Scared

Leonardo had managed to coax Savannah back over to the couch after their talk, and there, he stayed with her. His heart had been moved by the other's tears, by those profound words the girl poured out as she confessed everything she had been hiding from Leonardo.

Side by side on the couch, having abandoned their half-eaten breakfasts, the two just sat in silence, Savannah clinging to Leo's arm as the latter ran his fingers through the girl's hair. Every so often, Leo would press a soft kiss to Savannah's head, as it was resting on his shoulder. In that moment, things had never felt so peaceful. To either of them. Even though both their hearts beat wildly, it wasn't frantic, but simply out of a shared feeling.

How tragic that moment of peace had to be shattered so soon.

Out of nowhere it seemed, the front door swung open, triggering both Savannah and Leonardo to swivel their heads around to face the one who had entered so conspicuously—Noah, to neither of their surprises, however the expression Leo's friend now wore did surprise them.

Leo made a brief glance at Savannah who still clung to his arm. "Uh, N-Noah, there's something I wanted to tell you-"

"Yeah, well there's something I gotta tell you, too, so who's gonna go first?"

His voice was unidentifiable. Concerning, to say the least. Leo scanned Noah's face and hesitated before rising to his feet. "Noah, what's wrong?"

"This." He held up what Leo could only assume were photographs. "This is what's wrong."

"Noah, please-!"

As if the current situation hadn't already thrown him for a loop, a new voice abruptly entered the conversation, and within seconds the owner of that voice came to a frantic stop at the door.

Through that doorway Leo met eyes with Oliver.

And that feeling of confusion and betrayal from before rekindled itself.

"Noah, what's going on?"

"Sorry, went for a little chit-chat with your neighbor, she pricked her finger for me, there was blue, wild, but this is what I'm more concerned about right now."

While Oliver seemed almost too scared to set foot in Leonardo's apartment, Noah adamantly marched over to where his friend was standing and grabbed one of his hands so that he could slap the photographs on his palm.

It was a lot to process. Even without having yet looked at the photos, Leo needed a moment to take in the rushed explanation Noah had just given him.

"You talked with Oliver...?"

"Yeah, wild, now look at the photos, Leonardo, this is important."

He blinked away the strong sense of puzzlement bubbling in his head, enough for him to focus on the small task in his hands. Curiously, Leo flipped over the photographs.

Everything seemed to stop. His brain, his heart, the room around him, time itself. Everything.

It didn't make sense but he knew he wasn't imagining this. His eyes weren't trying to trick him.

These photos. The one, of Noah and Oliver. The other, of him and Oliver.

He felt sick. Sick, nauseous with incertitude and anxiety, but a type of anxiety he had never felt before. The longer he stared at that photo he was in, standing right next to Oliver, the more the nausea increased and his chest began to hurt.

"What...what is this??"

"Leo, what's wrong?"

In the heat of the moment Leo almost swatted away the hand that reached for his, but he caught himself and grabbed it instead. Savannah didn't deserve to be pushed away again. Not ever.

"Oliver, where did these photos come from?"

He could feel approaching dizziness. But with Savannah's hand tightly clasped in his own, Leo felt just a little bit steadier.

"Oliver, get in here right now."

As if a physical barrier stood between them, Oliver gazed through the doorway in distress and shook her head. Leo took a step towards her. Oliver shook her head again.

"You'd never believe me," she whispered, voice soft but strong enough to carry its whimpering body to Leonardo's ears. "I'm just a liar, a no-good liar, you have no reason to believe anything I say..."

It struck in such a painful, yet indescribable way. Oliver wasn't an idiot. To use Leo's words against him, right now, was probably the smartest thing she could have done to get out of this situation. But Leo wasn't willing to let that happen.

"This is different," he said firmly in opposition. "Get in here. This is physical evidence, you have to say something."

"You still wouldn't believe me, Leo, you'd never-"

She looked the closest she could be to collapsing, barriers having been torn down one by one as she was helpless to hold them up anymore. Oliver's chest rose and fell erratically.

"Oliver, just come in and sit down."

Leo did his best to relax his voice. If he kept up with his current behavior, the perplexed and distraught yelling and demanding, nothing would be accomplished.

"I promise not to get angry."

There was a long moment of silent staring. Unbroken eye contact between the two, with Oliver still not daring to take but a single step towards Leo.

"No."

"Oliver-"

"I deserve to have you hate me."

"Then expla—h-hey, where are you going??"

She bolted. And instinctively, so did Leonardo, regrettably letting go of Savannah's hand in the process. It wasn't that he wanted to. He just knew it wouldn't be any easier to catch someone running full speed away from him with someone holding his hand.

But Savannah and Noah shared the same thought. Neither were any bit willing to be left out of this, Savannah determined to keep Leonardo safe, and Noah the same, but now he had someone he needed answers from, too.

