6 comments/ 25586 views/ 5 favorites Eye for an Eye Ch. 1 By: noplex This was a story that I got inspiration for as of recent. Let me know how you all like it. This is first real story that I am attempting outside of the "Science Fiction" world that we have going on here at Literotica. I hope that everyone likes it. Comment please! My apologies ahead of time for my writing style… the story is going to start off slow at first, but I love to give a lot of back story on my characters. I am going to take an interesting turn with this. So the next chapter of the story is going to be from Danni's point of view. I hope it does not get too confusing. Bare with me though. I have a lot of ideas and I would like to continue this story. Please let me know what you guys think! Comment, comment, comment! I will only continue if I get good feedback. Thanks! The dream seemed to last forever. They say that your mind plays tricks on you, and while in a coma this is truly what happens. Everything that I could remember was so vague that my ability to recall a certain event during the coma was nearly impossible. But the feeling was still there. I felt like that my whole life was reminded and fast-forwarded several times until the second that I woke up. I really can remember everything. It just takes awhile, and a lot of effort. If I concentrate enough I can remember hearing someone say something, or the touch of a hand on my arm. Sometimes I can even recall the words that the doctors had told my family. I can remember the tears. I can remember the harsh words, the fights, the arguments, and I can remember the decision to take me off life-support. Everything. The human mind is sometimes taken for granted. It was as-if my body knew that I was being put to death, and the will to live was there. I remember opening my eyes, and taking that one deep breath. The breath of life and the taste of fresh hospital air filled my lungs. I could smell it all. My vision took a few seconds to adjust to the months of non-use, but it eventually did. I could see my parents. Their faces were amazed. The doctors, the nurses, and the rest of my family were all crying. My life had just begun—again. The car accident was quick. I was hit by a drunk driver and sent over a bridge into a ditch. The car rolled several times and being the idiot that I was I didn't wear my seat belt. I still will never forgive myself for that. After a week or two of constant checkups I was finally able to see my initial charts. I had a massive head injury and bleeding to the brain. I had two broken legs, a collapsed lung, a broken list and a broken nose (I didn't like my nose anyway). My left shoulder was torn out of socket and I was lucky that my neck wasn't broken. The head injury is obviously what ultimately got me. It was three months, two weeks, six days, fourteen hours, and thirty-three minutes between the time I was emitted to the emergency room and the time that I woke up from my coma. Three months. That was a nearly a whole school semester at college. I had lost several months of time, the ability to recall names and faces on a dime, but I was alive. My mind was still recuperating from the accident when I made the choice to switch schools. It was always my goal to finish college because my parents had never gone themselves. I wasn't giving up because of some amnesia and rehabilitation. This whole experience is regrettable. I would never want to wish it on anyone or go through the same thing again. But I can't totally wish that it didn't happen to me. You see, it caused me to get a new view on life, and ultimately tell you what this story is about. This story is about love. This story is about the girl that changed my life. The girl that brought me up from the depression, the anguish, and pain that plagued me. If it was not for this accident, not for that driver, and not for those drinks that he had at the bar prior to hitting me I would have never met her. I would have never changed my schools. I would have never gone so far from home that I would need to fly back just to see some family. This is where my story begins. It was only a few months since my departure from the intensive care ward in the hospital. With my parents bidding I had made the choice to go to a school a few states away instead of the local state institution. There was a reason for this. My amnesia affected me enough that I could not recall many names or faces. The interesting part is that I remember all of my lectures, notes, tests, class projects, and the games of football that we religiously played Sunday afternoons in the quad. The people though, disappeared, and the only thing that was in their place was memories of events. So I decided to start from scratch and in order to do so I needed to move. I wanted to move. The closer that I was to home the more I would be reliant on my parents and the less I would need to rely on myself. That was my mentality and I am sticking by it to this day. But honestly it was the fact that I could not remember my friends that struck me. I would look at someone that I graduated high school with and not remember who they were. The face was recognizable but I could not put a name to it. I could not put a movie to it. I didn't even know if I had sex with a girl! I know that I wasn't a virgin but I could not even remember the last person that I had sex with! I was scared. So I decided to start fresh. That's exactly what I did. My twenty-first birthday had just passed as I began school at a decent-sized university. I refused to have a handicapped accommodation because I would only be on crutches for a few more months. So I was thrown into a single room on the second floor of the building. After the initial mingling everything was going smoothly. It took awhile to get used to the crowd but soon I was accepted and amongst friends. The month of September had passed and my classes were going