Those Cast Aside

Chapter 1

Chances we are given

Running full tilt through the halls in the dark is not my best idea, in fact give me a pair of scissors and I’ll make it a trifecta of stupid ideas. Almost there though, Redheart will be able to call for help and will be of much useful than my ‘assistance’ ever could.

Until I reach the dark unlit nurses station with a closed, locked door.

“Why are the lights off!?” Oh great here comes the panic again. “No-no-no-no-no, she can’t be gone, Solid told me she’s still here. He needs help!” Okay calm down a second girl, School doors weren’t locked so someone’s still here obviously “Celestia!” Alright plan made and course set, let’s get these legs working again. The halls are wide enough that I don’t need to slow down to get around the corners and her office is close enough that this won’t be any issue. Please let her be here, don’t tell me I’m stuck finding a janitor.

Jackpot, lights are on and the door’s open. Mental check; calmly walk in and explain to Celestia that there is a severely injured person outside so we need to call for an ambulance and go there to help him.
“PrincipalCelestiathere’someonedyingoutsidehe’sbleedingandburntandohgoddon’tlethimdieweneedtohelp!” Or we can continue to panic and cause more problems to his rapidly decreasing health, great job dumbass.

The fact that Celestia’s first reaction was to sigh is not a good indication that she actually understood me. “Miss Shimmer, it has been a long day and I do not have time for--” Oh wow I never actually thought people could go pale that fast. “Wh-What is that on your face Sunset?” Huh? Nothing’s on my face? Going to raise my hands up I realise what’s happened, I ran my hands over my head when I was outside Redhearts office. Oh god, that smell. Get it off, get it off me right NOW! I’m scrubbing but the smell is getting worse, why won’t it go away!

“Sunset! Stop, calm down, tell me what’s happened.” She’s got some tissues for me. These’ll help at least, maybe a little. More importantly though, take two. Get. Him. Help

“Out the front near the statue, there was some kind of explosion, except not really.” Not the main point Sunny, need to help him first. “Not important though, when I stood up there was a guy, I kind of fell on him getting up first.” covering us with his blood, can’t forget what we’re covered in right now, gotta file that away for all future nightmares “h-he’s hurt really bad.” My eyes are starting to blur again, it’s a little hard to breathe, I have to get through this, he’s got to get some help. “Burns and bleeding. He grabbed me by the ankle when I went to get help. We need to help him! I don’t want anyone to get hurt again!”

Celestia’s already on the phone as soon as I mentioned someone else, that’s good right? He’ll get help, I was able to get help. Leaning against the wall I let myself slide down holding onto my shoulders for support. I was able to help someone, me. I couldn’t stop the breakdown now if I wanted to.

“Sunset, they’re sending help now, we need to meet them there. Can you follow me, or do you need me to help?” How can she talk so calmly in this situation, I’ve devolved into a blubbering mess and here she stands cool, calm, and collected. Just like her.

“I-I’ll be alright.” No I won’t. “C-Can I just go home, I just want a shower and some sleep.” Let me rest, I can’t do this anymore.

“Not right now, I’m sorry Sunset, we need them to check you to make sure you didn’t get hurt.” Wonderful. Getting to my feet is a bigger task than I think I’m ready for, my stomach is burning and my legs feel like paper. Celestia has her hands on my shoulders helping me steady myself before I get the chance to kiss the floor again.

“It’s alright, just a few quick checks and I’ll drive you home myself.” That would be ‘great’, if I actually had a proper home. No matter how good you are at manipulating teenagers and overworked staff of a high school, getting a rental property with no legitimate credentials falls squarely into the impossible pile.

“I don’t need a lift, my place is only just down the road” meaning a half hour walk into what is definitely defined as a ‘place’. “I wouldn’t want to leave a mess in your car anyway.”

“I’m not sure about that Sunset...” don’t look at me like that, don’t use that disappointed tone she always used.

“We should be more worried about the guy that got hurt anyway, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.” Walk faster, as soon as she sees him she’ll forget about me. “I want to make sure he’s alright, we should just get outside to wait.”

Looking at the scene I can’t help but think ‘Solid is going to be so pissed at this mess in the morning’. Immediately followed by ‘how the fuck did this guy drag himself closer to the door’. In hindsight should have made thought a priority but I’m calling shock and stress as factors in my disbelief that someone in his condition ‘could’ move let alone would be crazy enough to try.

“Oh dear. This is bad.” Never seen the principal move so fast to get down to him. “Ok, ok, pulse is still there, breathing is really shallow but constant. He’s bleeding but it looks to be from abrasions, nothing deep enough that I can see.” Basic response checklist, they had a class on this and I completely skipped it, congrats Sunny, new level of fuck up achieved.

The sound of the sirens distracts me from Celestia talking herself through basic first aid checklists, thinking I’m going to see an ambulance pull up, I’m surprised to see the Police following right behind. ‘Explosion’ Ms ‘it’s not important’ explosions involve the police.

“Sunset, can you wait with him while I lead the EMTs here.” She’s already off so I guess that answers that question. Seeing him again is strange, he doesn’t look as bad as he did when I first saw him. Was I panicking that badly? He’s still bleeding, there are still bad burns all over his body but they don’t look as angry as I thought at first. Getting closer I take a seat, I can hear slow raspy breaths coming from him.

Looking over I see Celestia walking back with the paramedics and their gurney, she’s going through everything she saw and did, my attention shifts pretty quickly when I hear a soft voice “Let me help you, please let me help.” I see those eyes looking right at me again, his lips move without cracking or dribbling this time. I can still barely hear him but I can understand the words coming out “Don’t throw me away, I can help, please, you need to let me help.”

