Savannah

It didn't concern him that he had an upcoming class to be at. Not in the slightest.

After seeing the looks on those students' faces at the sight of his blood, all that concerned Leonardo was getting away. So that's why he ran, not caring that he had left his car behind; he could always get it later.

He arrived at his apartment, still panicking and out of breath. Hastily unlocking the door, Leo rushed inside and slammed it shut, locking it again.

He pressed his back against the door. His breathing needed time to even out, but right now, all it wanted to do was tremble.

"Not again..."

With those unsteady, distraught words, Leo's tears surfaced and would have spilled over if not for his hand wiping them away in frustration. The blood that had escaped from the cuts had made its way down to the same hand, and thus now smearing over his eyelid. But he didn't care. He just needed to be alone.

It was for the best. It had always been.

"Noah, I'm so sorry..."

At the sudden knocking from the other side of the door, Leo jumped in fright, getting to his feet faster than his heart was pumping blood right now.

"Leonardo?"

The voice sounded familiar. There's no way.

"L-Leo, it's me, the girl who sat next to you in class today?"

Now, Leo definitely swore that his heartbeat stopped. The blood drained from his face. "W-what on earth are you doing here!?" He cried. "Did you follow me?"

The girl on the other side was noticeably hesitant. "W-well, yes, but—"

"You're a stalker! I'll call the police, I swear I will—"

"No, please don't!" The girl called out in protest. "I-...I just came to give you back your phone, you left it at your desk—"

"So you followed me all the way to my freaking apartment?!"

"You weren't responding when I called out your name earlier!"

"So!? Just‌—" Feeling his blood pressure rising, Leo took a moment to breathe deeply before replying in exasperation, "Just slide it under the door or leave it outside or something."

"...no."

He stopped again. "...what did you just say?"

"I-...I said 'no'."

He couldn't believe his ears.

"I...won't give you back your phone unless you open the door."

"What kind of nonsensical reason did you have for following me to my apartment to give me my phone if you aren't actually going to return it?!"

Leo couldn't see the girl's face at the moment, but he was certain that if he could, it would only infuriate him further.

"I-I will return it, I just want to talk."

"Talk." He glared at the wall with enough internal rage to tear a hole through it. "What are you, some kind of undercover paranormal researcher??"

"What? Undercover—no, I...I'm just Savannah."

"Give me back my phone."

"Not till you let me inside."

He wasn't winning this argument. And he knew he wouldn't, not with the obstinance this girl had already displayed, and put together with how utterly drained Leo felt at the moment, there was no winning on his side.

He unlocked the door and yanked it open.

Surely enough, there stood Savannah, the girl from earlier, with her eyes wide, curious, and alert, her hand tightly clutching Leonardo's phone.

And she just stared. She stared at Leo, at the smear of purple on his eye, which she knew at this point was his blood.

And since Leonardo's cuts hadn't been treated and covered up, they could still be seen, and they still bled faintly.

"...so you're really not going to give it back?"

"...not till y—"

"Alright, alright! Just go inside!" Groaning in annoyance, Leo stepped aside and furiously gestured for Savannah to enter the apartment. So she offered a slight bow and a 'thank you' as if she were being openly invited.

Leonardo shut the door behind them.

He turned around, facing an internal battle whether or not to start yelling at this girl or just physically fight her for his phone, then kick her out of his apartment.

Honestly, her was just too tired to do anything.

So he simply slid past Savannah and made his way to the kitchen table, where he just collapsed onto one of the chairs with his head in his hand.

"...are...are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay??"

"You're still bleeding, you should really bandage i—"

"You're right, Savannah," Leo snapped, raising his head again, "I am bleeding. Which is why I don't understand why you're here right now."

The girl just stood there, eyes still cleaving to that same expression from before, but now they acquired a sense of puzzlement. "I...I don't know much about treating wounds," Savannah began in a quiet voice, scratching the back of her head as she slipped Leo's phone into her own back pocket, "...but I can help you if you'd like."

It perplexed Leo to no end, as to why this girl was gazing at him with greater concern than fear—rather, he couldn't even sense fear, not as Savannah stared oh so clearly at the blood stains on his arm and eye.

"I'm a freak."