well. The rehabilitation was going well. The general focus of my life was going well. That is except my love life. That was non-existent. I guess the women just didn't want to hang out with a crippled guy. Who could blame them? I nearly gave up on women until my rehabilitation left me with two working legs, that is, until I found her. That story is interesting in and of itself. It was a rainy day. One of those days that you absolutely do not want to go outside for the fear of floating away in a quick current of gutter water. Of course my class was a good deals away and being the moron that I am I decide that instead of using my "handicap-card" to sleep in that I was going to make the trek to class. The buildings were empty. But I was an arcitect major and I needed to be at every class that I could attend. It was a laboring major. But I loved it. I loved it up until the point that I got to the classroom and read the sign that class was canceled. I was indeed a major asshole. As I was making my way to the stairs my crutch decided to slip and cause me to fall down a good flight of stairs. I am full of luck, aren't I? My head received a good bang and everything went white-wash for a few minutes. I was feeling it all over again. The feeling that I never wanted to feel again. I could feel that my wrist had indeed been turned the wrong way and most likely fractured again. Through the haze of my vision a female beauty loomed over my lifeless body. A few quick screams later, some talking, and probably jibberish coming out of my fat mouth got me to the emergency room. Yeah. A mild concussion and another fracture of the wrist. I was definitely on a ball this year. After spending a few hours on the phone with the parents convincing them that I was not coming home I made it back to my dorm. I hobbled my way out to the cafeteria because I was in need of some nutrition. That is where I saw her. The beauty that helped me. This was my chance. So I played the handicap card and cut to the front of the line, grabbed some grub, and got in line behind her. She was amazing. Her black hair flowed down past her shoulders, she had creamy white skin, and her body was perfect. She had all the right curves. I instantly felt that pit in my stomach grow larger. I could tell, at least from this view-point, that she was into the whole "gothic" scene. I was not really sure what that mean as I did not enjoy labeling people, but that was the only way that I could describe her. It was sexy. So I decided to make my love. "Hey, there, excuse me…", I put one hand on her shoulder. Of course, what happened next, I did not expect. I wasn't prepared to defend myself and having two crutches in my hand did not help either. "You fucking asshole…", she said as she turned around and socked me one right in the face. I stumbled back and fell on my ass. It took her a few seconds to realize who exactly I was and she rushed over to help me up. "Oh my, are you okay? I am so fucking sorry! I thought you were some pig trying to… shit… are you bleeding?" "No, no, that is from before. I just wanted to say thank-you. Damn girl you have a good right-hand there", I couldn't help but laugh as she helped me back up to my feet. After a few seconds of sorting myself together I continued the conversation. "If it isn't too much I would like to buy you dinner", I looked over her tray, "That is, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some ruffles, and a crystal light." We both laughed loudly and I hobbled over to cashier to pay her before she had a chance to say otherwise. I plopped my ass down on a chair and ate what I could of my recovered ham sandwich. "The guy that you saved from most likely being humiliated by some of his late classmates is Dave", I put my hand out to shake hers. She kept her long sleeves down almost over her hands and put hers out to mine. I could tell that she was a shy person. "Well I figured that it was my civic duty and all to help a fallen guy in crutches. If it was my choice I probably would have left you there to rot", we both laughed simutaniously, "my name is Danielle." I took another bite from my sandwich looking into her beautiful green eyes as we both ate in silence. I was not the best person to break the ice but I could tell that the burden was going to be on me. So I decided to tell the story of how my crutch-hugging Italian ass came to be at that school. "Wow, that is an amazing story", she finally said after my lecture on the subject. "Sometimes I wish that I could have been in a coma for a good portion of my life. It must be good not to be able to remember all of the bad things that happened to you." Her eyes left mine and watched the sun setting over the quad. I could not believe what I was hearing from her. "Good? I lost my whole life. I lost my friends. My memories", the reality of the situation was weighing on my shoulders again and I matched her gaze into the sunset, "I lost myself. You do not know how hard it has been. I would not wish this on anyone." "Well not everyone has a good outlook on life. That is, memories, and friends." I took my hands from hers which caused her to look back at me. "How could you not have any good memories?", my heart started to sink even more now for this girl. I saw that this was not a subject that she wished to continue to talk about. She started gathering up her books and papers. "Thanks for the meal. I really must be going", and with that she got up and left. I am not sure why I did not follow after her to stop her. There was just so much running through my head at this point. How could someone want their whole life erased? She did not have any good memories? What had happened to this girl? The whole wobble back to my dorm I thought of what could have happened to her. Who she could have lost, or what she could have done to make her feel like that. So many questions. I was never a person that believed