â Alva Makota â
And then it got more surprising.
And then it got more surprising.
Alva was sure she would end up sick. The winds had gotten a bit stronger and under her cloths, Alva was freezing. Her body was trembling and all she could do was stare into the brewing storm. She wanted to leave and continue her search to find Paul but her body was exhausted. The harshness of the rain also only encouraged her to stay under the little protection she had. Alva swallowed, hoping it would cure the dryness that had settled in her throat.
She wanted to go home. It was the cure's fault and all the people who believed in it that she was where she was. If it wasn't for them, Alva and her family wouldn't be living in the forest in isolation. They wouldn't have to sneak inside a town that treated them like mongrels and Alva wouldn't be in the condition she was. She would be accepted and she wouldn't have to worry about her family all the time. She wouldn't be paranoid and come to the conclusion that every person whose eyes she met knew about her being an Invalid, she wouldn't have to lie, and her parents would still be alive.
"Ah, damn it," Alva muttered under her breath after her vision grew blurry. She forced one of her hand to let go of her bag and quickly wiped the tears from her face. Anger grew inside her, both directed at the world and herself.
Just then, she was knocked out of her position. The force made her stumble from her place and her hands nearly dropped her bag. She scrambled to grab it and quickly placed it against her chest like it had been before. After regaining her composure, her eyes snapped up to face the culprit. Her glare clashed against the look of surprise the man had. Alva's head tilted to the side as her irritation changed to confusion. What was a local doing out at this time? "I apologize for the-" he began to speak. His voice was urgent and by the looks of it he was in a hurry. Something in his eyes changed though and his sentence was cut off. His eyes grew wide, as if he had an epiphany of some sort, and suddenly Alva found her staring at the man's feature's more closely. He was a tall man with an angled face, brown eyes, and dark hair.
It was the suit that her wore that made Alva recognize him. She stepped back without thinking as an unsettling feeling formed in her stomach. Her eyes narrowed and she tried to make herself look less freaked out than she really was by standing straight and defiantly. He was the one who she had caught staring at her the few times she had come to Portland. It always creeped her out, especially when she thought that he was suspicious of her, and she had made it a goal in her mind to avoid him as much as she could. It seemed luck wasn't on her side at that moment though.
She heard him clear his throat and look away from her. Her eyes blinked rapidly, finding his behavior strange. He looked as if he was about to speak but suddenly he began to cough. It wasn't a normal cough either; it was more like something was forcing its way up. He immediately covered his mouth his hand and muffled his coughs. The thought that he was sick, probably because of the rain, came to mind first. Yet Alva's eyes caught liquid running from his hand and down to his wrist. It was a thick, red liquid.
"Hey, are you..." Alva began to ask but he walked past her in quick strides. Her head snapped to the direction he was headed, already soaked in rain again. Thoughts were racing in her head as she stared at his figure. It was blood, she repeated in her mind a few times. His condition didn't look stable and Alva's m was nagging at her to make sure he was all right. Scenarios began to form in her mind of what could happen to the man in the storm and none were a good ending. As much as that man scared her, if something did happen to him during the storm when she could've done something to help him, it would haunt her the rest of her life.
A string of curse words left Alva as she forced her body to step out into the rain. It's what a decent person would do, it's what a decent person would do, she repeated over and over in her head as she began to trail after him. She moved quickly in the rain and even though she was dragged down by the rain, it wasn't long until she managed to catch up with him. "Hey, hey, hey," she called out as she got in step with him. "Are you all right? Do you need help getting home or something?" she questioned as she fought down the nervousness that had already formed.
It wasn't like Alva to be scared so easily. Sure, she was paranoid but it only made her more defensive than scared. Yet the mere thought of the man made her anxious for some reason and now that she was walking side-by-side him, waiting for him to talk, Alva was honestly scared out of her mind.