Random Information Can Come In Handy

"Where is he? Where is he?" The thoughts kept reverberating in her head. She had spent about an hour and a half restlessly going all over all town (a clock store on the outer edge of town had been telling her what time it was). He was supposed to meet her back at the police station some time ago.

She was searching now just outside the town for him. Fortunately, all the running both he and the black figure had done had left behind a fairly firm trail for her to follow.

As she walked down the trail, she turned her head just a bit as a cobblestone bridge came into view out of the corner of her eye. Looking out over both the right side of the bridge, she saw a little slip of paper sitting on a small bed of leaves and went over to pick it up.

Picking it up, it was a little piece of paper no smaller than a notecard and folded. Unfolding it, she found a hastily scribbled message written in blue that reads: "Elijah meet me @ were no sun wll ever shin"

She was given a puzzling reaction by the poorly written and vague message and put it into the back pocket of her stark white long pants. Now was not the time to sit around and figure what that meant. Turning back around, she spotted Rambone laying in the creek unconscious. Running over and dropping the hammer she had, she quickly looked all over him to inspect the damage done.

A small gash on the right side of his head, closer to his cheek than his ear. It was still bleeding but beginning to show signs of drying up. Panic broke out inside of her head as she fought off tears with all her heart. (Some tears, did in fact, get past her.)

"No, no, no, no… please tell me it's not serious!" She thought to herself, remembering that awful scene. "I can't let this happen again!"

"You can shed all the tears you want once we find his peace." The thought echoed through her mind. Now wasn't the time to cry.

She took off his flannel and used what parts of it weren't dry to put pressure on it while inspecting the rest of him to close up the wound. His left shoulder, the back of his neck, both of his knuckles were all the parts on his upper body that were bruised. Pulling up his jeans, she found more bruises: the right side of his left lower leg, his left shin, and his knees. She pulled down the jeans after looking for the bruises and any possible blood.

Feeling the back of his neck to make sure that it was indeed a bruise, Rambone woke up jolting in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow... ow. Why'd you do that? That hurts." Rambone said waking up and wincing in pain.

"How'd you know the one inspecting you for your injuries was me?" She replied, her face becoming blank.

"We've done too many fist bumps and handshakes for me not to know. Can you move your hand off my neck now?"

"Sigh... sure. It's pretty easy to tell that's a bruise back later. You're kind of an idiot to be this wreckless to go and get yourself hurt like that, y'know? Especially since you kinda got knocked cold n' all."

"Did you seriously just call me an idiot?"

"Yeah. What'd you do to even get all these bruises, anyway?"

"I got into a fight with fuckin' Mr. Crime School Graduate." He joked and sighed.

"Looks like he knocked you out pretty cold. For someone who spent all that time training in self-defense, you're not that good at it seems."

"HEY, they were super str-"

"Either way you're an idiot for getting beat up that bad. I personally wouldn't have gotten hit at all if I was doing it."

"You would have gotten your ass b-"

"You want me to beat your ass right now?!"

"No, you'd send me to the hospital. Are you crazy?"

"You're the one who's crazy, moron!"

"Why are you one to talk? You're built like Glass Joe!"

"I am fucking not!" Getting angry, Luca used her free hand to punch him in the stomach.

"Aaah!" He yelled in some pain, rolling over on his side and grumbling. "Please, just don't send me to hospital for real."

"Don't get so god damn reckless. I've told you a few times before to not do so and then you go and get yourself hurt." She shook her head at him and made him turn back to face her.

"Just... don't move your head too much. I'm using your soggy flannel to close up the gash you got there." She continued.

"Oh, I didn't even notice. Feels weird with your hand on my face like that." He replied, pleasantly surprised. "Where'd you even learn something like that?"

"Some book filled with random info. Seems it's coming in handy, finally."

"Hm. That's cool but I never bothered with that stuff. Just never stuck with me."

"Ya never know."

There was a brief silence.

"You know, I'd like it if you kept your hand on my face. It's a nice feeling."

"Is it 'cause you've never felt the touch of any girl you've met before?" She questioned him, annoyed.

"Nah. But I do know some girls that do like me that aren't you."

"Like who?! That one granny down that across from the big apartment complex?"

"Hey, she's a girl at heart, I'll have you know! Any woman tha-"

"You literally just called her a woman, you dumbass!"

"If you'd let me spe-"

"Why should you let you finish a contradictory statement. Don't make yourself look stupider than you already do right now."

"As I said, you're one to talk! You don't have a boyfriend yet! No guy wants to date a girl th-"

Luca hard punched him in the stomach, making him turn over once again and cough up some blood up, which proceed to flow down the creek. Turning back over, she used the wet flannel sleeve to wipe up the blood near his mouth.

"Alright, give me a moment. Hold your flannel for me. The gash should have stopped bleeding now."

She went over, picked up the hammer, and placed it in Rambone's hand, and then held his flannel and putting his right arm over her shoulder and placed a hand on his waist.

The two moved in tow together (all the while he occasionally complained and groaned in pain) over to the local clinic and quickly checked him, sitting him down on a little clinic bed and taking his flannel, and hanging it up nearby. Luca took a nearby seat.

A nurse walked over and handed him some water and crackers. He complied and consumed both of what he was given, all the while telling the two how he currently feels physically. After the nurse left, a doctor walked in. He introduced himself, shaking hands with the both of them.

"Hello, I'm Zach. I'll be your doctor for today, it's nice to meet you. Who are you two and what brings you here today?"

"I'm Luca. He's the patient over there." She said, pointing to him.

"Hey, I'm Rambone," Rambone answered, rather neutral from how he was feeling a moment ago.

Luca quickly gave him the spiel on what happened and what she already knows about his condition.

"Some bruises, huh? We can take a look at any further damage," The doctor said. "After which, we'll hold him for a bit and have him rest. I'll have to check for myself to see how bad the bruises are and how to treat them."

Rambone groaned and rolled his eyes, clearly not happy.

Then he felt Rambone in all the spots she had described to him. The shins, the lower left leg, the left shoulder, and then his face. He increasingly winced and said "ow, ow, ow" more and more each time, until he nearly screamed as his neck was being touched.

"Why are your hand so god damn cold?! It's like law for doctors, I swear!" Rambone commented, now even more unhappy.

"Alright, so we're gonna have you lie down and get some rest. From the looks, it just looks like minor bruises that won't interfere with his ability to do anything necessary too much. They'll most likely go away in a few days. The gash on his face, however, will take some time to heal. Good thing you already stopped the bleeding. Though it does have the chance to become a scar, I doubt that will happen."

"Great." Luca nodded with a smile on her face.

"Just keep on it and he should be fine," He said, now turning to face Rambone. "Now, you my friend, have earned yourself some rest."

Rambone nodded, laid down, and quickly went to sleep.

"Can I stay here with him?" Luca asked.

"Sure. We're not gonna ask you to pay up because you both look like kids and we're more like the school nurse than an actual clinic."

"Oh, thanks! We really appreciate it!" She replied, now with a smile of glee on her face.

"You're welcome. Watch over Rambone for us while we're gone and tell us if there are any issues and we'll come in and take care of it."

He walked out of the room, finally giving Rambone time to rest and Luca time to ponder the note.

She pulled it out from her back pocket and quickly got to work thinking of what they could have met on the note by the place "where no sun could ever shine" putting in the missing letters.

"Guess it looks like when he wakes up we're taking a geography test." She thought to herself.