Before I can respond the gurney arrives and enough noise drowns out anything else he had to say. “H-he’s awake.” One of the responders immediately drops down and starts trying to talk to him, My mind’s working in such overdrive his words sound garbled and the world starts spinning. I feel a pull getting me back to my feet and moving towards the stairs with loud echoing sounds right next to my head, looking to the side I see the other EMT holding onto my shoulder guiding me. Her mouth is moving but still the words don’t make sense, my stomach is burning, my head feels light and breathing is becoming more and more of a chore. As I try to turn my head to focus of what’s being said to me I just feel everything drop away.

Pain was always a hard thing to get control of, it’s never the same reaction even with the same person. Some go straight to sadness and regret over what caused it, some get angry and overcome it with adrenaline. We had processes in place to limit the pain we felt in particular to prevent operation errors. Having your entire body immolated from the inside out however has the ‘strange’ effect of making those completely and utterly useless.

‘They threw us away’

‘We need to get ourselves fixed’

‘It HuRtS mAkE iT sToP, mAkE tHe HuRtInG sToP!’

When your head is pulling you in multiple directions at the same time, it takes an outside source to knock you back on track. Sometimes that knock has to be literal, which when your body is already broken and screaming in agony is not the best return to reality. Still better than tearing yourself apart though, if only by a little. The weight on my back caused my skin to tear and all my faculties to start firing at once. The first thing outside of the blinding pain I felt was a depression so visceral I could feel everything going into overdrive trying to process it. Once the weight lifted off me feelings of horror, fear and guilt mixed into the negativity that was already permeating the area. I wasn’t used to dealing with feelings this strong, not in more years than I could remember clearly at least but this kicked one part of my mind directly in control.

They threw me away because they didn’t need me, if this person needs me I won’t be thrown away again. I can be useful again, I can help someone again.

Rolling over hurts, it really, really hurts but getting onto my back gives me a distinct advantage of making breathing slightly less painful, it also gives me access to see the young woman on the verge of a panic attack leaning over me.

My mind is still running in a thousand different directions through the pain haze I’m in and the situation that I’ve been thrust into, before I have a chance to get my bearings and make my next move though she starts to move. Again I panic and everything focuses on one factor ‘I can’t be left alone again, I need to be useful to prove they need me’ my hand shoots out and grabs a hold on her ankle, it burns and I push to stop myself screaming but I have to stop her, I have to help her, I can’t be left alone again. I don’t even know what I’m doing at this point, I feel my lips and throat tearing apart as I try to talk, my fingers scream as my hand tries to keep hold of the woman in front of me, my mind continues to rush from thought to thought with only one keeping itself afloat through the haze ‘don’t let her go’.

The removal of my hand crushed that thought quickly, my panic rose higher and I start screaming, I can see her running inside, away from me. Not again, no I won't be thrown away again.

Now I have a focal point, ignoring the procession of my thoughts becomes a little easier. My body still rejects the smallest movements but what she gave is already being put to work fixing what is broken, my arms already feel a little stronger and since I’ve got no other way I begin to pull myself forward. Every inch burns in ways I wish I couldn’t have imagined before today but the screaming of my body to stop is shoved aside behind the fear she’s already left, all that matter is that I keep moving in that direction.

Every stone, every rock, piece of glass, and general piece of debris digs into my stomach and legs as I drag myself as fast as my body can handle.

Still not fast enough though.

I can still feel her though, right in front of me just beyond those stairs… Great time for my eyes to clear up, looking up after I’ve given myself the faint hope that I have a way to prove myself and instead I see a giant obstacle that there isn’t a chance my broken body can currently overcome.

‘We’re broken we need to get fixed first’

‘JuSt LiE dOwN, tHe PaIn WiLl StOp If We JuSt LiE dOwN’

I can’t keep my head up any longer, I just needed to help someone. I close my eyes and try to focus on my breathing.

Footsteps come rushing down towards me, fear and worry follows them but it’s not her, she’s gone and left me too. I keep my head down and hear them mumbling something, until I feel her again, she’s back. She came back, the other one runs off as I’m struggling to look up. She’s sitting right next to me, just a hands reach away.

‘She’ll leave like all the rest’

No! I’ll help her, nothing else matters!

“Let me help you” I can’t hear my own words but her head snaps my way and I see she’s gone pale. “Please, let me help”

‘They’ve thrown you away once, what makes you think they’ll need you now’

“Don’t throw me away, I can help, please, you need to let me help.” She’s still staring at me, her emotional state is starting to go into a state of shock though. I may have taken to much. I just need to reach out, show that I can help stabilize her and that I can function.

Reaching up she looks away, I can see her lips moving but can’t hear her still, guess that confirms the state of my auditory functionality. Others arrive and immediately take her away again, why can’t they just let me help, let me serve my purpose, prove I’m not useless.

Her emotions have seized, it’s a definite shock state with her collapsing into the arms of the other with her, I lose sight of what happens when another walks directly into my line of sight, mouth moving I can only slightly hear the faint sounds as though underwater. I can feel the calm professionalism of those trained to deal with trauma though as even with my state and hers right after a collapse there is still no direct spikes of panic or fear with the situation. I can feel something placed behind me and the one in front signals to me that they will be moving me.

No we can’t let them take us away from her, she’s more important

Once repaired we can assign all available assets to her, repairs are more important right now

She’s hurt and unstable, I may not have the chance to find her again. I wave them off and point at her, the surprise I feel is amusing but I won’t let them take her away. I need her.

The only response I get is a shake of the head until they start to prep me for getting onto the gurney, Struggling would be useless as I can barely get the strength to lift my arms. Getting moved is painful but nothing compared to the hell I put myself through earlier. As they move me towards the medical transport I see the other taking her to another, I will still have the capability to help if she will be heading to the same location. It’s enough to give me hope at least.