KND - Wake Up

Wake Up...


Blood.

There had been so much.

The ground, him, them, herself…

So much…

Kuki stared at the blond boy in the bed in front of her, and wished.

Wished she had never gone for that walk.

Wished she had chosen a different path home.

Wished he hadn’t been such a hero.

Wished…

And remembered…

- - -

“Kuki… Don’t go...” Wally voice echoed to her, from the back garden of Hoagie’s house, where all of Sector V had been sleeping over the night before.

“I’ll be back in a bit, Wally!” she yelled back. “I’m just going for a walk! It’s such a lovely day!”

And then she left, with Wally waving at her.

She smiled, because it was such a nice day.

She hadn’t walked far though, when unexpectedly the sky became overcast.

Kuki sighed. What an abrupt ending to a perfectly nice day!

She started on her way back, and it began to drizzle. I’m going to be soaked by the time I get home, she thought. But then she remembered.

There was a shorter path. And trees surrounded it so she wouldn’t have to get so wet.

Mind made up, she raced on to the little path, and therefore didn’t see the shadows lurking.

Kuki hummed quietly to herself, then suddenly stopped when she heard something: a twig snapping underfoot…

From the depths of the gloom, three teenage boys slid out and blocked her every exit.

“Well,” one purred sickeningly “Would ya look at that… A cute girl all on her own… Must be our lucky day, boys…”

The others nodded, and grins slipped on to their faces like eels in oil.

“N-no…” murmured Kuki, terrified.

The others mock-gasped.

“Did you hear that?” said the one who had spoken in a sickening singsong voice. “The chick said she doesn’t want to play with us!”

Kuki couldn’t escape. They were so close now…

“Well too bad…” uttered the boy, voice breaking into a snarl. “We want to play with you.”

He lunged, but suddenly he wasn’t there anymore.

Kuki opened her eyes (not even realising she had closed them), and gasped as she saw Wally, in a defensive pose, the lead attacker sprawled on the floor.

“No-one touches Kuki!” he roared.

Then, the other two boys ran at him, and after a few seconds he threw them to the floor with practiced ease.

“Go, Kuki!” he yelled.

She took of, and began to weave through the path. She looked over her shoulder, and saw Wally running to join her.

Everything was fine, and they were going to go back to Hoagie’s house and pretend none of this ever hap-

A scream tore through the air and made Kuki’s heart turn to ice.

Desperately, she turned and hurtled back through the trees to Wally. What she saw made her nearly pass out. But she couldn’t. Who would Wally have then?

For there, in front of her he lay, red, red blood pouring from a gaping wound in his back and pooling into a grotesque puddle on the ground.

To her left stood the lead attacker, with a knife stained with the crimson liquid held loosely in his hand. It looked like he couldn’t believe he’d done it either.

She dropped the ground, and though it made her feel so ill, pressed her hands to the wound and attempted to stop the blood flow.

She looked at the attacker in pain and horror, and rapidly he ran away, dropping the knife on to the earth. His friends followed suit.

Kuki turned back to the Australian boy in front of her and her heart nearly leapt through her mouth. He was so pale, and she could feel his slowing pulse beneath her fingers.

Retching and sobbing, she pulled her mobile from her pocket, and clumsily typed in the three needed numbers, blood sliming over the keys and making it more difficult.

“Please!” she hoarsely croaked into the phone. “Help!”

Blackness swarmed her vision, and she collapsed, repeating her desperate plea once more.

“Please! Help!”

- - -

When she had awoken, Kuki had been in the hospital. She immediately wanted to know where Wally was, and after reassuring several stupid – in her opinion – nurses and doctors, demanded to see him. She was warned it wasn’t going to be nice.

Wasn’t going to be nice was an understatement.

Wally lay on a hospital bed, pale, frail, surrounded by scary machines that buzzed and beeped.

Kuki threw herself into a chair by his bedside and grasped his hand.

“You idiot! You stupid, stupid hero!”

She sobbed into his slowly rising and falling chest. Then, as a terrible thought occurred, she looked in horrified panic at the doctor who had followed her into the room.

“Are we safe?” she asked in a gravely voice, thick from crying and sleep.

To her relief, the doctor nodded, but he did not look her in the eye.

“What’s wrong with him?”

The doctor sighed, and then looked her straight in the eye.

“He’s in a coma. He lost a lot of blood. He was lucky that knife didn’t pierce his heart. We’ve informed his parents and they’re on their way.”

Kuki felt that there was something he was not telling her…

“There’s also another thing, Miss Sanban…”

Kuki looked up, heart pounding.

“His heart stopped in the operating theatre…”

Kuki could’ve sworn her own heart stopped too.

“There’s a large chance he won’t wake up...”
- - -

Which was why Kuki Sanban now sat, hand clenched around Wally’s fist, tears dribbling down her cheeks, and wishing, wishing for it to all go away.

She’d been sat there for 3 days straight.

She couldn’t, wouldn’t leave his side. Not for a moment.

But now she had to. She had to go home, even if it was against her will.

She stood up, sniffling.

“Oh, Wally…” she whispered into his hair, kissing his forehead.

Then she let go of his hand…

Or tried to.

Wally’s hand was gripping hers, and with a joyful expression shooting on to her face, he brought his other hand up to meet it as well.

“Kuki… Don’t go…”

And this time, she didn’t.