in God. Some would call me an Atheist, but I was more of a person that was waiting for something to believe in. I was scientific. I needed to see, hear, or feel things in order to make my assumptions about them. This is precisely why I do believe in conscience. This was the first time that I truly thought that things happen for a reason. After spending some time in my dorm thinking about the events of the day I ventured outside to get some fresh air. By the clocks outside it was two-thirty in the morning and the campus was dead. After a few rounds of hobbling around and breathing the fresh air I headed back to my dorm. I heard a slight scream of pain which caused me to go over to a secluded area of the quad. Danni was sitting down on a bench with a knife in her hand. She had just systematically cut her arm in which I was later to find out was a form of self-harm called "cutting." I moved over to her and put my arm gently on hers and I could smell the alcohol on her breath. I could literally taste the vodka. "What are you doing to yourself?" "Leave me alone! This is my own thing j-j-ust go", she slurred as she tried to get up but fell back down on the bench. I put my arm under hers and lifted her up and braced her against me as best as I could. My right crutch dropped and hit the ground near the bench and we started walking towards my dorm. I was not about to let this girl pass out drunk in the middle of the quad with knife cuts. "Danni you're going to need to help me here", I said as we neared the dorm. The security guard had left his post and I was able to get her to the staircase without any incident. My room was on the second floor as soon as you walked through the door, but the walk upstairs proved to be fifty-times harder than with crutches. We finally reached my dorm after ten minutes of struggling up a flight of stairs. Danni passed out on my bed a few minutes after I set her down there. I removed the knife from her pocket and cleaned up her arm with some paper-towels. This was the first time that I was able to see her full body, and I lifted her sleeves up. There were several scabs and scars that traveled up both of her arms. I had heard of this before but this was the first time that I was actually encountering a person that had the problem. My fingers touched a rather deep scar and I watched her stir in her sleep. She was truly beautiful. Her breasts were not large but they fit her body perfectly. The slender figure and the white complexion were a great accent to the whole "gothic" image. I removed her shoes and pulled the blankets up over her body. "An eye for an eye", I whispered quietly as I kissed her forehead. "Sleep well." Eye for an Eye Ch. 2 To everyone waiting: The stories are coming. I fell in the middle of some personal problems toppled on to a move to a brand new university. So the past few weeks have been hectic. I have the second chapter for Dade, which is a year overdue, the fifth chapter of Magical Essence, second chapter of Aerial Knights, and you are reading the second chapter of Eye for an Eye. Enjoy. One of the most bizarre feelings happens just after you are woken from a sound sleep. The few brief seconds after the antagonizing alarm sounds on the radio-clock sitting next to your bed. Then the next minute follows the groggy realization of exactly what just happened and for the brief second the brain questions the correctness of the digital readout. It is much different than waking up in the middle of the night to a blinking red clock instead of the ear piercing alarm that has been synchronized across all brands. The bleeding numbers almost scream aloud, 'Why are you awake at 4:37 in the morning?' For a select-few their favorite station begins playing some crude wakeup music or a morning drive talk show for the working stiffs of the region. There is a small part of the population that does not said method to wakeup. The innards of their body seem to just know exactly what time to rise out of bed, which could be constituted as almost a superhuman ability to subconsciously tell what time it is. Then snap out of a deep sleep at nearly the pace of greyhound bursting from the starting gates. These people are usually labeled as a "morning person." Dave was exactly that. When most teenagers were sleeping off the prior nights agenda he was up bright and early ready to start the Saturday routine. It was a rare day that he slept in past eight o'clock in the morning. In college this could the time that some students go to bed after a night of power-drinking. Nevertheless at the strike of nine-thirty-two the shower inside Dave's half of the suite turned on. The majority of college students tend to live in what a person would consider a "normal" dormitory. This would include another student, a half-working or stuck closet, a few pieces of cheaper-than-Ikea furniture, and of course two just-barely twin beds. For the people who wish to spend a little bit more on their housing there exists more quality housing arrangements. These consist of a common-living area, kitchenette, and two rooms to the left and right of the common living area. The rooms are furnished with a little more expensive furniture (this time Ikea got the bid) and each room has its own bathroom. Instead of living with a roommate he decided to front the price for the full-single room. The events of the prior night consisted of Dave staying up a good portion of the night scratching down his cast with a coat hanger. Every once and awhile he would be sure that his guest of honor did not soil his sheets. After a few successful hours of keeping her food down he decided to call it a night and passed out quickly. Danielle was sleeping off a pint and a half of cheap vodka when Dave skillfully hobbled into his bathroom at ten past nine after writing some sticky-notes with the trusty Black-Sharpie. The sound of the shower had just finished filtering through the hardened doors when Danielle smelled the unfamiliar fabric softener on her sheets. As she sprung up into a sitting position the sticky-note attached to her forehead caused the natural sense of awareness to click on. She pulled her hands out from under the sheets and reached for the purple piece of paper. The note was written in clean print with a black-sharpie marker, there was only a single sentence. 