Sophie's Fall

Upon seeing the food, she burst into tears and attempted to lift her arms to hug him, but she couldn't.

"Do you- Do you want a hug?" he asked. She nodded weakly, so he lay on the bed next to her and held her limply because of her injuries.

"Everything is going to be alright. I'm going to take care of you, at least until you're hydrated and I can take you to the hospital, ok?"

"Uh-huh," she sobbed.

"Great, you've got your voice back. Can you tell me your name?"

"Sophie."

"Hi, Sophie. Pleased to meet you. Is there anyone you want me to call?"

"Mom," she croaked.

"Ok," he said, pulling out his phone. "First, let's get more fluids in you. Here's some Gatorade," he said, and used the straw to let her drink. "What's mom's number?"

She told him.

He punched the number into his phone. "Sophie's... mom. Ok, great. Can you confirm that I typed the number in correctly?" he asked, showing her the number he entered.

"That's right."

"Cool. Ok, let's see..." Brad began typing a message, then paused, noticing her staring at him. She must be nervous, being in a strange man's home. "Err, I'll just sit next to you, and you can watch me type, and if there's anything you want me to add, just say so, ok?"

"Sure... thanks..." she said, sounding a bit confused.

I wonder if she believes anything I'm saying.

Brad typed away for a minute, then stopped to ask, "Do you want to talk to your mom?"

"Yes, please."

Brad finished typing and sent the text. She sighed, appearing visibly relaxed. She obviously needed reassurance.

"Thank you, Brad. I'm so thankful that you stopped to help me."

"Well, what kind of person would I be if I just left you to die? Surely, you must know that you would have died out there, right?"

"The thought had crossed my mind a few times in the last day and a half, not gonna lie."

"Well," he said, patting her leg softly, "you're in good hands now."

"Sure. Thank you so much. I just can't believe that-" she cut off, crying again.

Brad stroked her hair. "There, there. You're safe now. Don't worry- you have food, water, shelter, and I'm not leaving your side, ok?"

"Ok," she said pitifully, sniffling.

He suddenly remembered the tray of food. "Oh, I'm sorry. What do you want to eat?"

"Meat!" she fervently demanded.

He took a slice of roast beef and rolled it up but put it back down so he could get another pillow to put under her head. Once that was done, he reached for a slice of roast beef, and nearly fell off the bed when he heard a blood-curdling shriek. He looked at Sophie and saw that she was able to see her bruised and beaten body. She wailed uncontrollably as she processed the state she was in. Brad mercifully turned her head to the side and used his hand to shield her line of sight to her body as he stroked her hair.

"Listen to me. You are alive. You have no major injuries. You are in my care. All of this," he said, gesturing to her body that she could no longer see, "is temporary. You'll be knockin' 'em dead again in no time."

Sophie appeared to be having a panic attack, trembling all over with a light sheen of sweat that he hadn't noticed before, while taking frequent, shallow breaths.

He felt her pulse. It was very high. "Hey, pay attention." He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Have you ever had a panic attack?" No response. "Have you ever thought you were about to die because your heart was going to explode?"

"N-No," she cried.

"Ok. You are having a panic attack. It will pass. I..." he trailed off, thinking he should empathize with her. She's a pretty, young woman, with her whole life ahead of her. Looks are important to her. Maybe she's feeling like she'll never find Mr. Right with a horribly mangled body?

"Sophie?" he asked softly, getting her attention. "You have a great body, really. All of this will heal. You'll see."

She wasn't convinced.

Damn, snap the fuck out of it, lady!

"Honestly, Sophie, you're hot as fuck, I really mean that. There's no reason that you won't be able to seduce a hot guy by the end of the month and have him fuck you senseless."

Still, no positive change from Sophie.

"Hey, can I play with your spectacular tits? If you don't mind, that is."

"Wha-huh?"

"Well, if you think that your life is over or you're never going to have sex again, or whatever it is that you're thinking or feeling, then if I feel you up, then that's gotta be welcomed, right?"

She appeared to calm down at this, if only slightly. "I guess so."

"Great. So... you won't mind if I touch you for my own pleasure, not to care for you medically?"

"I- I guess..." she began, unsure how to answer.

Brad smirked at her with feigned smugness as he reached behind her back to undo her bra. Before he could, Sophie said, "That's ok. I'm fine, actually." Her trembling was getting better.

