Someone Lost

Her eyes became her only words.

Air rushed through her body and her words and thoughts disappeared. Where?

The woman’s body plummeted from the three-story balcony. She tucked her head to her chest and curled into a fetal position.

“Tasha!” A man screamed. Anguish fractured his voice and her heart. She collided with the unmoving concrete sidewalk. Bone cracked and shattered, the impact forcing air from her lungs.

She looked skyward, frantic to find him. She knew she had lost something. How could the woman survive the pain of such loss? Someone crucial, critical to her life – lost.

The agony of her heart tempted her to relinquish this body to the physical pain and imminent death. Darkness loomed above. She closed her eyes.

“Elvira, please. Please, save her.” The tormented plea whispered in her head and the wind.

A chilled hand touched her neck. “She’s got a pulse.” She opened her eyes to see a man dressed in the blue, a policeman. His lips thin and eyes tight with tension.

He flinched at her unexpected gaze then his face smoothed into a mask of reassurance. But pinpoint pupils suggested a frantic rush of adrenaline and reflected her face. She knew that person his brown eyes mirrored back. That was her, the real her.

She was Tasha Downey. And he wasn’t the one.

“Where?” She croaked.

“It’s okay, we got him. An ambulance is on the way.”

Sun high in a noonday sky heated the pavement. She smelled the man’s acrid sweat. The grime and debris on the sidewalk pressed into her flesh. Trapped once again in a dying body. Her own shattered and traumatized body.

A siren blared, carried on the wind as it raced across city streets. The policeman left, replaced by a new shadow. A woman with orange hair knelt at her side, bracelets jingled and clanked as she moved.
“Tasha,” she said softly. A smooth cool palm soothed her brow and brushed her hair back. “Hold on, honey. I’ll jump you into another while this your body heals. You don’t have to endure this pain.”

“Elvira,” she thought.

“That’s right baby, it’s me. I’ll take care of everything.”

“No.” Tasha said.

“Now there is no reason to struggle through the pain of healing. When you finish this next job you’ll be recovered.” Elvira took her hand and squeezed. “Ready?”

“No.”

Forehead wrinkled and eyes squinting, Elvira frowned. “Now listen to me, you have a penance to serve,” she scolded.

“No more. Where is he?”

“Who?” She checked her nails feigning ignorance and boredom.

Tasha’s squeezed Elvira’s hand. Her body wasn’t paralyzed, just damaged. She tightened her grip. Elvira winced and pulled her arm back. Her jewelry sparkled and flashed.

“Demitri. Don’t take away my reason to live. Don’t.” Tears blurred her vision and clogged her throat. "Don't."