Wednesday Briefs #9 The Hollow: Soul Seekers

Copyright 2014 JC Wallace

Each Week a group of authors participate weekly in Wednesday Briefs Flash Fiction. Each installment is 500-1000 words long and is posted to our blogs each week. After you read the latest in my story, click on the link at the end to visit the other flashers.

Welcome my new weekly flash story The Hollow: Soul Seekers. My previous story Diventando: Becoming has been pulled so I can prep it for publication. I will let you know in the future a date of publication.

I-I mean…” The words stumbled out of Noah’s mouth and he drew in a deep breath. “What I meant to say is that I’ll go into the other room while you change so you don’t have to walk all the way over there.” Again, the nervous smile. What the hell was that? Noah was one of those confident guys Levi had always envied. A guy that wasn’t bothered by anything.

Levi’s stomach did a flip. Warily, Levi regarded Noah’s words and body language since he’d arrived at the cabin. Noah had been sending up flags that most gay guys would call gaydar. Levi didn’t believe in gaydar. He considered it a dangerous mistake to assume someone gay. What Levi did know was when macho jock types were sending signals. It wasn’t as if Noah was a stranger. Being gay in this small town wasn’t exactly news but being openly gay was. Noah was an acquaintance of Gia’s from high school, but she’d never once let Levi know he swung toward boys – well, now men. If Noah was Gia’s friend he’d trust him since Gia didn’t tolerate losers. And Noah was trying to help him in what was one of the stupidest situations he’d ever allowed himself to be in.

When he didn’t agree immediately, he spoke. “I promise not to look,” Noah said, then held up two fingers and smiled. “Scout’s honor.”

Levi nodded and turned his upper body to lay the clothes on the coffee table. A stabbing pain ripped up his right side and he cried out. Instinctively, his left hand went up to protect the area as he fell forward toward the table. His right palm slammed into the floor before his head could strike the table’s jagged wooden corner.
“Shit, Levi.”

Pain throbbed in his side. Muscles in his chest and stomach clenched tight, restricting his lungs. He gasped for air as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Frozen in pain, he struggled to remain upright as darkness clouded his vision.

A fuzzy Noah knelt before him.

“What’s wrong?”

Noah immediately began inspecting Levi’s body. “Where?” He pushed the coffee table away and moved to the side protected by Levi’s left hand.

Levi signaled with the hand protecting his side. Closing his eyes helped Levi to direct his attention toward relaxing his muscles and away from his physical torment.

“Your side hurts?” “Move your hand so I can take a look,” Noah directed.

Levi shook his head, continuing to guard the vulnerable area with his hand. The intense pain was slowly fading into a hot throb. No more pain was his current motto.

“Please, just let me look.” Noah’s voice was calm and oddly soothing. “I’m sure it’s nothing. I promise not to hurt you.”

Again, Levi refused. That shit hurt way too much. Call him a pussy and see if he cared.

“Just let me look pl—

“ I’m okay,” Levi forced out. Now if someone would stop trying to rip his side apart he wouldn’t be called a liar.

An exasperated sigh escaped from Noah. “You’ve always been so stubborn. Just trust me.”

Was that a hint of aggravation in Noah’s voice? And what did he know about Levi’s stubbornness?

Glancing over his shoulder, Levi caught a glimpse of Noah where he knelt. His hands planted firmly at his hips, his green eyes had darkened and his face hardened. Just the sides of his shoulder-length auburn hair had been pulled back into a ponytail. Shorter pieces of wavy locks hung at the sides of his face. When had he taken off his hat? His hard stare told Levi he was serious about checking his injury.

"Okay.” Levi relented and removed the hand blocking Noah and then clamped his eyes shut, prepping for the pain.

“I’m going to lift up your sweater so I can see,” he informed Levi. Noah slipped a finger under the sweater’s hem near Levi’s hip. The tip of Noah’s finger gently swiped Levi’s skin causing him to flinch.

“Did I hurt you?”

"No,” Levi assured him. Why had he jumped?

Carefully, Noah peeled the damp fabric up toward Levi’s armpit. Reflexively, Levi wrapped his arm around his chest to prevent too much skin exposure. Noah didn’t seem to notice his act of modesty. Yeah, this wasn’t embarrassing or anything.

“Hell, Levi!” Noah startled him-again.

"What?” Levi craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the area, but the pain limited his twisting.

Noah still held up Levi’s sweater, squinting at the area as if trying to get a better look. “What did you say happened? You fell into the lake?”

Yes, that’s exactly what he’d said. “Yup.”

“Did you hit your side against something?”

It had all happened so fast, he wasn’t sure. He’d tripped coming onto the rock but had he fallen? No. Well, actually, he had fallen into the water—twenty feet into the water right onto his side— the side currently holding Noah’s attention.

Without getting too specific, he said, “I didn’t hit anything, but I fell pretty far and landed on my side in the water.”

"And where exactly where were you that you fell far enough to crack a rib?”
Levi’s head snapped around. “I broke a rib?”

Noah nodded. “Oh, yeah. At least one.” He squinted and reexamined the area. “Maybe two.”

No way. He had to be wrong. “How do you know they’re—”

“Broken?” Noah finished his question. “Well, your entire side is reddish purple from right here under your armpit to about here.” He twirled a finger over a spot Levi couldn’t see. “The bruising is worse right in the middle. Kind of a deep purple, almost black. Bruising like that can only mean broken bones.”

"But it didn’t really hurt until now,” Levi protested, feeling as if his entire body was on display for Noah’s perusal. He grabbed his sweater and pulled it down.

Noah blinked at the action and then said, “Well, cold tends to numb injuries and you fell into a huge pool of ice water.” He raised himself from the floor and returned the ball cap to his head. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

 Oh, no way. “Are you kidding me? I can’t go to the hospital. What am I supposed to tell my parents?” His father was going to go ballistic—Levi screwed up again!

Levi managed to sit on the floor, panting and tried to catch what little breath his side allowed. Definitely fucked something up.

“Listen we aren’t going to mess around with this.” Again with the directness. “You need x-rays. You could have punctured a lung, or liver, or be bleeding internally,” he continued.  “No messing around with this Pretty Boy.”

Levi frowned at the name and didn’t all of those possibilities sound a little over the top. Levi decided he liked the reassuring, smiling Noah better than the direct, take charge, Noah but decided not to argue. The idea of slowly bleeding to death suddenly increased Levi’s cooperativeness.

“How do we get out of here?” The thought of walking across the room sent phantom spikes of pain into his feet much less a mile back to his car.

Noah turned from the cabinet he’d just opened with a pile of fleece blankets in his arms. “By boat,” he said matter-of-factly.

Right. Why hadn’t Levi known that?

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