'Do not worry. We only took the left leg.' A panic-stricken Danielle reached for her left leg to find that despite what the cruel sticky-note spoke of indeed her leg was still attached. A sigh of frustration emitted from her as she crumbled the note and threw it aside on the floor. She spent the next few minutes surveying the room that she was sleeping in. After confirming that she indeed had all of her clothes on and trusting her body's instincts that her headache was in fact due to her inability to pay more than four-ninety-five for alcohol. She remembered the semi-crippled form of the man she met earlier in that day. The mind reeled through possible names and finally settled on Dave. The walk through the campus and the eventual trek up the stairs led them to where they are at now also found their way out of her short-term alcohol aided memory palate. She could only assume by any natural scientific process that it was his dorm room. It looked like a normal male college dorm room. There was exactly one computer set up on the far corner, a few posters on the walls, and a television set up in direct line-of-sight of the bed that she was sitting up in. She had never been in one of these "upgraded" rooms and therefore did not understand what the light under the crack of the door directly ahead led to. She peeled herself out of bed and walked across the room. Her hands pushed the door open quietly and peeked in. At first the lights caused her eyes to go through that painful morning hangover transition between a dim-lit room and a properly lit bathroom. Dave had a towel around his waist and he was shaving at the sink. Danielle's eyes followed the scars down his body from the car crash. Each and every one seemed to almost emit its own aura of pain and carrying a story alongside it. Despite the clothing that he was wearing the prior day she noticed more of his body now. He was definitely in shape. The arm muscles showed the wear-and-tear of using the crutches day in and day out. After a few minutes of staring Dave turned around to see her unexpectedly. "Oh, I see that you have decided to join the land of the living" he spoke quietly as he reached for his shirt that was folded on the toilet. He looked at her for a few seconds before she realized he was talking to him. "Yeah...yes" she decided to reply after those few seconds of looking like a bumbling idiot. It was an awkward position for her to be in. She did not exactly know this guy, but he went out of his way to help her. "And so the silence begins" he laughed at his own crummy joke, "I will be out in a minute Danni." "Yeah, okay." Dave gave her a wide grin as he looked at her, "That means you can close the door while I get dressed." She closed the door immediately as-if she was three years old and had just saw Santa Claus. Danielle went over to the bed and sat down. There were so many questions running through her mind at this point. Her eyes searched the room for some semblance and peace of mind. The butterflies in her stomach were not the answer she was looking for though. Dave exited the bathroom a few minutes later as promised and hobbled over to the bed where she was sitting. The whole time she stared him down as he did so. She decided to be the first person to strike. "I do not know what you want from me but you are not getting any." He looked at her with his deep blue eyes and grabbed her arm to examine the makeshift gauze-enhanced band-aid that he had crafted for her self-inflicted wound. As most morning hangovers the delay in reaction time had caused her to take a few seconds to notice exactly what he was doing and a little longer to appreciate his first-aid job. "I put some of this cream I had on it and it should heal up nicely." Danielle looked at him with a blank face, "What do you want from me?" "A 'Thank You' would be nice. I am not asking you for anything. You can leave if you wish" he pointed towards the door as he finished his sentence, "if you decide to stay I am going to be making breakfast." He hobbled over towards the door and shut it abruptly. As the door closed Danielle looked up from her staring point in the middle of the carpet. She did not understand men at all which was mainly because of the childhood she had gone through. She was only three years old when her mother decided to leave her with her abusive father. It took the state a few years to intervene and place her into a foster home. Danielle did not get much better treatment at this place and ended up in and out of foster homes. The whole time she was being abused both mentally and physically. There was sexual abusive at her final foster home just before she entered high school. At this point she started living with her various boyfriends that she had taken a liking to. The drug habits had formed starting early-on with cigarettes and alcohol. These habits which eventually malformed into marijuana and some over-the-counter medication. When one boyfriend started to abuse her too much she moved to another boyfriend. This continued on through much of the beginning of her high school years. There is always one teacher in high school that everyone remembers. It could be twenty-seven and one half years since the date of your graduation and still remember George English's lecture on the proper punctuation of an English sentence. Not because of the subject matter that you eventually acquired because of the unorthodox teaching style, but because of the teaching style itself. George English was