Save Me.

"Jimmy get your tall ass back here before you get lost!" I shouted, trying to find the drummer in desperation. I had no idea where I was going, and I don't think he did either. All I knew was that we were in a park. Jimmy only ran out of the tour bus because he saw ducks.

After a moment I could hear him talking, but I wasn't sure if he was talking to an actual person or himself. Maybe he was talking to the ducks, I wasn't sure.

I could hear the sound of a large bush besides me beginning to move. Fuck it, I thought. May as well check there. I shook the bush a small bit to make sure that it wasn't an animal or anything that would eat me alive. As soon as I did, the moving stopped.

"I'm gonna pray to God that's just a mouse," he whispered. I also heard someone giggle next to him. It didn't sound like Jimmy at all.

"Not quite a mouse," I smirked, opening a clearway so I could see the two people. Next to Jimmy was a girl, who looked quite young. Where the hell did he find her? I wondered.

"Come on, Zacky!" He whined. "I was having fun!"

"I know Jimmy but we-- hold on. Who's this?" I finally asked, looking at the girl next to him.

"This is uh.. Fuck, what's your name?"

"Emily," the girl said, although it was hard to hear her. I could see Jimmy's smile light up as he began to ramble on to her.

I looked at her and held out a hand to help her up. "Sorry about him," I muttered. "He does this a lot."

After she got up, Jimmy held his hand up for a high five. "That was fun," he exclaimed, grinning even bigger when she slapped his hand. From the corner of my eye, I saw something unusual.

There was blood starting to trickle down past the sleeve of her jacket. Either someone attacked her, or she did something to herself. I knew that I needed to mention something to her, but I couldn't with Jimmy around.

"Hey Jimmy, is that a squirrel over there?" I asked, pointing somewhere behind me. Jimmy's eyes widened, running in the direction I had pointed at. Once he ran off, I turned to the young girl.

"So uh, is there any specific reason there's blood on your hand?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down at her arm.

For a second she looked confused. I started to wonder if I was just seeing things. After all, I hadn't gotten a solid night of sleep in two days. But after a moment, realization hit her like a brick. And before I knew what was happening, she passed out. Somehow I managed to catch her before she fell and hit her head. A concussion was, more than likely, the last thing she needed.

"Jimmy!" I called out. "We have a problem!"

"What?!" He yelled in response, running back to me. It didn't take him long to figure out what I was talking about. "Dude, what did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! There was just blood on her hand and I asked about it and she just.." My voice faltered.

"Well we can't just leave her here."

"I know," I mumbled. "But we're not even halfway back to California. And what if she's a minor? I don't want it to look like we kidnapped her."

"She doesn't look younger than 18. Let's just take her back to the bus. Besides, even if she, we can just bring her back home when she's ready." Believe it or not, Jimmy could gave some decent advice sometimes. It was somewhat rare, but good nonetheless.

I picked the girl up bridal style and carried her away from the park, heading back towards the tour bus. I was thankful that it was still in the same place.

"Uh, Zacky... Who is that?" Matt asked as I walked through the door. Jimmy was right behind me. Matt was the only one in the living area of the bus; I guessed that everyone else went to bed.

"I’m not exactly sure. I know her name is Emily. Jimmy found her first. She passed out and we couldn't just leave her there." I rambled.

I knew this looked bad. A random girl just so happens to pass out while Jimmy and I were in a park at night? Yeah, no.

"Are you gonna keep her?" He asked.

Jimmy laughed. "She's not a dog."

I glanced over at him before looking back at Matt. "I don't know. I don't even know how old she is. She looks pretty young."

"Alright. Well, we can take her for a bit. If she's under 18 we can just bring her back home," Matt said.

I nodded in agreement and took her into the bathroom, setting her down as gentle as possible. I grabbed a clean oversized t-shirt from the laundry basket and a pair of boxers. She didn't have any clothes with her. I moved her hair out of her face to try to get a better look at her. Bruises covered her face, which startled me a bit. I took off her jacket and shirt as well, and doing so answered my question from earlier.

Her arms had scars all over. Some were recent, but most were fading. The most recent ones must have happened just before we saw her, because they were still bleeding.

"What the fuck?" I muttered.

It was a good thing that our bus had an actual bathtub in it. I undressed the rest of her and placed her in the tub, turning on the water. I got her as clean as I could, trying not to push on her bruises or scars. I knew that waking her up would end bad. When she was clean I dried her off and put her in the clothes I grabbed for her.

It was definitely on the weirder side to bathe a girl in her sleep. If she woke up I would be in huge trouble.

I brought her into the room with the bunks, laying her in my bed and covering her with the blanket. I had to admit, she was gorgeous. Although I didn't know what happened to her to make her have so many bruises and cuts, part of me wanted to find out. I just wasn't sure if she would tell me.

I walked back into the living area. Matt was still there, drinking a beer and watching Ridiculousness on the TV.

"Did she wake up?" He asked.

"No, thank God. But something wasn't right," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"She had bruises everywhere, dude. And scars. Hell, some of them were still bleeding." I sighed. "I'm worried."

"Well when she wakes up, ask her what happened. Don't worry, man. At least we'll be home soon," Matt smiled. "Where is she?"

"My bed. I'll sleep on the couch tonight. I don't wanna scare her," I told him.

He nodded in agreement and headed off to the bunks to go to bed. I made myself comfortable on the couch, flicking off the lights and wondering what could have happened to the poor girl.

Notes