i begin to cry, as nobody has shown me such affection since my parents passed. i cry and cry and clutch onto her for an inappropriately long time. she eventually tries to push away and i realized i fucked it up yet again, i always do. i immediately pull away and i can barely make eye contact with her as she looks at me with pity in her eyes. i try to smile reassuringly but all that forms is a grimace dripping with mucus and she returns an awkward smile back. I try to say something, anything, but no words come out and she says that she will see me later rather unconvincingly. she waves and leaves, and there I stood pathetically, unsure of whether to chase after her. i decide to, too late since as i round the corner she is already gone and i bump into a larger figure. he confronts me, yelling at my clumsiness. i try to look past him to find cheryl, but she is nowhere to be seen and the large man takes it as an insult. he pushes me back into an alleyway and starts to beat the shit out of me. he relents as once i am barely conscious, hiccuping and twitching on the ground covered in blood, sweat, and piss. he spits on me, and leaves. I can barely move, and drag myself into a slightly better resting position before passing out. I wake up in pain. one leg is broken, but i realized that i had to work. I pull myself to my feet, ignoring the pain and hobbled to work, arriving late. the furious manager fires me on the spot, unsympathetic to my state. I go to the hospital, and they treat me the best i can but since i delayed treatment, the broken leg had not healed properly and had been irrecoverably infected. it will have to be amputated. cheryl comes to visit me the day of the surgery. she asks how i'm doing and introduces me to her new boyfriend. the man who walks in is the man who broke my leg. he smiles, clearly recognizes me and grabs cheryl's ass. she smiles and elbows him playfully. they leave soon after, and i ping the nurse for more meds as tears leak down my face.