able to "get down to your level" and make the lecture both interesting and fun. Well, Danielle had the equivalent to George English except this person recognized that she was not only a very smart girl, but she had a very heap amount of problems herself. Most high school teachers look the other way, but this man had a general knack for helping out troubled youths. He had decided to make it a mission of his own to help out Danielle. The final straw that made her turn around though can be attributed to that man. At the end of her junior year he had a heart attack inside the school and died. She had put aside her drug habits with his help and brought her grades up to amicable levels. This man had put his faith, his time, and his soul into her. When the news finally hit her ears and the feeling washed over her that oh-so-familiar pit in her stomach had dropped. The final year in high school, her senior year, would prove to be her best year for grades. But she fell deeper into a depression that was only aided with her newly founded cutting regimen. It took a few minutes for her to decide that the emptiness inside of her was due to hunger and not some form of malignant cancer. Danielle circled around the room checking out the various trinkets that had been placed. There were smallish action figures around the computer desk – a few of the Dark Night, Batman, the Man of Steel, and Superman and of course everyone's secretive favorite Iron Man. She trailed her fingers along the keys and the computer on the desktop came alive. Almost magically the screen was painted with a beautiful landscape of green hills of Ireland, or at least, what she presumed to be Ireland. Danielle actually had absolutely no knowledge of Ireland but she seemed to apply the standard that "Green must be Irish" to any landscape that she saw. The scent of breakfast cooking slinked its way under the cracks of the door. The sweet smell of both bacon and corned beef hash beckoned her to open the door. Her mouth began to salivate with the thought of fluffy pancakes, scrambled eggs and toast. She was drawn to the door and turned the handle almost in a deep trance and totally not understanding what she was doing. "Well, I see that the smells of the morning have brought you a knocking. Go sit down. I'll have the food done soon," Dave spoke to her without turning his attention from the stove. He flipped a pancake with a swift idle movement while watching the highlights of the hockey game on ESPN. "So are you one of those comic book freaks?" "Absolutely not. I just did not have my fill of Barbie and Ken during my childhood." She made a face and looked around the dorm's common area. The room was a little smaller the double bedroom that Dave had acquired for himself. It had a longer structure and adjoined the two living spaces. There was a small table with four chairs around it, which was in an actuality large enough to seat two. There was a small couch that looked as if it had been through years upon years of college freshman parties. She loathed even being near such a piece of furniture. But through all of the negatives the room had a homely feel, which might have been a result of the great smells coming from the quarter-kitchenette towards the door out in the hallway. Even if she wanted to leave she would have to walk past the tasty food and her stomach told her otherwise. A few minutes later Dave served her with a potluck of breakfast meals. There were two eggs, two slabs of toast, a pile of corned beef hash and a large glass of orange juice. She looked up at him with her eyes with an almost pleading thankfulness and began to dig into her meal. The girl was far from starving, but anyone that has lived through college understands the pleasure of a properly cooked meal. They both attempted to hold a conversation while eating but ultimately decided that the food was to be attended to before it was to be cold. Dave got up to hobble over to grab some more orange juice and he brought over what was left of the prepared meal. "Everything was good?" he asked while pouring another glass of juice for the both of them. "Yeah. It was great." Danielle was not sure of exactly what to talk about. She had just met this guy and he was already treating her better than any guy has ever done so before. She sipped her orange juice and looked out on the snow-covered grass. He followed her gaze and smiled. "I did not notice it until I had to go retrieve my crutch this morning. It was the perfect night for snow," he laughed slightly to himself, "I do not think I could have picked a better morning to be trudging through an inch and a half of the powdery white stuff." "I am sorry. Is that what you want to hear? Is that what this is all about?" She was cut off short as he stood up and took her plate. He had a slightly pained expression on his face. Dave struggled to make his way over to the sink to disperse the kitchenware from his fingers. "This was about being a nice guy. This was about helping you..." "I did not ask for your help, David, especially from someone that looks like he can not stand on his own. Maybe you should help yourself before helping others" and with that she got up and pushed past him out the door into the hallway. He threw the remaining pots and pans into the kitchen sink debating on whether or not he should go after her to give her some words of his own. Dave made his way back into his room after realizing that he would not be able to catch up with her. After all, she was right, he was barely even able to move around himself. He could not even keep up with a cripple in a wheel chair let alone a normal person. He threw his crutches across the room into the wall and laid down on his bed. This was not the morning that he had expected last night while hauling her up the stairs and into his room. After a few moments of staring at the ceiling he fell into a short slumber. The pounding