Panda skipped selling the next day. She just didn't feel like it. She felt like she had some sort of cloud hanging over her, and she couldn't shake it. She felt even more miserable than normal. She walked around for a while, then, around 5:30, after much debate, she decided to go to Frankie's. Everybody in the Lodging House had left around 5:00 for another all nighter in Brooklyn, so she was alone and bored. She was in no way ready to see Andy again, and she thought that if she went early instead of later, when she normally walked there with him, she wouldn't be likely to meet him. She was pretty sure that, if given a choice between dying and seeing him, at that point she would have chosen death.
"Hey dere!" said Frankie smiling, "You're here" he glanced at his watch "A little early aren't ya?"
Panda shrugged "What can I do?" she mumbled softly.
"Well, I'm goin out, and da schools actually closed, I'm not lettin anyone training in, but I don't mind a couple people, an I know ya wouldn't do anythin, so ya can sweep da floors if ya want...seein as how I know how much you look foward ta dis."
She smiled faintly in response.
"Ya know where da stuff is, in da closet like always. Ya got any problems, talk ta Andy. DON''T let anyone in. We've been having a few problems with some guys, and I don't want no one dat don't work heah, inside!"
Panda froze "Andy?" she questioned quietly.
"Yeah, he wasn't doin anythin today, and asked if he could come in he said, looking at her expressionless face curiously. "He's, another one I don't mind in heah when I'm gone. He's in another fight tomorra, so I let him in ta train. Hes the only other one heah though, so ya won't have anyone gettin in your way while you're doin what ya gotta do...is dat a problem?"
She slowly shook her head
"Ok then..." he said slowly, looking at her as he walked out the door. "He called behind him. I'm gonna lock ya in, Andy's got da key when ya wanna leave. See ya!" This was a bad thing, cause she had been planning on just leaving after Frankie left. But she was pretty sure that was out of the question now.
When he was gone, Panda took a deep breath, then walked into the large, open closet, and shut the door behind her. She took a deep breath and then let it out. She was trying to calm down and resist the urge to run. On the bright side, she did find it mildly amusing that she had to shut herself in a closet so that she could calm down. She was trying not to bolt when she heard a noise. It was a rustle. She gasped, then realized that it was from her brushing up against a few mops in the corner. She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. At least she tried to lean against the wall, but instead of the cool brick wall she expected, she flung all her weight against something that felt suspiciously warm, and human. She gasped, and then felt hands grab her around the waist. She whirled around, flinging both her hands in wild blind fists. Not because of anything she learned. but because of a self preservation instinct she didn't know she posessed until now.
"Hey! OUCH!!" she heard a voice yell "Hey! Stop it!!!" She recognized the voice, but it didn't register.
She felt something hit her hard in the stomach, and as she doubled over in pain, the other person tackled her. He fell on top of her, cracking her head on the floor.
"OW!" she cried in pain, as she saw colors blurrily spinning around her throbbing head.
"Who-Panda?" asked an incredulous voice.
"I-I-I..." she stuttered as she realized who the owner of the voice was.
"Yeah" she could hear the laughter in his voice "Its Panda" he thought for a second "What are you doing here? I didn't think anyone was here. Frankie left, and warned me about some guys that might cause trouble first. I was down here, trying to find the watch I dropped. Then the door shut, and I was trying to figure out who it was before I did anything, then you landed on me, and started hitting, and I thought ya were one of them guys. I'm sorry Panda, are ya ok?"
"Uh...yeah?"
He rolled off of her and helped her up. "Sorry bout that, ya sure ya ok?"
He let go of her, and she saw things spinning around seriously. She got dizzy and fell right back down on her rear end. She sat there, ponderously dazed.
"I swear!" Andy groaned, "Why do I even listen to you anymore?" he felt around for a second till he found her, then picked her up easily and after a second of struggle, opened the door.
"I'm fine!" she mumbled "I just got up too fast. Put me down please!"
"Just a second!" he said, having difficulty holding her when she was struggling. A moment later, he plopped her down on a chair. He was just about to conclude that she was right, but in taking his hands away, he accidently brushed by her hair. He unconciously let his hand stay there for a second, then he slid it down. Just as he was taking his hand away, he felt a sticky substance, he looked at his hand and saw blood. "Panda?" he asked, trying to sound casual. She looked at him.
"Did I hit you in the head?"
"Theres a bump? I sort of smacked it a little on the floor."
