Descent to Corruption

1

Fresh cup of coffee in one hand and a completed crossword puzzle in the other I was having a good morning. The streets were fairly empty and the sun was shining down on the few of us out this early. As I stand at the crosswalk I look back over my work on the newspaper and I grin to myself 'Clark can kiss my ass, I didn't have to look up the answers to half of these'.

I hear the thud of a ball nearby and as I glance up I see a soccer ball bouncing across the street, soon after the pitter patter of feet follow it. Glossy black curls sit on the small boy's head and he laughs as he runs to fetch his ball. The sight would usually have me smiling, but in this case I was horrified of what was to occur. A truck was barreling down the road and at the speed it was going it would not stop in time to avoid the child.

Acting on instinct and adrenaline alone, I drop everything to sprint to the boy, swinging him into my arms I squeeze tight onto him. I try to avoid the truck, but it clips my shoulder as I am moving away and I tumble to the ground, I roll to take the brunt of the fall and my head bounces on the concrete beneath us.

A few seconds of ominous silence follow us, but like someone had hit play all the noise comes in at once. A blaring horn, shouts, and thuds of someone running all register. Above all the noise is the feeling of arms taut against my neck. I remember the small boy I had moved for, and eager to see how he is I move to get up. I struggle to sit up with the boy laying atop me, but I eventually am able to seat myself on my butt with him in my lap. His arms never waiver from me and his face is pressed into my neck as he cries. Lifting my good, not clipped by a truck, arm to soothe him I rub his back gently as I coo down to him.

"We're safe now, it's okay."

He continues to cry in my arms as I hear a booming voice nearby, "LEO! LEO! Where the fu-"

A man runs to where we sit and he falls to his knees next to us.

With a slight tremble in his voice, "Leo?" he asks softer than before.

The voice of the man is enough for the small boy to launch himself into his arms, there he glues himself to the man and cries hard enough to get hiccups. The man wraps his arms tight around the boy and he rocks them together with his eyes clenched shut.

"Pensavo di averti perso" He says to himself.

I blink slowly at the sight, still in shock it's like I'm on a five second delay to all that is happening around me. After a beat the stinging of my arm is brought to my attention and I look away from the two to see the damage. My shoulder is pointed at an unnatural angle and my arm below it is scraped up, now slowly bleeding. I look back up, still in a state of disbelief, and I lock eyes with the man. Hazel eyes, more green than brown capture my gaze and if this were any other time and place I would have taken more time to appreciate them, but the awareness of the pain I am in grows and I wince.

"I had one of my men call for a car, we're going to get you help."

I nod my head, but immediately stop as the action brings a wave of dizziness to me.

He stands with ease, clutching the boy to him and I attempt to get up too, but with only one good arm it proves to be more of a problem. A hand grasps me from my good side and gently lifts me to stand. I lean on the figure out of breath and before I can thank them the man in front of me with the boy orders out, "Vin, get her into the car we're going to the doc."

The man, Vin, walks or more carries me with how much I am leaning on him, to a big black SUV that had pulled up on the corner. I am gingerly set in the back on one side and the man with boy enter from the other. Seated next to one another the driver shoots off.

The air in the car is tense from the event that had occurred and I turn to look to the boy, wanting to see if he was okay. His soft sniffles and hiccups are the only indicators I have that he's still shaken up, as his face is buried in the man's chest.

"Is he okay? I didn't get a chance to check to see if he got hurt." I ask as I stare down at his small figure.

"You covered him entirely, there's not even a scratch on him. He's just in shock right now."

I look up as he speaks and I find him already looking intensely my way.

I smile at this, "Good, he'll probably be shaken up for a bit but I'm glad he's okay."

As I finish we drive over a pothole and are jostled around enough that the smile drops fast. The rocking of the car brings another wave of dizziness and nausea to me and my shoulder screams at the movement.

There's a moment of silence following my words and I am happy to leave it at that as I can feel my eyes get heavier with each blink. It has become harder to think now that the adrenaline from earlier is fading away and I find myself sinking down into the seat slightly.

As we come to a stop at a light the man next to me speaks up again.

"May I have your name so I am able to properly thank the person who saved my son's life."

I turn my head in his direction to answer him, but my tongue feels like there are weights holding it down in my mouth. I blink to try and clear my brain fog, but when my eyelids close I am unable to open them and I sink into the darkness with no trouble.

-----

* Very short intro, but let me know what you think so far!