Malik gave me a weird look when I rushed out the building. I probably owe him an explanation but I don't have the time to give him one right now. So I continue down the street, following the mental map in my mind. 

After taking an intricate path that I'm surprised I haven't forgotten, I'm fairly certain I've arrived at my destination. 

I’m less familiar with her apartment building, seeing as I’ve only been there a few times, so I fumble my way to the front desk and ask someone for assistance. An employee leads me up a flight of stairs and guides me to the room number I asked for. They told me to come back down if I needed any help before leaving, which was nice of them.

Before knocking, I silently pray that she has somehow moved apartments since the last time I saw her. Even if that was only a few months ago. Even though I need her help desperately. For my sake, no one better answer when I knock on her door. 

I reach my hand out and lightly rap on the door. Maybe if I knock lightly enough she won’t hear. Maybe she isn’t even home. God the suspense is killing me and it’s only been two seconds of waiting. 

After another second, I decide that she probably isn’t going to answer, So I turn on my heel and start to walk away. I get about four steps in when I hear the door open. 

“Oh good. It’s you,” I hear her unenthusiastic voice say. Wow, this is going even more poorly than I imagined it might. 

I turn around and I’m sure there’s some kind of guilty, awkward expression on my face. “Hey Nora.” I can’t see her expression, but I can tell it isn’t good. 

I met Nora after I lost my sight, so I can’t exactly imagine what she looks like, but she did attempt to describe herself for me. She told me that her hair was wavy, red and just above her shoulder. And not a natural red either, but a blood red. And “too many freckles” in her own words. She’s a few inches shorter than me, but way more muscular. She didn’t tell me that part, but I had plenty of opportunities to feel it. God, that sounds creepy. 

Nora decided to break the awkward silence. “What are you doing here?” 

Shit, I should’ve planned out what I was going to say before knocking on her door. I guess I was hoping so badly that she wasn’t going to answer, I ended up assuming that was the truth. 

“You see, that’s a little hard to explain. I need your help.” I laugh nervously. Oh god, please let me drop dead so I don’t have to deal with the rest of this conversation. Hell will probably be better. “But first, can I just say that I am so sorry for ghosting you. You didn’t deserve that and I shouldn’t have done that. That’s on me.” 

I do actually feel bad about what I did. But I didn’t have the nerve to properly break off whatever was going on between the two of us and I definitely didn’t have the nerve to apologize to her for not doing that. Nora is frightening when she’s angry. Not in the ‘toxic and manipulative girlfriend’ way. But in the ‘I’m going to the hospital if I make her mad’ way. 

Nora pauses before answering, “Okay, so I don’t accept your apology and I would like you to leave.” 

I can hear her beginning to shut her door so I scramble to stop her. Yes, it physically pains me to be here and I would like this interaction to end as soon as possible, but I’m not leaving until I get what I came for. I’m not going to let this awkward encounter be in vain. 

“Wait, wait, wait.” I put my hand on the door and gently push it open. “Just hear me out. You don’t have to forgive me, I honestly don’t expect you to. But there is a wounded selkie in my apartment right now and he really needs help that I can’t provide.

The pressure she was exerting to close the door stops. I hold my breath, awaiting her response. 

“How bad?”

“Bad enough to soak my clothes in blood.” 

I lift my jacket to show my shirt underneath. Sure, the jacket had stains too, but it’s black so they probably don’t show as well. The clothes underneath are sure to be more obviously stained. Although, I’m sure she’s already noticed the traces of blood and my disheveled look before I pointed it out, even if she hasn’t said anything. 

“I thought that was paint. Or mud,” Nora says quietly. I can tell she’s thinking, weighing the pros and cons. She’s smart like that. 

As much as I don’t want her to be, Nora really is the best person to go to for this situation. She’s a doctor. Or more specifically, a doctor for mystics. There’s a lack of knowledge about mystics in general, and a lack of healthcare for them because of that. With the increase of population in mystics, due to most countries implementing laws that protect them, doctors for mystics are seriously in demand. Not to mention that the majority of those that go through higher education are human. And most of those humans dislike mystics. As a result, there are likely no more than five thousand people that can legally practice medicine for mystics in the whole world. 

“Fine,” she says, sighing. I smile but it seems she doesn’t like that because she follows up with, “I’m not doing this for you, so don’t expect me to be nice.” 

“Of course not,” I respond quickly. I really don’t want to say anything to make her change her mind. 

I stand there awkwardly for a moment.

“Lead the way. I’ve never been to your apartment before, remember?” Nora says, the last word dripping in venom. 

“Right, sorry,” I say and walk down the hall. I embarrassingly fumble a bit before finding the stairs but she doesn’t say anything about it. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had. 

After an uncomfortably quiet walk, we reach my apartment. I go to unlock the door, but when I fit my key in the hole, I realize the door is already unlocked. 

“That’s weird,” I say to myself, forgetting Nora is right next to me. 

“What’s weird?” 

“Well, I cast a spell that keeps a door from opening unless I’m the one opening it. Or, well I tried to. I’m not sure if it worked since I can’t exactly test it.” I say, thinking out loud. “Actually, do you think you could try to open it? Just to see if it worked?”

Nora doesn’t move for a few seconds before attempting to open the door. It doesn’t open. “It worked. Unless it’s locked?”

“It isn’t, that’s the weird thing. But I locked it on my way out. I’m sure I did. But if no one can open the door and I’m the only one with a key then-”

“Then the selkie must have unlocked it,” Nora says, finishing my thought. We lower our voices to a faint whisper. We don’t want him to know we’re here, if he happens to be close to the door. 

“Exactly.”

“How did you find this selkie?” 