He studied the back of her head carefully, but it was impossible to see anything through her dark hair. "Tilt your head foward" She looked at him oddly, but did it. "Ok, now to the right." She did this too, still glancing at him oddly. He put his hands in her hair, and felt her stiffen up. "Relax", he was quick to reassure her, "I think you cut your head."
"Oh", she said softly. "So thats what hurt"
He winced and looked at it. "Why didn't ya tell me your head hurt? Dis is gonna need stitches"
"I don't need stitches, I've had worse."
"You sure your not a boxer?" asked Andy, joking, but puzzled. "The least ya gotta do is go to the doctor now. He'll clean it up."
"No, I'm fine" she said, absently wiping at the blood that was beginning to trickle down the back of her neck.
"Your not fine, and this isn't negotiable. You're going to the doctor"
"You're right, its not negotiable, but I'm not going to the doctor" she said, in a rare moment of spunk.
Andy grinned at this "I'll carry ya if I gotta, and ya don't want that again, do ya?"
Panda set her mouth and wordlessly shook her head, which sent shooting pain through the back of it.
"Of course ya wouldn't wanna go. Ya don't seem ta like doin anything that might actually be good for ya."
"I don't like doctors" she stated simply, ignoring the stinging comment.
"Who does, but wouldn't ya rather go to the doctor then bleed ta death?"
"Hardly bleeding to death." mumbled Panda
"Please?" he asked, "I feel guilty, and I'd feel really bad if you died." he smiled hopefully.
Her reaction suprised him "Really?" she asked seriously.
"What?" he asked, laughing slightly
"Nothing"
"okaaay..." he said, looking at her oddly. Then he sighed "And I wanted to apoligize too"
"Huh?" asked Panda, putting a hand on her throbbing head. She had a feeling that her headache was about to get a whole lot worse, and she was having trouble staying awake besides. She was getting a little scared, but she'd never mention that to Andy. "for what?"
"For last night. I don't know why I did what I did, and I know you weren't yourself. So, I'm sorry about that. It won't happen again..."
Panda barely heard him, she was dizzy, and her eyelids were so heavy, that she was having a great deal of trouble keeping them open. She was really beginning to get scared.
Meanwhile, Andy had continued "I'm just really sorry, I don't even know ya that well and-"
"I think I need a doctor now" interrupted Panda just before she passed out.
***********************************************************************************************************
She woke up about 45 minutes later, when the doctor waved smelling salts in front of her nose. She felt her head, and it was wrapped securely, but still aching. She looked at him blurrily. "What happened?" she mumbled groggily.
"Well" said the doctor dryly "I have bad news, good news, and some worse news." he looked at Andy, "You don't mind him in here, while I tell you, do you?"
Panda shook her head and glanced at Andy, noticing he was there, for the first time since she woke up.
"Alright, said the doctor. The bad news is that you have a concussion, and have to stay awake for the next 24 hours. If you fall asleep again, you could be in danger of not waking up. The good news is that if you do this, than you should be just fine. But the worse news is that your friend here, took you to me, not a hospital. I own a private practice. As you can see, you're in my home. You could stay over night in a hospital, but now that I've treated you, they won't accept you, because your not in any immediate danger as long as you don't fall asleep. Staying awake on your own is fairly difficult to do. And I'd let you stay here, but I have to leave very shortly. My sister has been taken ill, down in New Jersey. You have to be supervised for at least the next twenty four hours. Is-hey, hey, are you listening to me?"
Panda shook her head, rubbed her eyes, and nodded appologetically..
"Is there anyone you can stay with, who could watch you and make sure you don't fall asleep?
Panda slowly nodded yes, then changed and shook it no
"So thats a no?"asked the doctor
"Poker in Brooklyn..." trailed off Panda, her eyes growing heavy
"I'll do it" offered Andy "I don't hardly sleep da night before a fight anyways."
Panda's eyes widened at this, then she, helpless to do anything about it, shrugged saying weakly "You really don't have to bother...I'll be fi..." she trailed off before she finished, and The doctor had to poke her. "Why am I so tired?" she mumbled
"Due to a number of things. First of all, you know you're not allowed to be, second, you're probably under a lot of stress, and third, head injurys tend to make you sleepy, they scramble your brains for a while...now if you'll excuse me," he said picking up a black bag near the door "I really must be going", Panda slowly climbed down from the table, and was concentrating so hard on putting one foot in front of the other that if Andy hadn't stopped and redirected her, she would have run right into the wall.
Once they were outside, Andy asked "So where to?"
