Standing Still - birthday gift

Water went up with a great splashing sound as your foot slipped from the rock and entered the icy stream. You did not even notice it; the hot sweat was running in streaks across your back. Your hair was plastered to your forehead with a strange mixture of sweat and blood.
You did mind one thing, though. You realized it when you stood back on the solid ground and rapid pumping of your blood was accompanied by loud squelching coming from your shoe.
The water you carried there was slowing you down. And tiny panicky voice in your head was having hysterics.

I never knew if you were truly afraid, Olivia. You seemed to handle the situation sickeningly well. Sweet, tired smiles. Funny talk. Cup of tea. You didn't want coffee, even though you expressed a wish to have time for some. You missed the taste.
The run was your life. This is not some silly phrase like "I can't live without playing music." It's very, very accurate. Very precise. Very literally meant.
I knew you only for one afternoon.

The forest was getting thinner in front of your eyes and then you were out of the woods. The long road leading down to the suburbs was taking in every of your step. The thunder roared above your head, clouds gathering into thick, black mass. Smell of the rain was hanging low in the air. You said you didn't know about it. You didn't even hear the wet slapping of one of your shoes on the concrete. You somehow knew it was there, but it didn't matter. You were faster than the wind which just began to rise. Your muscles were burning and in your lungs the fire celebrated its victory over small, exhausted body.
You said you weren't really exhausted, just very tired. If you were exhausted, you wouldn't keep on running, right? There was no real space for thoughts about stopping. Your mind raced forward, dragging the broken, burnt-out body behind. One leg ahead of the other. Just don't mind them, they're not yours. The pain isn't yours. Nothing is yours. And you are nothing.

I was being turned down by a hot girl while you were making your way into the city. I didn't tell you that, Olivia. Would you like to know what the girl was like? The last girl I spoke to before I met you?
She was all breasts (they seemed wonderfully soft through her thin top), short jet black hair and eyeliner of the same color, and legs long as the Nile. They were not at all as your legs. These legs were dressed only in a short white skirt and they were made for dancing. Not running, like yours. Dancing. Walking through the streets on high heels. Legs that wanted attention. Sex legs in my point of view. I wanted them and all that came with them. I got spit in my face instead. Also a treat, wouldn't you think?
I imagine you'd snicker, if I told you this. You didn't try to make me feel as though my problems were insignificant in comparison with yours. But they were.
When the incredibly sexy chick with the most seductive legs in the universe spat in my face, a bullet just missed an ankle of yours.

You did not scream or gasped, but I believe a tear escaped from your eye. The wind was against you, trying to slow you down. It wanted to prove it's stronger than you are, but you did not have time for these silly little games of the nature. You struggled against it, tearing it apart, sneaking through wind's body like a bullet would through yours if you slowed down.
You had no idea what time it was. Could it already be twelve hours? Could it? Please? You could not take it much longer.
But you would not stop. Your body took orders only from the mind inhabiting it. It was no longer strong enough to defeat your willpower and succumb to the weakness.
The first houses started to surround you, first people crossing your way. Slow people, wandering the streets, stopping at every few meters and talking to someone.
You drew a sharp breath and tried to raise the speed.
Your body betrayed you. You tripped. Gravel kissed passionately your face.
It sucked on your lips with more force then any man could. Beautiful Olivia.

I was sitting at the base of a fountain in the main square, a cigarette behind my ear, guitar in my hand. The place where the stupid bitch spat on my face was red from consistent rubbing I gave it in disgust. I took off my shoes and tossed my legs over fountain's edge. The cool water took most of my hot blood away. The guitar was lying in my arms and I started to stroke its strings lovingly.
Splashing of the fountain was intertwined with my slow disappointed music. Another lazy morning when I was already denied sex with a stranger.
Yeah, I said morning. You'd be surprised and amused, Liv, am I right? I didn't strike you as a kind of guy cruising in the city for some naked fun before the noon.
The guitar was gently weeping in my arms when I heard the bell on the tower for the first time. It was noon and you stormed onto the main square with bullets flying behind your heels.
My song disappeared instantly in the noise of the fire, bell announcing the noon and splashes of fountain.
Only when your eyes found my direction I realized why it seemed that the water was screaming its molecules out. It was calling for you and you listened. I watched you flying over the square, jumping on the edge of the fountain and taking a dive in. Blood dripping from your face dissolved in the water.
Ear splitting noise made me jump and I found myself staring shit-scared at a rounded hole in my guitar. I turned myself in shock and over the square I saw him.
A man with silvery white hair and long dark gray coat lifted his hands at the level of his shoulders in a mockery of an apology. His thin lips curved slightly in a smile directed at me. I and everyone present in the square stared at the gun he held in his right hand. Without further waiting he started to walk towards the fountain. He aimed carefully.
Then the bell resounded for the twelfth time.

