Don't Cry For Me

Renna held onto the side of the bridge for dear life, seeing the icy cold water flowing below her. She didn't know how to swim, and she couldn't hold on forever. It was in the middle of Winter, January to be exact, and ice had formed on the bridge itself, which was the main reason why she was in this situation in the first place. She closed her eyes and felt a warm tear begin to fall from her grey eyes, knowing the pressure was starting to get to her. She felt like letting go and letting herself fall down to her watery grave, ending her short yet eventful life. Exciting wasn't the word to describe her life, and neither was boring. If anything, her life was dreadful, at times unbearable. She hated where she lived, yet there was nothing she could do about it. Her parents' jobs were here, and they were well paying jobs, which seemed odd in a town like Dealthboro. Renna tried everything to convince them to move, but they never faltered.

Here she was, hanging off the side of the Morrisberry Bridge on a chilly night in January, with nowhere else to go. She felt her hand slip, prepared for her inevitable death, and as she started to fall, she closed her eyes once again. Her one arm suddenly tingled, and she had no idea why. It became warmer, and pressure was applied to it. She opened her eyes to find that someone had caught her before she had fallen. She, starting to succumb to hypothermia, closed her eyes and passed out, the last thing she saw being the person's eyes staring at her.

She woke up in a bed inside a dark room. There were no lights, except for the streetlights from the roads down below. She noticed the room she was in.....a bedroom. She quickly tried to get up, but found it impossible to do, because she was still extremely weak from the hypothermia. She looked down and noticed she was engulfed in many blankets, and her clothes nowhere to be found. All she had on was her undergarments, at least that's hat they were officially called. She saw her clothes on the window sill, looking as if they were hanging out to dry. Just then the door opened, and she flinched just a bit, surprised by the sudden entering. In entered a man, dressed in all black and back gloves. He had a tray in his hand, which held a bowl of soup and a sandwich. She figured it was for the man, and she kept silent as the man placed the tray on the dresser near the window, and then taking off his gloves. He took a box of matches off the coffee table oddly placed in the far corner of the room, instead of the usual resting spot, in the middle of the room. He struck one and lit a few candles around the room. After he blew the match out, he continued to set up the tray of food sitting on the dresser. He sighed, seeming as though he was unbelievably tired.

"You know, you can come over and eat whenever you're ready..." he said, looking over his shoulder to look at Renna. She refused to move, unsure what his plan was, and why she was in the room she was in. He shrugged and turned back over to the tray of food.

"Suit yourself...I guess I'll have to play servant...." he joked, carrying the tray over to her. She stared at it when he placed it in her lap. He sighed after a moment or two of no movement.

"Don't worry....it's not poisoned or anything......just eat....you need to regain your strength....." he said, getting the napkin placed next to the bowl and opening it up for her. She finally got the nerve to speak.

"Who...are you?" she asked, that being the only thing she could think of at that moment.

"That's not important right now.....now hurry up and eat, we got a lot to do today...."

"What do you mean? I don't understand...."

"I don't expect you to understand....I expect you to trust me....now eat..." he insisted, holding up the sandwich to her. She slowly took it and bit into it even slower. She noticed it was Peanut Butter and Jelly, a combination she hadn't had ever since she was ten, which was seven years ago. After a minute or two, the sandwich was completely devoured, causing the man to smile.

"Good.....now once you finish your soup, we can get ready to go."

"Where exactly are we going?"

"That's something you will need to find out once we get there...."

"Can you at least tell me where we are now?"

"Easy...you're still in Dealthboro, but in the downtown area..."

"DOWNTOWN?! But that's the most crime-infested part of town!"

"Exactly..."

"Ok, now you're scaring me..."

"There's nothing to be scared about....I'm taking care of you right now, so nothing bad will happen to you..."

"How do I know that?! You could be a rapist for all I know! I demand to know who you are!"

"Shhh! Calm down, there.....just relax....will you promise to settle down if I tell you who I am?" he asked, taking her gently by the shoulders. She slowly nodded her head, and soon she was sitting peacefully on the bed she had woken up in. The man rubbed his eyes and looked up at her. The shadows from the night and the lights from the street made it so only his eyes could be seen. They glowed a bright hazel, and a deep application of eyeliner was right underneath them. She found them quite welcoming and pleasing, compared to the evil, dirty world that was around her. The man sighed and looked out the window.

"I am one of what people call 'Night Roamers'...."

"What?"

"We are the people that prevent and stop crimes from happening in Dealthboro.....we are like cops, but we roam alone, and we follow no orders...we are regular citizens, but then again we aren't...."

"What do you mean by 'we aren't' exactly?"

"That's something I'm afraid I can't tell you....at least not yet..."

"Ok then.....can you at least tell me your name?"