on the door woke him up after only a couple of minutes of sleep. It took him more than a few moments to relocate himself to the kitchen to look through the peephole. Danielle was standing there exasperated and he pulled the door open slightly to look out at her. "Didn't finish whatever it is you wanted to say the last time? Fuck you. I am sorry I even tried to help you. After I serve you breakfast you insult me. What do you want now?" "My jacket..." she looked through the crack in the door and averted her eyes away from his gaze. Dave swallowed and moved over towards the table where they were eating. He slammed his leg into the chair but caught himself on the chair before he was to fall. He screamed out some more obscenities and kicked the chair across the room. Danielle stood at the doorway observing silently but walking over after a few seconds of him blowing off his steam. She took the jacket off the table and looked at him. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to..." "Just go." With that she moved quickly to the door and closed it behind her. Dave put his hands on his head and fasted through the pain. Eye for an Eye Ch. 3 I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Vote! Comment! Let me know what you think and what direction I should be taking with this story (and all the rest of them!) Thanks again. This work makes no affiliation between Aaron Lewis, Staind, Slipknot, Tool, Korn or any other artist. The references to names are noted as such and all lyrics belong to their rightful owners. Danielle kicked a clump of dirt as she walked out of the door from one of the academic halls. She had just finished her humanities lecture and was zonked from the onslaught of the information. The semester was flying through quickly and she felt very comfortable with her workload. It had been almost two whole months since she had walked out of Dave's suite and she had not run into him once. She knew as soon as she saw him when he had opened that door that she had hurt him. At first it really did not bother her because it was a natural defense for her. Before someone could hurt her she returned the favor ahead of time. She reached to swipe her card through the system in order to open the door to her dormitory and stopped suddenly to look at a flyer in the foyer. It seemed that one of the local fraternities was holding a party that was themed in a beach sense. Danielle shook her head and continued on up the stairs to her room. She punched in her code into the door and slipped into her single room. The school allowed her to have a single room due to her scholarship that she received from a high SAT score. This was one of her conditions upon joining a college. She did not feel comfortable living with someone that she had never met before. She had two suitemates and they rarely exchanged words between each other. When the toilet paper was low or someone had to use the bathroom to dry their hair was the only times. She had at one point received an invite to a party from one of them but declined. Danielle logged into the school's chat room where the student body transferred files between each other. She read some of the white scrolling text for a few minutes and spoke to a few friends. She found it much easier to socialize through the chat room than in person so therefore became one of the regulars on the server. She had only met one friend through the system, a guy named Nolan and they quickly became good friends. They shared similar interests – both listened to hard rock such as Korn, Slipknot, and Manson. There was something else that brought her at ease, he was gay and thus she did not have to worry about him making a pass on her. Nolan reminded her that there was a concert at the community building tonight that was supposed to have a local cover band that played a lot of Korn. They had gone to see the band before and were amazed how good the show was. Nolan had told her to try to speak with Dave again but she could not bring herself to it. He seemed like a nice guy, but she did not want to take the risk. After the first few days of meeting him she searched him on Facebook with no avail. He was not registered under the college and she did not know his last name. Dave was such a common name that there were thousands upon thousands of entries – maybe even more than that – so she had given up on the search. Her only hope is that she might come across him on the chat room connection that seemingly most of the students used. But there was no chatter about someone that was using crutches and fed up with the women on campus. She had taken it out on herself once she got home and cut herself again. But after looking at his bandage job it stopped her mid slice. She gave Nolan a big hug when she met him in front of the community building. The duo walked into the building and found some standing space. She surveyed the scene in an attempt to look for him but she did not even know if he liked Korn enough to come by. For all she knew he might have left campus. Dave seemed to be nonexistent. "Danni the flyer said that there was a pre-gamer," Nolan looked over her and pointed towards the stage, "he covers some of Aaron Lewis' material. I saw him last week. The guy is amazing. Amazingly attractive too." "I did not know you were attracted to an Aaron Lewis cover boy," she smirked as she took a sip from her can of soda. Nolan rolled his eyes and pointed at the dimly lit stage, "Here he comes. Solo act." The familiar sounds of an acoustic guitar filled the room as Dave started playing one of Staind's new singles, "Reply." He begun singing the lyrics to the song as the lights turned on and illuminated the stage. The crowd roared as he made his way into the song hitting the notes and lyrics with perfect precision. Ever since he had got his casts off two weeks prior he had begun singing at the community room on Friday nights. The