Savannah turned her head towards the ground. She seemed dissatisfied with Leonardo's self-depreciating words. "I don't think that's true," she spoke softly, as if afraid to be heard. "I don't think that's true at all."

"And why not?" Leo scoffed in spite of himself more than anything. "What reason do you have to stick up for me? You might as well be honest and tell me you're disturbed. Everyone else is. Everyone always is. I don't blame them. I'm a freak. I'm just a freak..."

His breathing grew unsteady as tears threatened to resurface.

"It's gonna be like high school all over again..."

"Do you have bandages anywhere?"

Certain that he misheard the girl, Leonardo shot Savannah a questioning glance, his brow deeply furrowed. So Savannah spoke again.

"Bandages?"

"What?"

"For your arm. Or would you rather go to the hospital—"

"NO!"

A piercing exclamation. Savannah flinched harshly. Leo's eyes opened to their full capacity now, evidently triggered by that eight-lettered word. The other person shrunk into herself.

"Okay, bandages it is. Now where-"

"They might be in the cabinet under the sink, I don't know," Leo blurted. His nerves were acting up again.

Savannah turned around and immediately saw the cabinet Leo was referring to, so she checked there for the bandages first. "Ah, they're here," she announced, but soon stopped after. "Wait, it's probably better to clean off the blood first, right? Or do you have something else you normally do with it? I don't really know if there's some sort of special treatment for different coloured blood..."

Too overwrought to come up with something to say, Leo just shook his head as Savannah looked over her shoulder at him.

"Ah, you have a rag by your sink here. I'll grab that."

So she rinsed the rag with water and wringed it, then took both the rag and the roll of bandages over to Leonardo and sat next to him.

"Could you...uhm, hold out your arm?"

"What are you doing?"

Savannah blinked at the sudden question. "...trying to help?"

"Because?"

"Because you looked sad and scared and hurt and that isn't fair?"

"Savannah, I know you have a class to get to."

"I'll be late. There's no point in me going now."

Defeated. More than anything, Leo just felt defeated. He could yell at the girl later perhaps, but now, he just gave up and held out his arm.

By the looks of it, the cuts seemed to have stopped bleeding——or at least, were in the process of gradually doing so. Savannah sighed in relief and began to wipe away the blood stains.

"So, have you been like this since you were born?"

"Been like what?" Leo mocked. "A freak?"

"No, someone this beautifully unique."

It caught him off guard, to say the very least. Leo shifted his attention over the girl. Savannah had her head down at the moment, but she looked up just then, only to look down again once she was met with Leonardo's strong gaze. Her ears turned red.

"I...I won't pressure you to tell me more about you, but I'd love to hear your stories."

"I don't have...'stories'..." Leo replied, bitterly so. "I'm not some hero, okay? I don't have superpowers, I just have this freakish feature about me that just makes people scared and disturbed. I don't know anything else about it. I'm afraid to know more about it..."

His throat felt sore from straining not to cry.

"You could get infected for all either of us know. You're an idiot for not taking you're chance to leave."

"Maybe."

That was all she said. Just that one word, and it seemed to hold such a lack of interest in what Leonardo had just spoken.

"You want me to wipe off the stain on your eye or would that make you uncomfortable?"

Leonardo didn't reply this time. Letting out a shaky breath, he turned his head slightly to the side, conveniently so that the blood-smeared eye was now closer to Savannah. She took this as Leo's silent approval and carefully applied the damp rag to the boy's eyelid.

She had a better view. Being up close, Savannah could see that Leo's eyes had become the faintest shade of purple, much lighter than the boy's blood, but Savannah knew she wasn't just hallucinating it.

It must happen whenever he's bleeding, she thought in wonder. It's beautiful.

"You're beautiful..."

The color faded as Leo blinked, turning again to stare at Savannah in confusion. This time, Savannah was to distracted to look away in embarrassment——at first, though. After a few seconds did she register her slipped words, though she didn't try to take them back or come up with an excuse, but rather, she picked up the roll of bandages and started to work on covering those scratches.

Leonardo on the other hand, was tired enough in that moment to fall asleep, and so he closed his eyes.

They intrigued one another. In more similar ways than they know.