“He was with a couple of poachers. They were going to sell his scales or something. I got him out of there the moment they left. He was unconscious.”

“Great. So he probably thinks we’re the ones that kidnapped him.”

I nod. I had been thinking the same thing. “And if I was in his shoes, once I realized escaping wasn’t an option, my next thought would be ambushing my kidnappers when they got back.” 

“What are the odds that we won't be attacked the moment we step into your apartment?”

“Not great.” 

She sighs and I feel a tinge of guilt for dragging her into this. 

“Rhuka, you got your flask on you?”

I hold back a laugh. That’s a silly question. I always have my flask with me. It’s small and I keep it in a more subtle pocket in my jacket. It doesn’t contain any alcohol. Only water. 

“Yes,” I say slowly, trying to decipher where she’s going with this. 

Nora must sense my confusion because she explains her idea, “As far as he knows, we’re going to waltz in there unaware that he’s trying to attack us. So if you can catch him off guard, I can try to restrain him quickly, without hurting him. Figure the best way to do that is with water, so we don’t get too close and get ourselves hurt.”

“That's… a really good idea,” I say. 

“You sound surprised,” she says, sour tone returning. 

“Not surprised. More like grateful that you agreed to help me out,” I answer honestly. 

Nora is silent for a second, almost like she didn’t expect me to say that. I reach into my pocket and open my flask in preparation, drawing the water out. 

“You’re going to need to open the door,” she says. “I know you can’t see him but you can hear him, and I know you’re not as helpless as you like to make people think. All you need to do is splash him in the face. Then step back and I’ll do the rest.” She pauses for a second. Maybe she’s making sure she hasn’t forgotten anything. Or she’s checking to make sure I understand. “Ready?”

I nod, reach out and open the door. I hear faint rustling to my left. And breathing. Good to know he isn’t dead. I know he’s taller than me so I should aim higher. I hear the floorboards creak and quiet movement. I make a guess and throw the water in that direction, quickly stepping back to let Nora do her part. 

I hear a startled yell followed by a clang. I flinch at the sound and my chest tightens. I rush inside my apartment instinctively. 

“I’ve got him,” Nora says and I sigh in relief. 

“What was that noise?” 

“A frying pan,” she answers. “He dropped it when you splashed him with your water.”

The selkie is unusually quiet for someone who just failed an escape attempt. 

“Is he okay?”

“I’m not sure okay is really the word for him right now,” she says. “He’s having a panic attack. I’m going to help him through it, so just stay out of my way and be quiet.” 

I can tell Nora has him on one of my couches from the direction of her voice. I’m unsure what to do, so I sit on the couch opposite the selkie and wait for Nora to do her thing.

“Hey,” Nora says softly, speaking to the selkie. “My name is Nora. I’m a doctor and I’m going to help you through this, okay? Can I touch you? Is that okay?”

I hear soft movement from the selkie and a sound that sounds like whimpering? Is he crying? My chest tightens and I want to help but I’m sure I’ll only make things worse. His breathing is quick and shallow and he keeps gagging and making choking sounds. 

“Okay, that’s fine. I won’t touch you until you say I can.” I’m surprised by the softness of her voice. I don’t think she’s ever spoken to me that way. 

“Can you take a deep breath for me?” The selkie inhales and exhales deeply. “Good. Keep taking deep breaths.” 

Nora continues to say encouraging things to the selkie while he takes deep breaths. Phrases like, “You’re safe. I’m going to protect you. I won’t leave you. I’m here. I’ve got you.” 

After a minute, she tries engaging in light conversation with him. If you can call it conversation since she’s the only one talking. I’m not sure if the purpose is to distract him or connect with him, but it’s working. His breathing is more relaxed and he’s stopped making the choking noises. 

“You see that guy, on the couch? That’s Rhuka. He’s honestly a bit of a prick,” she says it so calmly that I almost don’t take it as an insult. 

“This is his apartment. It’s rather shabby looking, isn’t it?” 

I hear movement from the selkie. Is he agreeing with her?

“This is my first time here, too. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense because the two of us sort of dated for a month.”

I cringe and I’m sure my cheeks are reddening. I’m not sure why she feels the need to say the details of our relationship to a stranger having a panic attack. But I guess it works because I hear a few breathy laughs coming from the selkie. 

After a few more minutes of relentless teasing from Nora, the selkie seems to have recovered from his panic attack. He’s still quiet, but his breathing is normal and I don’t think he’s crying anymore. 

“Alright, luckily I brought my first aid kit since I’m assuming you don’t have one, Rhuka?” Nora says.

I awkwardly avoid the question. I really should have one, considering how many times I came home bruised, battered, or bleeding, even if that doesn’t happen as often anymore. But she’s right, I don’t have one.

“Exactly,” she says, sounding very full of herself. 

She treats his wounds and the three of us sit, for the umpteenth time today, in awkward silence. 

After finishing, Nora speaks to the selkie again, “I’ve got to get going. I’d really like to stay and help but I have a date with someone who actually cares about my feelings.” That part feels like a jab at me. Fair, but ouch. 

“But don’t worry, Rhuka is going to stay here with you. He might be helpless and a total jerk when it comes to relationships, but he’s, annoyingly, a good guy. He’ll be able to take care of you. And he can kick ass, better than most sighted people, so you’re in good hands.” 

I’m sure my face is red right now. I didn’t expect her to say such nice things about me, especially after what happened between us. 

A hand grabs a fistfull of my hair and forcefully pulls my head back. “Don’t fuck this up,” Nora says, low enough so only I can hear, her face inches from mine. She releases my hair and walks to the door. “Have fun, you two,” she says and exits my apartment. 

Now, it’s just me and the selkie. Yay.