Panda, shrugging, mumbled something to herself about a rest, and sank down onto a nearby bench. Her eyes slowly floated shut, and she was nearly asleep when she felt herself being shaken violently. Her eyes opened quickly, and Andy's blurry face was floating around in front of her. "Panda!" he said "Panda, ya gotta stay awake, ok?"
She mumbled something that sounded like "Panda wants to sleep"
Andy couldn't help but smile at this, seeing as how she didn't even seem to realize that she'd said anything at all out loud. "Well, Andy's sorry dat Panda doesn't wanna stay awake, but would it be better if Panda dies?"
"Yes" was her unoriginal answer.
"Well, how bout you at least have a cup of coffee before you decide that, ok?"
Panda nodded, and mumbled her consent.
"Ok, come on then" he took her to Tibbies, actually, because it happened to be the closest place. They went inside, and Andy ordered coffee for both of them. When the coffee arrived, Panda went to take a drink, it was hot, she gasped, and spilled half the contents all over herself. She muttered unintelligibly under her breath.
Andy began laughing "forget where your mouth was?"
She just gave him a heavy lidded expression of misery, grabbed a nearby cloth napkin, and started trying to sop at least some of it up, after a moment her head started to tilt slowly downward, and the napkin slipped unnoticed out of her hand.
"Panda? Panda? PANDA!" Andy said getting progressively louder until she started awake again. "Ok, this isn't working. What do you want to do? Go back to the gym?
"Ok" said Panda quietly and she slowly got up to go. He got up as well, paid, then left. Back at the gym, Andy put Panda on one punching bag, and told her to practice some punches. He then ent over to a punching bag on the other side of the room, took off his shirt, and started in on his punching bag like there was no tomorrow.
Even though Panda was barely able to keep her eyes open, she still managed to feel slightly embarassed, thinking back to the first time she had met him, and the conversation and hidden amused looks from Scott.
About ten minutes later Andy looked up, and then did a double-take, he had been so intent on what he'd been doing, he'd temporarily forgotten about Panda. What he saw looked like a scene out of a book. "Oh, now thats just too much" he said out loud to himself, throwing up his hands in exasperation. She was standing there, leaning up face first, against the punching bag, her arms were hanging down limply, and her head was turned sideways, supporting the rest of her body, her mouth hung open, and she looked so exhausted that for second Andy thought about not waking her.
Luckily this was decided for him, when he heard a sharp knocking on the door. Panda woke up suddenly and straightened up. She turned around in slow circle. "What was that?"
"Someone knocking on the door, stay here, okay? I'm gonna go see who it is."
"okay"
"And Panda?"
She looked at him questioningly, with glazed eyes.
"Don't go to sleep!" With that, he walked out of the room and to the door.
He was relieved to find that it was Scott. "Hey!" he said, smiling, and letting him in "Whatcha doin here?"
"Remember, its ten o'clock, you asked me to come in and help you. And I'd just like to go on record as saying that these all night things are crazy. They're probably damaging to your health. I have a good mind to say I'm gonna leave, and not participate in the furthur degeneration of the health of a friend. I'd finally get to bed early for once! I'm bored out of my mind!" He exclaimed.
About this time, Panda came out of the other room, looking just as tired and disheveled as she had moments ago. Scott saw her, and his eyes widened. "Or maybe this COULD get interesting!"
Andy glared at him fiercely "I knocked her down and she hit her head on the concrete, then she passed out then she had a concussion, and the doctor said she had to stay awake, and she can't and theres no one else to keep her awake, so I am, except she fell asleep against the punching bag, but then you knocked on the door and woke her up." He said this all rapidly.
"Geez!" said Scott, no more carbo loading or caffeine or whatever it is, for you, it doesn't have a good effect..." he stopped and watched Panda in the other room for a second. "Ya know: he said, getting an evil smirk on his face, "Shes NOT all that bad looking..."
"Who ever said she was?"
"No one...I'm just saying shes not..."
"And?"
"Ya know, its really just the way she carries herself, it makes her seem either really old, or really young"...I'm not sure which." he was looking at her speculatively, forgetting the original point to these blatant insinuations.
"Yeah" said Andy, watching her closely.
Scott shook his head once or twice. "So we gonna do this or what?"
"Yeah sure"
"And since she enjoys watching you fight so much, maybe we should invite her in" Scott said, grinning broadly to himself.
"Huh?" said Andy "Are you being sarcastic? Are you talking about that last fight?"
