranger.

A harsh, authoritative tone had entered the young brunette’s voice as she repeated the question. "How did we meet?" Her stare was unflinching while she waited for Lucas to respond.

The newly acquired throbbing in Lucas’ skull obscured his thoughts. He looked to the cold cement floor between them and then closed his eyes as he tried to collect his words from the fog of pain that assaulted him. His left arm hung limply at his side, nearly useless now that the adrenaline was wearing off. The only feeling that remained was a dull ache, deep within the joint. A slow trickle of blood had run down his right forearm from the large gash that had opened up on his elbow and began to drip off his index finger, forming a small crimson puddle on the ground. A hundred other scrapes, aches and bruises competed for his attention. None of it mattered to him anymore. His body had been pushed to its limit and teetered on the brink, but he had to keep his promise. He had to help Noel if he could. A deep sigh escaped his lips as Lucas opened his eyes and looked back up to face the mysterious woman. She continued to stare, unblinking, while she waited for him to answer.

“You walked in front of a taxi and I tried to push you out of the way.” Lucas said without taking his eyes from hers. It took him a moment to find the right words before he continued. “You seemed.....confused. You need help. All I want to do is help you. Please let me do that. Let me make sure you get somewhere safe.” He reached out his bloody right arm and tried to take Noel’s hand again. She pulled back from his touch, never taking her eyes from him. Lucas felt helpless as he knew the next words from his mouth would be the most damning. He needed to tell her the truth now that she was asking even though it would confirm her suspicions. To try and continue to play along with the fantasy could only make things worse, if that was even possible. Lucas took a breath and gave Noel the answer she was searching for.

“I'm not Nick. My name is Lucas. The first time I ever laid eyes on you was just before you stepped off the curb in front of the cab.”

That was not the reaction Lucas had expected. Whenever his grandmother would become lost in the past, telling her the truth would shatter her like a glass statue thrown off an overpass. Noel didn’t crack at all. Far from it. Instead of collapsing or crying, anger had boiled over and taken hold. At first it was directed at him and he thought she would pummel him into the dust but then the young woman had seemed to force it inward. She used it as fuel to power her. He was learning more about this mysterious brunette every moment they spent together and he was beginning to like what he was seeing.

Lucas had pitied her. He had considered her frail and damaged. This was not because of her but because of his own past. The memory loss had painted a picture he had seen before and the young man wanted to wrap his arms around this woman and protect her without knowing more. But she didn’t need protecting. Noel went much deeper then what his first glance had shown him. Now Lucas realized she actually knew her mind was cracked and gained strength from it. Instead of slinking away to hide and let others take care of her, Noel had fearlessly faced her flaws and overcome them. The tattoo on her arm, the map, the hard exterior and the unwillingness to accept help when it was offered were a testament of how she had adapted and made a difficult situation liveable. Things had gone full circle. Lucas was unable to protect himself in his current state. He needed Noel’s help now more then she needed his. Maybe that was the case since they got up off the street.

A smile crept across his face despite the pain as he slowly got back off his knees. His body wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and it took every ounce of strength to push it into a standing position once again. His back felt weak but held as he took a moment to get his balance. He shifted slightly from foot to foot, checking to make sure he would be able to walk. Lucas noticed his left arm had started to take on a bluish tinge as the circulation was impeded by his shoulder. The tribal tattoos that laced the surface of his arm seemed slightly dulled to him with the new contrast his skin’s color provided. A healer didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.

When he looked at the woman again, he could see a fire had burned away the clouds of confusion and simmered within their light brown depths. The brunette’s long silky hair fell around her shoulders effortlessly perfect, despite the ordeal they had just shared. The scar on Noel’s left cheek was a stark contrast to her soft, smooth skin and only helped accentuate the determination in the woman. Others would have tried to hide that scar under long bangs or excessive make-up, but that wouldn’t fit the person Lucas was beginning to see. Everyone had baggage, some visible and some hidden deep inside. Noel left her scars in plain sight for the world to stare at, daring them to judge her. Lucas had made this mistake and it took this long for him to comprehend how wrong he was. Pity had been the greatest insult possible.

“This healer of yours, does he have cats?” Lucas’ smile grew into a devilish grin. “I’m a bit allergic and I would hate to get a runny nose. That could ruin my normal day.” He waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of a smile if it managed to crack her defensive mask.