So they went after them. Recklessly, running without care or consideration, Leo far ahead of them but Oliver even farther.

Leo didn't even take notice of the two people following him. All that was on his mind was Oliver.

In that brief window of time before Oliver had taken off, Leo saw a spark of familiarity, a dollop of fear and uncertainty that he recognized all too well from himself. At times it was near impossible to see past his own anger, but beneath those harbored feelings of negativity Leo knew that they were the same. Maybe not in every way, but it was likely they shared more than he initially took into consideration.

If he could just get some sort of explanation. For the photos, for whatever else Oliver hadn't told him that had a right to know.

Because right now, Leonardo was questioning everything. Starting with the fact that Oliver seemed terrified to talk to him, so much so that she genuinely looked to be running for her life.

Carelessly. Recklessly.

Frantic, beyond belief.

Terrified. To the point of immense irrationality.

"OLIVER, WAIT-!!"

An oncoming vehicle, unknowing that some ignorant girl would race out into the street while there was a red light—brakes were slammed, so the force of impact was decreased significantly, but any sort of impact in such a scenario wasn't particularly good news.

Noah and Savannah had seen it happen, too. However neither quite as well as Leo saw it.

The nausea returned. Full-force. Doubled. Tripled. His head spun as he stared unblinkingly at Oliver now lying still in the middle of the cross-walk. The person who had hit her exited the vehicle immediately, straightaway making her way over to the victim in a panic. The woman spoke, exclaiming in shock and regret despite not being to blame for the incident, and soon she turned to Leo who had been standing at the edge of the sidewalk.

"Sir, could you please call an ambulance? I don't have my phone, please-!"

"I'll take care of it ma'am, don't worry."

It was another stranger, another witness who had replied. Not Leonardo. Leo couldn't speak, couldn't think, eyes refusing to shift a centimeter from Oliver, refusing to shut for even a fraction of a second in fear something else would happen.

"I called an ambulance. They're on their way. There's a hospital not even two miles from here."

That word.

That word was what snapped Leonardo from his daze.

"Hospital?"

"Hold on, what's that on her face, is that paint?"

"It's blue, it's gotta be-"

"Don't touch her!!"

It alarmed the strangers, to say the least. The woman turned to Leo. "A-are you with her? I'm so sorry, I didn't expect her to just come out into the street like that. An ambulance is on its way, it'll be here in no time, so don't-"

"No, no, she can't-" Leo's breath hitched. "She can't—the hospital, she can't go there, she's-"

"Leo, calm down."

Noah approached him from behind and placed a hand in his friend's shoulder, triggering a harsh flinch from the boy.

"Leonardo, breathe, you need to breathe."

"No, no, Noah, she—" He choked on his own words. "The hospital, she can't go, she can't-"

"Leo, look at her. She has to. Just calm down-"

"I think that's blood. But it's blue, what happened??"

From nearby a voice cut through to reach Leonardo's brain. But this time, he didn't have the strength to lash out again. Everything in his vision spun wildly, his head pounding. Nothing was clear.

"Leo! Leo, you gotta stay with me. C'mon, Leonardo..."

"Noah, what if she's scared like me?"

A hand took his own. Leo couldn't see clearly, but he recognized Savannah's touch. He gave the girl's fingers a tight squeeze.

"Noah, what if she's scared? What if she's scared??"

"There's the ambulance. Is she awake? Hang in there, ma'am, we're gonna get you help."

"Excuse me, ma'am, would you mind driving us to the hospital? I doubt they'll permit three people to ride in the back, if any at all."

"Y-yes, of course, I don't have any passengers, you're welcome to get in."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Leonardo, can you hear me? We're gonna go to the hospital for her. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Leo?"

Savannah squeezed his hand tighter.

"Leo, Noah and I are here."

"Just help him get to the car, Savannah, he'll be fine."

It was like slow-motion and fast-forwarding at the same time. Watching, feeling like he was only half-conscious, as paramedics hoisted Oliver onto a stretcher and wheeled her into the back of the ambulance, then hastily confirmed with someone which hospital they'd be taking her to.

In seconds, the ambulance was gone again.

Savannah, suddenly feeling a reminder of the pain that she, also, was experiencing from last night's incident, faltered as she tried escorting Leo to the woman's vehicle. She was in no physical state to be out and about running in the first place, but she had done so regardless because Leo was more important to her. And now she had to keep reminding herself of that as her knees threatened to buckle from beneath her.

"Savannah, you okay?"

She shrugged off Noah's concern—not that she didn't care, but she knew thinking about it would only make it worse. "Yeah. I'm great—Leo, just lower your head a bit more and get in the car, we're right here, I'm right here."