“Hey, buddy, are you okay?”
“Umm…I…don’t know?”
“You don’t know if you’re okay?”
“Yes. No…I…don’t know?”
Something was off about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Kneeling in front of him, I could see a bump on his head. He must have hit something hard. But there was more to it because his eyes were dilated like he was high on something. There was a lot of dried blood in his hair and on his shirt. But that was no shock. Head wounds bled like crazy.
“What’s your name?”
“Umm…” Frowning, he thought about my question for a moment until he shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? You don’t know your name?”
“I-I can’t…remember…”
“You can’t remember your name?”
He shook his head, but then he dug into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out a business card. He was maybe in his late twenties, and I was sure that I’d never seen him before. He was not one of the homeless guys who would show up here for a free meal.
“I…found this in my pocket and thought…maybe you’d know me.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.” He handed me the card, and I took it. It was one of my business cards for the Rainbow Room. “Have you been here before?”
“I don’t know.”
Of course. Sighing, I pointed at his head. “You have a pretty nasty wound there. Any idea of how this happened?” He thought about it for a second, but then he shook his head again. Great. He was not only hurt but also suffered some sort of memory loss. “What do you remember?”
“Umm…I was walking down the streets. I had no idea where I was. Then I found the card, and I thought…maybe I’d been here before.” Tears welled up in his eyes, and my heart went out to him. Poor guy. “That’s all I can remember.”
“Okay, don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. Why don’t you come inside with me? A friend of mine is a doctor, and he can…”
“No.” To my surprise, my stray wailed and tried to hide behind the dumpster like a frightened little rabbit. “N-N-Noooo. No doctors.”
“Hey, shhh. It’s okay. Darrell is a nice guy, and you have a pretty, nasty bump on your head. That might be why you can’t remember anything. Someone should have a look at it.”
“Not a doctor. They’re mean and…cruel.”
What the hell? Why would an adult person think that doctors were mean and cruel? Before I could question his statement, there were footsteps behind me. Jakob and Darrell appeared in the backdoor when I looked over my shoulder.
“What’s wrong? Sam said that…” Darrell stopped himself and cursed under his breath. “I’ll get my bag. Get him inside.”
“Des, what happened?” Jakob appeared at my side only a couple of seconds later.
“Des?” The little rabbit looked at me.
“That’s my name. Desmond Hayes. Or Des.”
“Desmond.” He repeated in a thoughtful voice while he frowned again. “I’ll try to remember your name, but I can’t remember mine.”
“Not surprising with the bump on your head,” Jakob said in a calm tone. “I’m Jakob. Why don’t we go inside, and Darrell can have a look at it? You look like you had a rough time.”
I wanted to strangle Jakob because, as soon as he mentioned Darrell, my little rabbit huddled deeper into the corner again. Like this, I would never get him to get out of there and into the pub.
“How about a compromise. We can ask Josh if he can look at you. He’s not a doctor.” Jakob shot me a questioning glance, but I shook my head. Then I looked back at my little rabbit. “Okay? We need to make sure that you’re okay, and you can warm yourself up.”
“But…no, doctor?”
“No. No, doctor. I promise, Little Rabbit.” I ignored the barely hidden snort from Jakob and smiled at my stray.
“Little Rabbit?”
“Well, until we know your name, we need to call you something, right.” For the first time, since I found him, a small smile showed on his face. He looked much younger when he smiled, and an adorable dimple appeared on his cheek. “What do you say, Little Rabbit? Shall we get inside?”
“Okay, Desmond.”
“You can call me Des.”
“Des.” My little rabbit repeated. Then he slowly crawled out from his hiding spot between the dumpsters.
“Would you like some hot chocolate? Or some tea?” I held out my hand to help him up, and he carefully reached for it. His fingers were freezing, and up close, I could see that his lips were a pale blue.
God, how long has he been hiding here? He wasn’t here when I closed the pub last night, so he must have come here sometime after one in the morning. No matter. It was way too long for him to be hiding out here.
“Hot chocolate?”
“Yes, it’s the best cure when you’re cold and hurting.”
“I…I think I’d like that.”
“Come on, then, Little Rabbit.” I ignored Jakob, who grinned like a maniac and led my stray through the backdoor into the kitchen.
About the Authors
L. Michael is a German Author who started with Fanfiction and then moved to erotic short stories under the pen name Jules Black. From there, it was a small step to the first full-length novel, which will be published in Germany later this year. If not writing or plotting with M. Elton, L. Michael loves binge-watching Crime Shows, Musicals, and Lord of the Rings. And as a nerdy, end-thirty Single, there is a lot of time for her favorite things. Check out the German stories under L. Michael’s other pen name, Jules Black.
→ Jules Black German short Story “Schmerzstudien.”
→ Jules Black German short Story “Unterwerfung.”
M. Elton is an American Author, currently living in Australia (Oh yeah, she’s married to an Australian, too). She never thought the day would come to have a book published. M. Elton has been writing since she was about eight years old but doing nothing about it. It