"He doesn't have cats. Not that I remember." Noel said with a matter-of-fact tone in her voice and proceeded to tear a strip of cloth from her ruined suit coat. She handed it to Lucas and he took it with his one good hand. "You're bleeding." the young woman informed him as if he was not aware. Lucas’ left arm was all but dead weight now and the blood on his right elbow was unreachable to him without it so he stuffed the makeshift tourniquet into his pocket when she turned away. She had missed his joke completely and her smile continued to elude him. Asking her for help to staunch his bleeding elbow seemed inappropriate now for some reason.

After handing him the homemade bandage, Noel bent over to fetch her map from her ankle pouch. Her smooth dress shirt pulled tight against the arch of her back and revealed the angel wing tattoos through the sheer fabric.

“Interesting” Lucas mused. Noel seemed to have a bit of a wild side hidden just below the surface. He let his eyes wander for a moment before the dizziness took hold. Colors faded from view until everything seemed like an old silent movie from the 20s. The center of his vision blurred further and the world stretched back to the opposite end of a dark tunnel. Lucas stumbled back a step and found the wall, which he used to support himself as Noel continued to search for their destination. By the time she had finished plotting their course, only luck had kept the young man on his feet.

The next few minutes didn’t register as Lucas experienced the trip like a zombie in some film about the undead apocalypse. Noel guided the young man through the maze of New York’s streets to the healer’s apartment, nothing registering for the man except the effort of putting one foot in front of the other. He knew he had to keep walking but was having difficulty remembering why.

When things began to clear again, Lucas felt warm and secure. It was like he was lying on the grass beside his grandmother’s grave, the warm air from the gulf blowing in across his body. The pain had been lifted away by the summer breeze and a soothing comfort remained where agony had been. He hadn’t felt this good in a long time.

His eyes opened lazily and he gazed up at the greasy looking man in the green bathrobe and tin foil hat hovering over him.

“Jesus!” Lucas exclaimed, startled. He rolled to his side instinctively and fell the two feet from the gurney to the trash strewn floor of the apartment. The place was a disaster. Pizza boxes and other assorted fast food receptacles littered every corner of the home. A cat box sat in the corner, obviously neglected for some time based on the amount of clumps resting in it. A large orange tabby sat on top a mountain of old newspaper, licking its paw to groom itself. It looked down at Lucas on the floor the way only cat’s can as if to say, “Shut up. You’ve been here 5 minutes, I got to live here.”

Standing up, Lucas stretched his muscles to test them for any signs of his previous injuries. He was a bit stiff and his shoulder was still a little sore but there was no sign of any lasting damage. It was as if he had slept wrong the night before and it had been an otherwise normal day. Noel sat near the door, her back to him while she idly flipped through a magazine. His eyes lingered for a second before he turned to the strange little man that healed him.

“I don’t know if she told you but I don’t have insurance.” Lucas kidded. The man just rolled his eyes and ignored the comment as if Lucas wasn’t even there.

“He is wearing a tinfoil hat and thinks I am weird.” Lucas mussed to himself. “I need to work on my material.”

Turning back around he walked towards the door with the peephole on it, assuming it was the exit of the apartment. He called out to Noel cheerfully as he crossed the floor.

“I’m good to go when you’re ready. I think I’ll head downstairs and wait for you there if that’s ok? Give you guys a chance to chat, catch up or ….” Or what? How did she even know this guy? The healer obviously didn’t get out much and ordered all of his food from the dingiest places known to man so it wasn’t like they could have run into each other at the grocery store. This was a mystery Lucas didn’t care to give any more thought to. He let the sentence drop as his hand connected with the door knob and he casually stepped out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.

Lucas didn’t just feel healed, he felt reborn. He was almost skipping as he went down the steps, taking two at a time and jumping the last few feet to each landing. He started to whistle to himself about half way down and even wished an elderly woman a pleasant day as he past her between the 2nd and 3rd floor. When he stepped out onto the building’s stoop, the rushing sound of traffic and urban crowding that rushed to meet him seemed a bit less harsh and a bit more comforting somehow.

The small baskets of colorful flowers adorning the front of the nearby bodega caught Lucas’ eye and he strolled over to admire them. The mingling aroma of the myriad of blooms tickled his nostrils and threatened to overpower his senses. A small bouquet of yellow lilies caught the sun light and stood out, pleading to be purchased. He reached into his pocket and fished out some of his change and was delighted to see he had enough. Barely, but enough. A young portly man with a cheerful grin and a dark blue apron stepped out of the store to offer assistance and the transaction was complete in seconds.

Armed with a fresh bouquet and a smile, Lucas turned back to the apartment doors to meet Noel as she came back out to the street. Things were looking up.