reaction was so great that the school had asked him to play a few more shows during the week. This was the first Tuesday night show that he was playing. Those nights were reserved for paid bands that the school had brought in from the outside. But he was being offered a spot to sing in front of his classmates as well as people from the outside. "Nolan, holy shit, that's him!" Danielle said at the top of her lungs. She listened to the lyrics and watched him play the guitar. She punched Nolan in the shoulder so that he would turn around to look. "That's him! That's Dave!" "That's Dave? That is the boy that you walked out on? What the hell is wrong with you sister?" She gave him a look and turned to watch the show. He had just finished the song and ramped right into the next. It was an acoustic cover of Tool's "Sober." The crowd again roared louder. They were screaming and loving every single second of Dave's act. He sung louder with his full voice. The lyrics seemed to stick into her like a dart in a bar room. She swayed to the music with the rest of the crowd and enjoyed the show. He was playing amazingly and the voice was stellar. After his set had finished Dave gave a deep bow and walked off the stage with his guitar. He made his way through the crowd as everyone patted him on the back. The headliner got on the stage and started setting up their equipment. Everyone was still clapping from Dave's performance and he smiled as he made his way towards the bartender who handed him an already opened beer. Dave took a few swigs while laughing and shaking some people's hands that were lingering around the roped off area of the bar. Danielle stood back and looked at Dave through the crowd. She could not keep her eyes off of him. This was the first time that she had seen him since that day that she had told him all those things. He had thrown his crutches against the wall and knocked his leg as he reached for her jacket. She cursed at herself for being such a bitch to him. He seemed to be having such fun that she felt a pit inside of her grow bigger. She only knew this guy for a few hours but had slept in his bed. She had seen him naked while he was getting ready for the shower. He had made her breakfast and all that she gave back to him was grouping of nasty words that she knew would strike him hard. Nolan grabbed her by her waist and pushed her through the crowd towards the bar area. Danielle resisted but he was stronger than her. Once they got closer and closer to the bar she clung to a chair and sat down immediately covering her head. "If you do not get your ass up I am going to go over there and talk to him myself," he leaned down towards her as he talked into her ear. She looked up at him pleading him not to do so. Nolan started pushing his way around someone when she grabbed his arm. "Okay, okay, you asshole," Danielle swallowed hard and looked up towards Dave and the bar, "I will go. Just sit the fuck down you flamer." Danielle heard Nolan call her something resembling "obnoxious slut" as she made her way through the people towards the bar. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that she did not know what she was going to say to this guy. She had been a bitch to him after he was nothing but nice. Her body started to tremble and her hands shook. She diverted her path and sat at another table where she could watch him out of the corner of her eye. The second band started playing and everyone turned around to look at the stage including Dave. She caught Nolan walking over towards him and buried her face into her arms. After a few minutes Danielle peeked up and saw that they were having a conversation as Dave was watching the band. He sipped at his beer and started nodding his head. Dave gestured towards the stage and laughed at something that Nolan had said. He turned his head and looked at Danielle almost telling her to get up here and speak with Dave. Nolan was playing buddy-buddy with the guy so that she could make her way over. She shook her head immediately, watched Nolan visibly be upset and she buried her head back into her hoodie. The music was loud as the cover band started playing "Right Now" and the crowd screamed as the beginning cords were struck. She heard a chair pull out and spoke immediately as she brought her head up from her forearms. "Nolan you are a dick..." she cut her sentence off short as she realized that it was Dave sitting at the chair and looking at her directly now. He did not seem amused but also was not mad. Danielle's face had from her slightly tanned complexion to pale white as her mouth almost dropped open. Dave's eyes penetrated her and she was speechless. He was waiting for her to say something and took another swig from his beer. Her hands started to shake but she indeed was the first to speak. "I am sorry," her voice was low and she said it again louder, "I am so sorry." He did not reply, in fact, his demeanor stayed the same even after he acknowledged what she had said. Dave heard his name being called on stage from the lead singer of the cover band and he looked at her briefly getting up and heading towards the stage. Danielle's shakes had slowly started to subside and she looked at the stage as the crowd screamed again once Dave walked on. Nolan sat down beside her and put his arm around her. She brushed him off in anger but continued to watch the stage. The lead signer yelled out the name of the song and Dave took a microphone standing beside him. The band started playing the introduction to "Blind" and the crowd screamed at the possibility of an awesome duet. Danielle, at some point, had started crying but stood up to watch Dave sing. She wiped her eyes to see the stage clearer. "I want to see you do something fucking crazy," Dave yelled out from the stage. He joined the lead singer. "Are you ready?" They started jamming to the guitars and the crowd moshed together. "This