Run

“Are you okay?!” Someone called out.

At this point I couldn’t respond, all I could do was sit.

“Are you okay?” The voice was right next to me, everything was still blurry.

“I um...” I said as I carefully touched my head.

Never before had I felt that my head was so delicate that simply putting my hand on it would make me cry. But now, as tears streamed down my face from my head being bashed around, I realized just how sensitive it actually was.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” The voice asked.

Slowly the words were belonging to a person, a blurry person.

“Four?” I guessed, flopping backward.

“You’ll be okay!” The voice giggled, patting my head.

“OW!” I yelled, suddenly sitting up.

“Oh! Sorry!” The voice got higher the more it talked.

“What was that for?!” I stood up way too quickly.

“Hold on,” she put her hand on my arm, steadying me.

I could now tell who it was that I was exactly dealing with. Even if I didn’t know exactly who she was.

“Thanks..” I said, blinking slowly.

“Who’re you?” She smiled.

“Um...” My memory wasn’t really helping me out right now.

“I’m Karin,” she said, pushing me to answer her question.

“I -- I’m um... Charlie? Right? Yeah, I think so..” Suddenly meeting this girl after falling down a giant hill wasn’t making me really sure about my answers.

“It’s nice to meet you!” She giggled.

“It’s um.. Nice to meet you too?” I blinked a few more times before feeling confident enough to stand on my own. “You don’t have to hold me.”

“Oh!” She smiled, pulling away. “You’re right.”

“Thanks,” I said again.

“So, how did you end up here exactly?” She questioned.

“Um, the...” I turned around, expecting to see a hill but in all reality, there was nothing. “Uh...”

“You seem like you took a tumble,” she wiped the blood off my cheek.

“Yeah, at least, I thought I did..” I was baffled, quickly I wiped my eyes, pretending that I hadn’t been crying.

She shrugged, “are you lost?”

“I guess so,” I shrugged.

Curiously she licked the blood that she wiped off my cheek.

“Ew!” I yelled.

“What?!” She jumped.

“Don’t do that!” I hit her hand.

“Why?!” She defended.

“It’s gross!” I started laughing, this was silly after all.

“It is?” She asked, her eyes getting wide.

“It really is,” I laughed.

“Oh..” She wiped it off on her shirt.

“Well now people will think you have a wound,” I scolded her.

“Is that bad?” She tilted her head.

“Kinda,” I contemplated what could happen.

“What should I do then?” She asked in a childish voice.

“Here,” I said, pulling off my shirt.

It’s not so unusual for a guy to walk without a shirt on here.

“Thanks!” She smiled, starting to pull her shirt off.

“Woah, woah, woah!” I yelled. “Privacy?!”

“Hm?” She tilted her head the opposite way.

“Go here,” I walked her behind a tree. “Privacy.”

Quickly I walked around to the other side of the tree, unintentionally creating a bond with this girl, something that would make it so she wouldn’t leave me.

“All better!” She giggled, running toward me from behind the tree.

“Good,” I smiled. “Stay safe now, okay?”

“Okay!” She giggled.

I started to walk away, leaving her behind. The further away I walked the more I realized that A: I wouldn’t be able to walk for much longer and B: I wasn’t alone. Slowly I turned around. Karin stood behind me, a big grin plastered on her face.

“What?” She asked playfully.

“Why’re you following me?” I smiled.

She looked up, trying to find an answer. After a few minutes she looked at me again.

“Hi,” she grinned.

“Hi?” I said.

“Where’re you going?” Her eyes were wide and naive.

“Somewhere,” I answered.

“Can I come with?!” She yelled happily.

I put my hand over her mouth.

“Quieter.” I told her.

“Oh! Sorry,” she mumbled through my hand.

“It’s okay,” I laughed.

“Can I come with though?” She asked again.

I thought about it for a while, this is some person I just met, am I really going to take her on some walk that I’m not even sure about? And either way, why does she trust me?

“Sure,” I said without thinking.