2 A Friend in Need

As soon as Hannah heard Sarah’s voice, she burst out crying in hysterics. Sarah’s eyes widened even more, and she quickly rushed across the street to engulf her bruised best friend in a hug. “It’s going to be okay darling. Come on, let’s get you inside.” With an arm around Hannah’s shoulder, as the other girl hiccupped into her neck, she guided them into the building, making a beeline for the elevator. After getting into the apartment she ushered Hannah into the washroom and then thrust a glass of water into her hand. Getting the first aid kit out, she seated Hannah on a stool and started cleaning up the blood and dirt from her face and hands. Relief slowly washed over her as she examined that the only major injury was her cut-up lip and thank heavens, even that wasn’t deep enough to need stitches or anything. The rest were just a few scrapes and bruises on her hands and knees. Once she was done cleaning up the wounds, she got up and sat facing her friend. “I am going to go bring you some clean clothes, you should take a quick shower. Then we can relax and have something to eat while you tell me what the hell happened.” She said evenly, pressing a towel into Hannah’s hands and giving them a comforting squeeze before leaving. She quickly whipped up some pasta and a salad for the two of them and poured out some chilled wine to go with it. Soon enough the pair were cuddled up on the couch with their plates full. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Sarah finally spoke up. With a comforting hand resting on Hannah’s knee, she asked gently, “Hannah, darling how did this happen?” This time, instead of bursting into tears, Hannah’s eyes blazed with anger and her face contorted into a frown. She glared into space for a second before she erupted. “Some people are such assholes I swear! Who gives these callous guys licenses in the first place? I am so sick and tired of this bullshit. Do we live in a civilized country or are there only barbarians here? There is just no humanity left in people I tell you. All of them are animals and he was the biggest jerk of them all I guess, that I just happened to come across today.” Hannah breaks her rant to take a deep breath and then continues to glare out the window at the setting sun. It took Sarah a second to not only process what she had rambled on but also contain the giggle that was just about to burst out of her, it was so typical of Hannah to flare up like this. “Yes, everyone is an asshole. But what happened today, babe?” Sarah asked again, squeezing her knee. “I’ll tell you what happened! I was coming over to your house and had to cross the street, just as I stepped onto the street, this maniac on this black bike clipped me from the side, I stumbled and fell on the pavement giving myself a split lip. And you know the worst part? He stopped the bike for a second, looked at me from behind his helmet and then kicked the bike into gear and drove away! I felt like I was going to die! I very well could have Sarah!” Hannah’s eyes had started tearing up at this point as her anger dissipated and fear took over once again. Sarah’s anger was also rising. “Oh my God! Are people seriously blind?!? Do they not see an entire human being crossing the street!? We need to file a police report about that biker guy. Did you manage to get his number plate? Make and model?” Sarah had gotten up off the couch and was now pacing the living room. Sniffling loudly Hannah muttered. “No, I am sure he was speeding because he had disappeared before I even realized what had happened. But the lady across the street who rushed over to help me saw the bike. She said it was black and that there was a red dragon painted on the side. The guy was wearing a helmet so I didn’t see his face.” Hearing Hannah’s shaky voice, Sarah stilled and took in her red face with fresh tear streaks, her heart broke all over again. “Oh, Hannah! Don’t worry, this is enough, the traffic camera must have caught his number plate. We will go to the station and file a report in the evening. You just relax, I will handle this okay?” She came towards her friend and pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss onto her forehead. After finishing up, Hannah took some Advil and decided to take a nap to wade off the splitting headache and the shock her body got. Sarah took this time to get her work done for the day before the pair had to go to the station. The next few hours were spent in silence as Sarah responded to emails and organized things for her event. Around the time that a bleary-eyed Hannah stepped out into the living room, the sun had gone down and Sarah was on the phone arguing with a vendor about the invoice. “Mr. Smith this was not the quote you provided me with, you can’t just inflate the price like this!” the vendor rattled off some sorry excuse that managed to piss Sarah off even more. As she spoke up again, her voice was cold. “Mr. Smith, you know my company is very reputable, so I would advise that you don’t pull stunts like this with me. Not only would that mean losing my account, but others as well. I expect the correct invoice to be sent by tomorrow morning. Good evening.” Without trying to hear the response, Sarah cut the call in a huff. It’s true, people are assholes. She thought to herself. “Hey, is everything okay?” Hannah asked as she stretched like a cat. Sarah let out a deep sigh before replying “Yeah! Just people being difficult as always. Why don’t you freshen up and then we can head to the station?” Sarah suggested as she shut down her laptop and cleaned up all the papers spread across the table. “Okay just give me 5.” Hannah responded, heading for the bathroom. Soon, both girls were bundled up in coats and out the door. The rain had left a chill in the air and a wind had picked up which made the temperature drop more. The police station was a couple of blocks down so they decided to walk. They picked up hot chocolate on their way to the police station and made plans to head to Nobu after the station, agreeing that a treat was due after the day the two had. As expected of any New York police station, it was crowded and chaotic. After 30 minutes of waiting they managed to get a hold of a sergeant and were taken to a desk to get the report filed. After getting all of the details and their contact info, he promised to check the traffic cam footage and get back to Hannah tomorrow. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped out, grateful to finally have this over with and for managing to escape the chaos before it suffocated her. As Hannah tried to hail a cab to take them to Nobu, Sarah’s phone started ringing with an unknown number. “Hello? Who is this?” “Hello, darling.” a smooth voice replied, turning Sarah’s insides ice cold.