"It's Frankie...."

"Frankie? Where have I heard that name before?"

"I don't know...it's a common name, so probably someone else you know...." Frankie said, rubbing his neck and seeming uncomfortable with the conversation at that point. Renna noticed this and silently retreated back to her food, which still had to be eaten.

Renna, in a nutshell, was a complicated girl. Her hair was grey all her life, ever since she was born. Her eyes were grey as well, which made her hair even more odd. At her own request, she convinced her parents to let her start dying her hair. She only wanted one color....black......this was so no one could see her as well at night than with someone with say blonde or red hair. She had a scar on her left wrist, and despite the countless accusations of the scar being a result of cutting, it was in fact a scar she had obtained almost sixteen years ago, when she was not quite two years old. Her and her parents were walking across a street when a shoot out had started, causing them to duck. Her father had gotten shot on the arm, her mother left unharmed, and a bullet grazed across Renna's left wrist. She yelled in pain as she started to bleed, and even though the hospital did everything they could, the scar wouldn't be able to be removed. The strangest part was that every time pressure was applied to the scar, the pain from the shot returned, and she would once again yelp in pain as the memories flooded back into her wrists.

She ran away that night the bridge incident happened, and she had good reason to. She felt so depressed and so alone that it was her basic instinct. Just then her flashback was interrupted by a hand waving in front of her face. She returned to the present time and focused her eyes on the room she was in. Frankie was looking at her with concern, wondering what she had been thinking for the past two minutes of just sitting there. She sighed and finished her soup, not wanting to think anymore.

"Listen....you gotta take one of these before we go..." Frankie warned, handing her a glowing capsule. It changed colors almost constantly, turning from red to purple to blue and green, then eventually glowing back to red again. She looked at Frankie with amazement.

"Yeah, I know, it looks cool, but it's supposed to go inside your mouth and be swallowed, so hurry up and do it..."

"What will this do?"

"This will make you invulnerable to guns shots, stabbings, and any form of violence done against you for five hours..."

"Oh, goodness..."

"Yep, now if only we could make one that could last forever...." he joked, causing Renna to laugh. It was the first time she had laughed in months, and it felt so good. She swallowed the capsule with the glass of water that Frankie had provided, and she wiped her mouth to rid of any excess water surrounding her mouth. She then sighed and looked around, seeing her clothes over on the window sill. Frankie noticed this and shot up.

"Oh, I'm sorry....your clothes should be dry by now, I think......it would've been done sooner if my dryer worked, but of course when I need it more than ever, it goes out on me....."

"Never trust machinery..." Renna muttered. Frankie chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess that's the lesson here..." he said, folding his arms in front of his chest. Renna attempted to get up while wrapping the countless blankets around her so that Frankie couldn't see her bra and all, but she was still too weak to even stand, so that resulted in her plummeting to the floor, and Frankie soon by her side.

"You know, I might need to help you get dressed..."

"Oh no, I don't think that's going to happen..."

"C'mon, how else are you going to get dressed in a few minutes time? I took them off so they could dry, so I'm not new to the whole thing..."

"Yeah, but I couldn't stop you from doing it before..."

"You still won't be able to stop me, because you're still too weak..." Frankie explained, and Renna realized this. She reluctantly accepted defeat and motioned for Frankie to get her clothes. He did so and returned with them in his hand. He smirked when he saw the expression on Renna's face, not feeling comfortable with the whole situation.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't look at anything in particular..." Frankie said, removing the blankets so he could dress her. She sighed.

"Whoop de doo...." she said sarcastically, showing him that comment didn't help in the slightest bit. When he went to put her black skirt on, his hand slid down her back, and it sent chills down her spine. He placed his tattooed arms around her so he could lift the skirt up, and she bit her lips, liking the security he was giving her. He made her feel safe in his arms, and in a town like Dealthboro, that was a rare feeling indeed. He then took her grey shirt and lifted it over her head. When the sleeves were filled with her arms, Frankie made sure the shirt was on perfectly, smoothing out any wrinkles by rubbing his hands across her shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled, enjoying the feeling. She knew this was just wrong, and for two reasons. One: He seemed as though he was almost ten years older than her....literally....Two: He was basically a complete stranger....hardly being in her life for ten minutes, and here she was, already becoming fond of the man. She opened her eyes and noticed that Frankie had taken her in his arms and was walking down the dark hallways of the apartment. The room they were in was on the fifth floor, so the elevator was Frankie's choice of transportation in the building, instead of the tiring stairs. When they reached the streets, he walked over to a black Mercury, the interior black as well as everything else inside. He helped Renna in and started up the car, which ran smoothly. Renna smiled at the car's performance and looked out the window as the car drove off into the night.........