You know this perfectly well, Olivia, because I stressed it enough for you to grasp the concept. In short: I almost wet myself.
I thought I was going to scream like a crazy bananas nuts person who is just a bit mental, when that man (who, so you know, looked like he didn't even belong to our world, did you notice that on your mindless run, Olivia?) just turned around and vanished like a phantom on the clear summer day. What was that about, Olivia?! He even shot my guitar, Olivia!
I fished you out of the fountain after that. My hand grasped you under the shoulder and I examined your face with curiosity and shock. You weren't like anything I have ever seen. Your smile was so triumphant and defeated at once... And when the water washed away most of the blood, your face seemed like a naked wound from which I could not tear my eyes. And you coughed out a wheezy laugh. And then you sat on the edge next to me and smiled at me in such a pure and exquisite way which made me feel as if I was everything you could ever wish for.
My stomach started to twitch nervously when I saw you staring at me, soaking wet, at the end of your strengths. You were leaning closer, your lips bloody, raw and so stunningly red, so hot and inviting...
"Will you invite me to your place for a cup of coffee?" you asked in a dry voice.
I did. We left the place before anyone could react and before the cops could arrive.

You fell asleep on my couch while I was breaking cups in kitchen. One after another they kept slipping between my fingers shattering on the floor, and finally I just sat on the floor and sunk my head in my hands, shaking like mad. I tried to light up a cigarette but I couldn't make the stupid cheap lighter work.
You slept for four hours and I was checking on you every few minutes. You clutched tightly the blanket I threw over you. My black t-shirt and trousers suited you. I still didn't know your name. You were just a girl with bruises all over her body who shed away all of her clothing in my flat without any shame and requested something clean and dry. "Please, wash my clothes," you said and thrust a bundle of wet cargo jeans and flannel shirt in my arms together with a bit torn lacy bra and pink knickers. I stared at your battered body while you went through my wardrobe and picked out what you liked. I couldn't breathe, Liv. I could only feed my eyes and mind with your glorious beauty. Your legs...your arms, your belly, your breasts... all of you was meant to be loved and protected.
I escaped to the bathroom with your clothes clutched against my aching chest.

"Who are you?" I whispered when your eyes opened and you fixed your gaze on my bewildered face.
I was sitting on the floor next to the couch, leaning towards you. You smiled and said your name. Then you added: "I'm sorry I used you. I needed you."
You needed me, Olivia. You needed me.
I didn't do anything and was only absorbing your lovely voice and the words that meant something entirely new to me. Something I didn't understand and couldn't control.
"Do you want something?" I asked quietly, anxious not to do anything that would make you go away. "Are you injured?"
"I'm a bit hungry," you admitted.
"Is pizza okay?" My creativity was on its peak, really. I would slap myself for offering you pizza. But you said that it was fine and you thanked me.
Pizza arrived in half an hour and I was barely able to swallow a piece while watching you taking big bites and burying them in your stomach with a speed that a ravenous lion would not be ashamed of.
You noticed my gaze after a while and you stopped eating. "I'm sorry, do I disgust you?" you said in a playful tone which made my heart jump and hit my throat.
I shook my head.  
"Oh, I didn't even ask your name!" you realized. "What is it?"
I told you my name and you reached out a hand covered in tomato sauce and I took it in my own and held it. "I'm grateful I could meet you, Owen."
You needed me. You were grateful for meeting me. You took your clothes off and exposed your naked body to my sight. And now you were eating pizza with me, your shoulders covered with my blanket.
I licked my fingers clean so I could get rid of the sauce that stayed on my skin. I have never eaten anything remotely like it.
"Thank you for letting me be here, Owen," you lowered your voice. "I needed it."
Needed.

Your explanations could not confuse me any more than I already was. You were tracing with your finger the split wood that surrounded the hole on my guitar.
"But why can't you..."
"Yes?"
"You should tell someone," I decided with a patronizing frown plastered on my forehead.
"I'm telling you."
How could you be so irrational, Olivia? How could you persist on sitting here with me, while there was a psychopath with a desire to spill your blood, shatter your bones, bake your insides and then kill you? I fought the urge to shake you till you came to your senses. But then, maybe you never had any. I didn't know that.
"I meant police. Someone who can protect you."
Your expression frightened me and I swallowed hard upon realization what it meant. In the whole wide world, how could there be no one to take care of you? "You could at least run away, Liv."
"Didn't you see me running? If you want to, you can watch it again in only seven hours."
I grasped your hands and look directly in your eyes. "Are you completely daft, woman?" You looked mildly amused but I continued: "Sit on the plane, go to Brazil, disappear somewhere where he will not find you!"
"First of all, he'll always find me, Owen. Second of all, if I stopped running and chose another form of escape, there would be no more chances for me. He would stop playing fair. He can move incredibly fast."
Rage built inside me and made me rise up. "Playing fair?" I screamed at her. "He tried to shoot you, you imbecile!"
You looked at me politely and replied only: "Yes, he did."
I ran my hand though my shaggy hair and felt like hitting something hard. Hard till it hurts. "What is wrong with you?" I sighed finally and gave up. I let my body sink into couch just next to you. "Who is he?"
You smiled so terribly. Shivers ran down my spine. I leaned closer to you. "He is a player. And he is a hunter. He hunts for pleasure. For twelve hours a day he's hunting me down, then I've got until midnight till the chase starts again." You looked at me and whispered so quietly your voice barely brushed my lips: "I'm not exactly a morning person." You chuckled and I stared at you in horror.
"What kind of sick game is this?" I spat out.
You shrugged. "He chose me by chance. He had me already once, in the beginning, but he said..."
He said the two of you were going to play a game. You will run. And if you ever wear him down, he'll stop hunting you. You will divide each day in two parts. One when he hunts you, one when you can gather your strengths.
You were running for 13 months, 3 weeks and 17 hours now.
You were running through your life and when you stopped, it was for food, sleep and toilet.
"Can I tell you a secret?" you asked and took my hand. "At first it all felt incredibly bad and I was so afraid... but I barely remember it now. I just know that I felt the world rushing around me and I felt like I didn't belong here anymore. Like if I couldn't enjoy it anymore with all the people who could just stop in the middle of anything...." You stared at my lips and hesitated. "But then I noticed something. A new feeling." You moved closer and put your arms around my shoulders. Our knees were touching. "My mind was clear. Calm. Still." Your brilliant eyes were browsing my facial features and I felt...
Calm. Still. Needed.