Sitting back, he said, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded, finally appearing to have calmed down. "I think I just needed to know that a hot guy would still find me desirable. I mean... Well... whatever..."

"Good. Well then-"

"-Did you mean it?" she interrupted.

"What?"

"That I'm hot, and all that stuff..."

"Sophie," he said, checking her out from head to toe, "I'd jump on you in a second, and ride you from here to Mexico City and back, for sure."

She purred like a cat and her eyes rolled back in her head.

"That was nice," she said, smiling at him. "I really liked it."

"Good! Can I put your head back so I can get some food in you?"

"Fuck, yes, please! I'm so hungry!"

Brad rested her head on the pillows normally, then fed her a large bite of roast beef.

"Ohmigod! That's so fucking good! More, please!" Her chest heaved from excitement.

"Do you like A1 sauce?"

She nodded, smiling. "I was so hungry, I thought I might never eat again!"

He dipped some roast beef into A1 and fed it to her.

"Oh, fuck!" she cried happily. She laughed wildly and kicked her legs in glee, but immediately grimaced in pain.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I'm extremely sore and tender," she pouted. "Everything hurts."

"I'm so sorry," he said. He softly stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Your muscles must be completely shredded."

"I feel like death."

"It'll get better, I promise. Oh! I almost forgot. I have some Ibuprofen here, to help with the inflammation from the tissue damage, as well as the pain. Uhh- You don't have an allergy to it, do you?"

"I don't. Thank you so much, you are too kind."

He picked her head up and placed the pills into her mouth, then put a bottle of Gatorade up to her lips so she could drink.

"Yeah, you're really lucky that I happened to see a glint of light from your knife, I guess it was. Did you do that on purpose? The road you stumbled upon doesn't get much traffic on it, and I couldn't see you on the ground behind the tall grasses. If I hadn't caught that glimpse of you, well..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence in her fragile emotional state.

"You know, it's weird... I kind of remember thrusting my knife into the air, but I don't know why I did it."

"People do strange things in extreme situations... and confusion is a symptom of dehydration. Don't think anything of it, just be glad you did it, because I don't think that I would have seen you, otherwise."

Sophie looked around the room with her eyes, not moving her head. "Say, where is my knife, by the way?"

"Oh. That. I, uhh... it's still on the ground where I found you."

"What?"

He was uncomfortable. This was getting awfully close to something he didn't want to talk about. "I, erm, I don't like weapons," he said, wringing his hands and shuffling his feet nervously.

"Oh," Sophie said, not understanding his explanation, but she let it go. "More food, please?" she asked with a smile.

Brad fed Sophie another bite of roast beef.

"How do you know how to do that?"

"Do what?"

"The IV."

"Oh. I was a corpsman in the Navy."

She looked confused.

"Medical personnel," he clarified.

"Oh. So... why do you have this stuff with you?"

"Well, when I was in the Navy, I kept all of this stuff in my barracks room all the time, just in case. You never know when someone is going to need fluids." He laughed. "I was a hit at parties. There were a few times that somebody had a wee bit too much to drink, and, well, you know how people can get when they're drinking. All booze, no water... just a one-track mind." He shook his head. "You know, some people actually think that hydrating while drinking sobers them up, so they don't do it. It's sad, honestly. Anyway, I'd go to my room, get a few bags of fluids, and I'd do my thing. People got a kick out of it, for some reason."

"Cool. Well, I'm glad you have the experience. So... you said that the nearest hospital is three hours away?"

"Yeah. I'd take you there, but as I said before, you urgently need fluids in you." He showed her the directions on his phone to reassure her. "Did you know your tongue was white when I found you?"

"What?"

"Yeah, it's a sign of extreme dehydration. You're lucky I found you when I did. Stick your tongue out," he said, nodding at her mouth. She complied. "Yeah," he said, inspecting her tongue, "it might look a bit better, but you still need a ton of fluids. Stay like that and I'll take a picture." He snapped a pic and showed her.

"What the fuck?!"

"Don't worry, you're going to be fine. It's a little weird, sure, but it's only temporary."

He took stock of the situation. She was absolutely filthy- he would definitely need to wash the sheets. Brad went to the bathroom to get iodine and cotton swabs.

Upon returning to his bedroom, he heard her mutter, "Fooooooood."