"The last fight?...what?...Oh no, not that, more like that first- never mind..." he trailed off, still grinning to himself as he walked into the room ahead of a very confused Andy.
They had only taken their eyes off of Panda for about three minutes, and when they got to the room she was supposed to be in, she didn't appear to be there, at first, then they looked down. She was laying on the floor, curled up in a tiny ball.
Scott started laughing when he saw this. It was so loud that, once again, Panda woke up.
The hours passed slowly, Panda tried to go to sleep many times, and many times, Andy or Scott kept her awake. Andy was pretty concerned, but Scott was just amused. When she started to go to sleep, he tried several things. He grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her, stumbling, around the room in circles. Once he grabbed her from behind, stood her up, and yelled directly in her ear, "I'll hold her Andy! You hit!" But that scared her so much, that he didn't do it again.
Andy, for the most part, worked on the heavy bag, while Scott kept Panda awake, watched Andy, and gave advice. "Keep your left hand up a little more when you throw the right hook." suggested Scott.
"Alright" said Andy "Hey, hows Panda doing?"
"Shes..." started Scott, "um, asleep." he finished abruply, as he looked over at her. He shook her, but it didn't have any effect. He began to get worried, so he picked her up off the ground, and started shaking her, it still wasn't working. "Ok, Andy, we have a problem!" said Scott grimly, still trying to wake her up.
Andy stopped what he was doing, and came running over. He ackwardly grabbed Panda, and shook her. It still didn't do any good. "Panda! Panda, can you hear me? Panda, wake up!" he yelled ito her ear.
Just when he was getting ready to become a whole lot more worried, she opened her eyes, and looked at him. "What, you thought I was serious?" she asked, smiling faintly.
"Oh, please, you were OUT!"
"No, I wasn't...I was...um...um...I forget"
"Yeah, sure, ok, then" he said, his face about two inches away from hers "Look me in the eyes and tell me you were awake."
"Never mind" she mumbled, "Its not dat important"
"Yeah, dats what I thought"
"What time is it?"
"Four A.M." said Scott, who was nearby.
"And how long do I have?"
"Till around seven, tonight."
"Goodnight"
"Hey, wait a sec! No, no goodnight! I know, lets take a walk or something, come on." said Andy, pulling Panda to her feet. "Scott?" he questioned.
"I'll stay here, maybe I'll catch up on my sleep" he said grinning.
"Thats not funny" muttered Panda stumbling out of the room, with Andy right behind. They went to the door, and Andy unlocked it, then they went out into the night.
"So talk ta me here, how ya doin" said Andy as they walked along.
"Fine"said Panda, looking around nervously
"What ya lookin for?"
"Nothing"said Panda, quickly, still looking around
"Well, you have to be looking for something...or someone." He paused for a second. "The guy from the letter?"
Panda said nothing, she just looked at him, startled.
"Who was it, a boyfriend?"
She didn't answer for a moment, then asked "a boyfriend?" and snorted, "Sure!" She lapsed into silence again.
"Whats that supposed ta mean?" asked Andy, raising an eyebrow.
Panda shrugged
"So you don't have a boyfriend?" he asked inscrutiably.
Panda stared at him. "Um...no..." she said after a second, "of course not!"
"Why are ya so suprised I asked?"
"Well, because, um, I-you-I-how could I have a boyfriend?"
"What do you mean how?"
"Oh, nevermind!" said Panda, hurridly, anxious to change the subject, or go to sleep, one.
"You sure brush things off a lot...speaking of which..." he looked at her. "We never finished our discussion. Who was it? I take it, it wasn't a boyfriend?"
Panda slowly shook her head. "No, can we change the subject?"
"No we can't!" said Andy, not till I find out who's threatening ya. Now who was it, an old friend, your brother, your father...?" He stopped there, cause he saw her face change. "I was right, wasn't I? Its your father, isn't it? Why don't ya call da cops?"
"Panda sighed, and explained, quietly why she couldn't call the cops, which was basically the fact that her father had escaped from jail, and the cops already knew that.
"Well, what about the letter, the threat, they don't already know about that, do they?"
"No..." said Panda slowwly, "but you have to understand, he hardly ever does what he says he will, and i don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily" then in a quieter vioce "Besides", she added "Everything he said was true anyways."
"How can you say that?" asked Andy, staring at her in shock. "NOTHING he said was true!"
"I'm not worth da effort!" said Panda, sadly, "I'm no good, I know dat!"