place inside my mind, a place I like to hide. You don't know the chances." The crowd sang the next line of lyrics in unison, "What if I should die?!" "A place inside my brain, another kind of pain. You don't know the chances. I'm so blind!" Dave sang the next line solo, "Another place I find to escape the pain inside. You don't know the chances." He pointed towards the crowd with his microphone and as a whole they screamed the next line in unison, "What if I should die?!" The music became louder, melding together, and the floor rumbled as the crowd jumped in the air and moshed together. Dave and the lead singer started to move on stage while singing together. The set was quick and he tossed the microphone to one of the attendants as he made his way back off stage towards the bar. He received even more applause and pats on the back as he pushed his way towards Danielle. She saw him coming with a large smile on his face as he nodded towards everyone's greetings and praise. She was mesmerized at what this guy was doing to her. This same guy that was so nice to her a night where she was more than vulnerable, he had made her breakfast and had let her sleep in his bed. He was an amazing singer and had just nailed one of her favorite songs. Her feelings were pouring out in the form of tears because that was the only way she could react. He stopped in front of her and saw her as she cried moving closer. She was a good deal shorter than him, probably almost eight inches and he looked at her deeply. She was biting the side of her cheek inside her mouth waiting for him to say something that would cause her to break down. "I want to take you out to dinner," he looked at her and finally smiled, "pizza, tacos or sushi," pausing in mid sentence to brush the hair away from her face, "whatever you eat. Okay? Maybe a movie too as long as you can stay seated for more than an hour." She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly taking a few moments to let go. After she pulled away she could see that he was still looking for an answer. She nodded not wanting to speak or ruin the moment. There was something different about this guy and she did not want to mess it up by saying something stupid again. It took her two months to find him again and if she screwed up this time she might not see him again. He smiled looking into her eyes, leaning forward to speak quietly into her ear, "Friday. I will meet you in the quad," and he turned around to walk away. She widened her eyes and a slight bit of anger flowed through her. She watched Dave as he made his way through the crowd and out the side exit. She turned towards Nolan and growled pushing through the crowd to go after him. She was fuming as she slinked her way towards the door that he had escaped from. Danielle stormed through the doors busting them open hard to survey the darkness of the night. Dave grabbed her quickly and pushed her up against the wall of the building kissing her hard. It took her a few seconds after getting over the initial fright to respond to his kiss but she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss. She put his hands around her sides kissing her again harder. She shut her eyes at one point just before Dave broke away from their embrace. "Movie. Right now?" he asked and she nodded quickly grabbing his hand as they walked towards her dormitory. Her grip was firm not wanting to let him go at all and Dave had a slight limp as he struggled to keep up with her. Even though he was all healed up he still walked with a slight limp from the accident. The doctors were surprised that despite all of his injuries that he was walking as well as he was anyway. He had absolutely no need for a cane and most of the time walked normally. The only thing he would not be able to do would be run a marathon anytime soon. But his doctor agreed that with some therapy he might be able to eventually be able to sustain a short jog. Nevertheless, Danielle moved quickly through the quad until they reached her dormitory. She punched the numbers in and walked towards her door unlocking it with a key. Her room was dark but not as dark as Dave would have expected. It had a nice cozy feel to it. There were books placed neatly by her desk and her bed sheets were a dark blue. She grabbed at his shirt and started kissing him hard but he stopped her. "I don't want to do this, not now, its too soon," he looked at her and sat down on her bed, "let's just lay down and watch a movie." He pointed towards her laptop, "We can watch something from there." She made a face now that she was all worked up and grabbed her laptop searching through some of the newer movies that are on it. She selected one after asking him and watched it as it started downloading. "Where did you learn how to sing like that?" she asked, as the download progress bar seemed to go at a crawl. Dave shrugged it off and leaned back on her bed, "I don't know. I sort of, picked up on it, yanno?" He grabbed her and put his arms around her smiling down. She laid her head against him. "You were amazing," Danielle said right before she started to cry again, "Dave you were nothing but nice and a good person and I just, I just, I was a real bitch," she was going to continue but he cut her off. "Yeah you were," he looked down at her but smiled slightly, "the situation was just a bad one." He pulled up at her arm to look at the wound that he had bandaged on their last meeting. He glanced slightly at her arms as he saw more cuts. Danielle looked away, but he did not say anything. He put his arms around her and held her tighter leaning down to kiss her forehead, "Can we try to stop this?" She nodded slightly and leaned back into him as the movie finished downloading onto her laptop. They started the flick after she got up and turned off the lights. Dave smiled in the darkness as she snuggled up to him when the movie finally started playing.