"Sure, just a sec." He set the stuff down and picked up the roast beef.

"No, fruit, please."

Brad forked a piece of pineapple and fed it to her. Sophie moaned delightfully as the sweet juices washed over her tongue and slid down her throat. Brad glanced at the bag of fluids and saw that it was empty. He replaced it with a fresh bag, then fed her the rest of the bowl of fruit over the next 10 minutes. Sophie was ravenous, but he couldn't let her have her fill as quickly as she wanted it, knowing that it would take time to safely reintroduce a normal diet after not eating for almost two days. He wasn't exactly sure how much would be good for her, so he erred on the side of caution, but he knew that she was at least getting something into her stomach.

Turning his attention to her cuts, he dabbed a cotton swab with iodine and patted the cuts and scrapes that littered her arms and legs, as well as a few on the sides of her ribs.

"When did you get these bruises?"

"Wednesday night."

"What happened?"

"I, uhh... kinda fell down a mountain."

"No shit? How far did you fall?"

"I honestly don't know. Maybe a four or five-story building. It's hard to say. I fell into a tree before hitting the decline of the hillside. It all happened so fast. After I came to a stop, I looked up to the ridge to orient myself, but there were several, and..." she trailed off. Her eyes welled up. "Could we talk about something else?"

"Sure, but let me say that you are one lucky lady that I stumbled across you," he said, smiling in an attempt to reassure her in her very reasonable emotional state. "Well, we'll need heat therapy in that case. Cold is better for bruising the first day, day and a half, but after that, it's gotta be heat," he explained.

"If you say so," she said. "Hey, could you take my boots off? Please?"

Brad moved to sit at the foot of the bed and began carefully taking Sophie's boots and socks off.

"Oh, fuck yes, my feet can breathe again!"

Just then, his phone rang. It was Sophie's mom. Answering, he put it on speakerphone. Her mom wanted to talk privately with Sophie, so Brad went to fetch a pair of headphones for her because she couldn't hold up the phone. Placing them over her ears, he told her to yell when she was done talking to her mom.

"Thanks, Brad," she said, as he closed the door behind him.

15 minutes later, she summoned him to his bedroom.

"Did you have a nice chat with your mom?" he asked as he removed the headphones from her head.

"Yes, thank you so, so, so very much. You are such a wonderful person. You just don't even know what it means to me and my mom that you allowed me to call and talk to her. You could-" she gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. "You could have been a bad man," she whimpered, bursting into tears.

Brad had no idea what to say, so he just laid next to her and held her once again as she sobbed and howled her emotions into crystallized feelings that she could neatly file away in her mind. He smoothed the tears out of her by caressing her head tenderly, periodically clearing the tears from her face with his fingers.

"I need to blow my nose," Sophie said bashfully.

Brad went to get some toilet paper and placed it over her nose. She blew. They repeated this a few times until Sophie said, "Thanks."

"Of course."

"I'm so exhausted. I really need to sleep. Can you let me nap?"

"Of course. I'll be right back with a sheet to cover you..."

Sophie slept the day away while Brad replaced more than a few empty bags of saline. Eventually, he disconnected the IV and removed the cannula from her arm.

It was late in the afternoon when Sophie opened her eyes. Brad looked at her as he sat next to her on the bed, clacking away at his laptop. He finished what he was typing and put his laptop away.

"Hi," she said, smiling shyly.

"Hi. Did you get some good sleep?"

"I sure did. I'd say that I feel great, but my muscles are still completely useless..."

"Yeah, it will probably be at least a week before you are moving around normally again."

"That sucks."

Brad clapped his hands together. "So! Food? Or- I suppose you want me to drive you to the hospital, huh?"

"I'd really love to eat and rest for a while, if that's ok. I've been through so much, and I'm not looking forward to being stuck in a car for that long, at least not right away, not if I don't have to."

"Well, it's already five o'clock. I don't like driving in the dark- it's not like the roads are lit. We would have to leave now so I could get back by eleven, and I'd still end up driving the entire way back in the dark."

"Hmmm. If it's not too much trouble, could you drive me in the morning?" she asked uncomfortably.

"Sure."

"Really?" she asked, shocked.

"Yeah. That's fine with me, Sophie. I don't get many visitors out here. While I love the scenery and the isolation, I do get lonely sometimes."

"Say, how did you end up out here, anyway?"