You joked about being Forrest Gump. And I laughed.
You slept some more. You used my shower.
You made me play the guitar for you, even though the sound wasn't right anymore.
Later I realized how perfect it was. How very us. Broken and just plain wrong.
"Oh, Owen," you sighed.
You liked what I did then. I saw it in your eyes and the surprised laugh that followed.
I said, mimicking your own words: "Oh, Livia."
You requested "Moondance" by Van Morrison and while I played, you sang quietly, both of us averting our glances. I trembled inside upon hearing the lyrics.
No one ever made me feel so needed and so useless at once, Livia. Only you. When the midnight was drawing near and you stood up straight I felt my heart cracking from inside out.
I begged you not to go. I begged you to run away with me. To stay hidden. "Why would he look for you here?"
"He saw you at the main square. And besides, Owen... if I stayed here..."
"Yes?"
"I could never leave this place again. What a life would that be?" You swallowed hard and stroked my cheek. Electricity ran through my body. "I'm better of on the run. At least there I have a chance to have life once again. Someday. Maybe."
I went for the final option, when you were already out of the door. "But you need me!"
I wish I've never said that. I wish you've never replied.

I followed you outside. Even hurting, I couldn't leave you. I still believed I could change something.
It was eleven minutes till midnight and you were headed to the old railway behind the town's limits. The sound of a cargo train was rattling toward us but we could not see it yet. I kept my distance, always few steps behind you, never saying anything.
I noticed a movement in the dark between the trees and a glimmer of silver. Did you know he was there?
Yes, you did. In the sleeve of the shirt you borrowed from me because your own was still wet, there was hidden a kitchen knife you stole from my home. You thought I wouldn't notice. But I did, Livia. I noticed everything about you. I noticed you.
When the first of twelve chimes announcing midnight sounded from the distance, you pushed me behind the rail tracks, away from the forest. "It's a marvelous night for a moondance," you whispered and brushed your still raw lips against my cheek. I could smell my own shower gel from you. I shivered and wanted to hold you close to my body, to keep you protected from that shade between the trees on the other side.
The cargo train was coming from behind the bend. Did you push me here so it would separate us from him? So we could jump on the train and dissolve in the night like shadows? No one would ever see us again for more then few minutes...
"Oh, Owen," you whispered.
I didn't say anything. I only nodded, waiting for you to continue. Behind your back, the man in the long gray coat stepped away from the trees and glowered angrily at the coming train and then at us. Tenth stroke of the distant sounded and I opened my mouth to tell you that...
You pushed me away with all force you could muster and jumped across the rail tracks on the other side just seconds before the train cut you away from me.
"Livia!" I shouted and tried to see something through the gaps between the wagons. I thought that at one point I actually caught a glimpse of both your figures, standing very still for one last second. The noise of the train was rattling in my head; I couldn't hear anything from the other side.
Maybe you really would need someone else when tomorrow afternoon arrives but I needed you now.
But you were on the other side and the train seemed to never end. The wagons kept on coming. I was running along the tracks, trying to find one damn moment which would allow me to get on the other side...  
"Olivia!"
I wanted to see your face heal.
"Liv!"
I wanted to be the next stranger who takes care of you tomorrow afternoon.
"Don't you dare to hurt her, you creep!"
I wanted to see you throw away your clothes like you didn't care once more.  
The train was mocking me, bringing dead wood to some unimportant destination.
"Livia!"

The train went away in the end after what seemed like ages. The red end lights disappeared into the night. I let my hands fall from my hair and ran across the railway and stared there at the small place where the two of you met few minutes before.
He was gone. There was no sign of him anywhere. Not a single trace.
And so were you. Olivia.