A Strange Encounter

Jean put down the boy on her bed and took off her backpack as well. She was sweating and breathing heavily. It was a struggle to carry him all the way back to her apartment. In times like these, she wished that she had the same strength as Samantha. Luckily, there was no one outside or walking around inside the building today, which made it really convenient for her since she was carrying an unconscious person around. If someone had seen her, she didn't know how she would have explained the situation to them.

Jean heard her stomach growl and realized that it was empty. She did not have time for breakfast this morning and she skipped lunch today. So her current to-do list was: check the condition of the boy she brought in, cook something to eat, and to do her homework. She will figure something else out once he woke up, assuming that he did and that he wasn't in a coma or anything.

Jean went to get a glass of water before she started to examine the boy to see if he had any serious injuries. Carrying both him and her bag had left her entire body feeling sore and exhausted. She then went to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit and washed her face while she was at it, and then went back into her room.

Jean opened the first aid kit and laid it on the bed beside the boy and began to skim through the contents. She had no idea what most of the things were supposed to be used for so she just took out what she knew which were bandaids and a few disinfection wipes. She brought her small garbage can right next to the bed and started to examine the boy.

The only injury that Jean could see was the one on the side of his head, where blood was streaking down from. It was a small cut. She could probably just stick two to three bandaids in a row on it and it would cover it. His clothes were charred and there were several burnt holes in them, but his skin looked perfectly fine. His pants looked practically the same as his shirt and his entire body was giving off a burnt smell. It seemed as if he had been in a fire.

Jean suddenly thought of the explosion at the lab. Was he there and got caught up in it? No, it didn't make sense. The lab was decently far from where he was found and the explosion occurred when she was about halfway home which is roughly where she had found the boy as well. It didn't seem possible for someone to make it from one of the middle floors of the laboratory all the way to an alleyway that was at least 15 minutes away by foot.

Jean shook her head. There was no point in trying to figure what had happened. She could always just ask him about it once he woke up. Hopefully, it would be before her father came out since she really did not want to have to explain to him why there was a stranger in her room.

She tore open the plastic bag for a disinfection wipe and wiped the area around the wound and then cleaned off the rest of the blood on the boy's face as well. She then took three bandaids and stuck them vertically on the wound which the middle one overlapping the other two that were on the side so that only the cotton part would be touching the wound. After she finished, she moved back a little and examined her work. The three bandaids stuck together looked really strange.

'Huh, maybe there was a bigger one or something else I was supposed to use for this,' she thought to herself. She looked back at the first aid kit and after a little searching found what looked like a patch that would have been perfect for the type of wound that the boy had. 'Oh...'

Well, it was too late. She had already stuck the bandaids on and she didn't want to peel them off in case of them irritating the wound.

After Jean finished treating him and threw all the wrappers and bags into the trash can, she exited the room to get some air. The inside of her room now had a burnt smell in it. She made a mental note to wash her sheets and pillowcase later today.

It was time for a late lunch. Jean walked to the fridge and opened it to see what was inside. She found some leftover sandwiches and some packages of food. 'What am I in the mood for?' she asked herself. After some consideration, she took out some vegetables and a pack of noodles and set them on the kitchen counter. She washed her hands and prepared a pot of water to start cooking. She washed the vegetables and once the water warmed up a little, she plopped them in and waited for the water to boil being adding in the noodles as well. Finally, she added in some salt and stirred the pot for a few seconds before turning off the fire.

'Alright now that is done, I'm going to take a shower,' Jean decided. Her clothes had a burnt smell after carrying the boy and she had sweated a lot today from all the physical work she had to do. By the time she finished taking a shower, the noodles would have cooled down enough for her to eat and she could get started on homework right after. Everything was going according to schedule which is what she liked.

After taking another shower, Jean dried her hair and tied it in a ponytail for convenience, and started eating. She decided to just eat the noodles out of the pot since it would save more time to just wash the pot instead of adding in a bowl as well.

Just as Jean finished her meal, she heard a sound come from her room and she immediately rushed there and opened the door and found that the bed was empty. She did a quick scan of the room and found nothing. "Hello?" she said nervously while staying at the entrance of the room, but there was no response.

Jean waited a few more seconds before she slowly began to walk into the room, keeping a careful eye around her in case something happened. After taking a few steps into the room she stopped and looked around and still found nothing.

'Where did he go?' she thought to herself. The room was small and the only place where one could hide was the closest and it was wide open with no one inside.

"Hello?" she said out loud again while staying in place. There was still no reply. She was scared of what might happen. There was a stranger in her room and he was nowhere to be found. 'How can I be so stupid as to bring a random person home?' She hadn't thought it through and was now regretting her decision. She started contemplating whether or not she should call the police but suddenly heard something.

A groan came from the other side of the bed which startled Jean and made her take a step back, banging her head on the side of the door.

"Ow!"

Jean rubbed her head while she to the other side of the bed and saw that the boy was laying on the floor still unconscious. It looked like he fell off the bed somehow. It turns out that she was worrying over nothing.

Jean crotched over to pick up the boy's arm again when suddenly it grabbed hold of her arm, causing her to yell out in fright. The boy shot right up and frantically looked around the room.

"Who are you and where is this!?" he asked while still holding onto Jean's arm.

"Um, my apartment?" Jean replied.

"Your apartment? Who are you?"

"I'm..." Jean wasn't sure if she wanted to give her name but it didn't seem like there was any harm in telling him. The boy didn't look like someone dangerous. "Jean," she finished.

"Why did you hesitate so much in telling me your name?" the boy asked suspiciously.

"Because you're a stranger, and shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking for someone else's name?"

"Oh, sorry. It's Josh." the replied. "Anyway, why am I in your apartment?" Josh got up from the floor and examined the room more carefully this time.

"I found you unconscious in an alleyway and since it was close to where I lived, I decided to bring you here. There was an explosion at the laboratory and that's why I didn't call the paramedics instead," Jean explained.

"I see." Josh moved his hand to his forehead where the wound was. "You did this?"

"Yes."

"Well, thank you... wait, are these bandaids?" Josh patted the bandaids and noticed that there were three of them. "I'm not trying to complain since you did treat me after all, but do you not have patches or cotton balls?"

"Errr- I'm not familiar with the stuff in the first aid kit," Jean said embarrassingly.

"Yeah, nevermind. Anyway, thank you for everything, I'll take my leave now." Josh started to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" Jean called out, stopping Josh. "What happened to you? You were unconscious in an alleyway injured with your clothes burnt and torn.

Josh paused for a moment before responding. "Sorry, I can't tell you."

"I did help you so shouldn't I at least get to know?" Jean argued.

"Ah fine." Josh sighed. "I got into a fight with some people and they had a torch. Please don't tell anyone about it, I don't want to get into trouble."

'A torch!?' Jean thought to herself. Had she rescued a delinquent?

"Judging from your look, you're not very convinced, but that is really what happened," Josh said.

"No no, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just- uh..."

"Yeah, you don't have to explain it. I understand what you mean. Anyway, I'll take my leave now. Thank you again." Josh exited the room and after a few seconds, Jean got up as well and followed after him. After Josh exited the apartment, he turned around and said, "Once again, thank you."

"Um, no problem."

Josh smiled and said, "Alright, bye now," and waited for Jean to say bye as well before walking off.

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