"I, uhh, well..." Brad hesitated and cleared his throat, blushing deeply. "You see, I kind of... well, I- I was on a deployment, and-"

"-Hey, Brad, it's fine, ok? You don't need to explain. You've been so good to me, and I trust you. Whatever your private personal life is like, you can choose if and when you want to share that with me, or anyone else for that matter. Don't tell me just because I asked you."

He swallowed. "Yeah, of course."

"So, you're really ok with me staying?"

Clearing his throat, he said. "Absolutely, you can stay the night. You're such a sweet girl, and I like caring for people... well... obviously, given my job in the military. Is there anything about your daily routine that I should know about? Are you on any medications or anything like that?"

"No medications, I just need a steady stream of Vitamin D."

"Huh?"

"The sun. I need the sun. It gives me energy."

"Oh, right. Well, the sun won't be setting for a few hours, so how about we feed you for now and you can rest a bit more? And in the meantime, I can get something set up outside for you to lay on. How does that sound?"

Sophie smiled broadly. "That sounds great. Also, can you take the sheet off of me and turn on the fan? I'm hot."

Brad looked at her, concerned. "How hot? Are you just a little warm, are you burning up, or what?"

"I wouldn't say that I'm burning up, but I'm definitely hot."

He took the sheet off of her and tossed it on the ground before inspecting her body with his eyes and hands.

"What are you doing?"

"Just checking a few things... I'm not a doctor, mind you, so I don't have deep medical knowledge across a wide spectrum of ailments, but I know a lot of the basics, kind of a Cliff's notes version of medical school, if that makes sense. From time to time, I'll need to check you out."

"Well, feel free to check me out anytime," she said, smiling.

Is she flirting with me? He simply smiled back, thinking it the safest path forward, as he continued his inspection. "I'm going to roll you over for just a minute," he said, and did. "You do feel warm to the touch... It could just be due to the inflammation, though." He looked at the time. "I'll get you more Ibuprofen." Brad turned the fan on and carefully helped her down the pills.

During all this, he raised a finger to his nose and rubbed the underside of his nostrils a few times.

Sophie noticed this, then anxiously sniffed and cried, "Oh no, I smell so bad!"

"It's not that bad," Brad lied.

"But it is bad, is that what you're saying? It's just not that bad?"

Careful not to mince words, he said, "Sophie, I don't mind your smell, because you have a very good reason for it, but you do smell ripe."

Huffing, she was clearly upset at her condition. "I don't want to smell bad. Would you- Could you- That is..."

"You want a bath, is that it?"

Looking up at him with sad eyes, she nodded slightly.

"Well, salt baths are great at relieving muscle soreness and bruising, and you probably want to get clean anyway, but..." he trailed off.

"But what?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Please. I'm so gross," she whined.

"No- I was asking if you were comfortable about what would be involved."

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

He gestured at her ruined body.

"Oh... I'm not able to move, so you would have to, err... help me... is that it?"

He looked her in the eyes, then at his feet. "Basically, yeah."

A long moment passed.

"Ok, let's get me in the bath, then," she said, then quickly added, "If you don't mind."

"Of course not. I'm happy to help."

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "I trust that you will keep this strictly professional?"

"Sophie, I wouldn't dream of taking advantage of you, especially in your condition. You need medical treatment, and I can give it to you. That's all that this is." He paused. "Full disclosure: I will be enjoying myself, because you are super hot, but I assure you that I will not take liberties with you."

Another long moment passed in silence.

"Thank you," she said, smirking slightly. "I really appreciate everything that you are doing for me, truly. I just wish that there was some way that I could repay you for your kindness and hospitality."

"Don't mention it. Anybody would have done the same in my position."

"Are you kidding me? There are loads of guys that would have raped me five times by now. I think you're being overly modest, but we can agree to disagree."

Brad eyed her up and down. "Yeah, you have a point there. You have a very nice body- but you don't have to worry about me. I- Hey- Was there anyone out there with you? Anyone that might need help?"

"No, it was just me."

"Really? No friend, boyfriend, sherpa...?"

Sophie laughed. "Please don't make me laugh. It really hurts."

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood."

She smiled. "No, I don't have a boyfriend right now, and it's actually been several months since... well..." she trailed off, appearing embarrassed by the topic of conversation. "Wait- how can you see past the bruises and scrapes and... filth? I look terrible!"