31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 17 - May I?

Luca back-tracked a few steps, re-positioning himself outside the open bathroom door. Her moves were slow and deliberate, no wasted energy. There was no sign of pain on her face - it remained permanently expressionless - but he knew that it was there. Her injuries were too severe for it not to be. He wondered for a moment as to why someone as closed off and private as his unnamed guest wouldn't lock, or even close, the door while she used the bathroom. It didn't occur to him that the woman wouldn't consider using door. Doors weren't something she'd ever got used to using. Privacy was a foreign concept. He watched her for a few seconds, raising the baby pink razor to her foam-clad head and, with measure precision, dragged it across her scalp. Each stroke was full of purpose. Cautiously, he began to enter the bathroom, being sure to tap the door frame to alert of his presence.

"Just because you can handle the pain, doesn't mean you should have to."

The woman had paused, hand mid-air, more excruciating pain, not that she showed it, she didn't look at him, but Luca knew that she was tracking his movements, assessing the threat.

Luca stopped in front of her, on her right, placing his empty right hand on the sink and offered his equally empty left hand out in front of her face.

"May I?" The woman didn't move, still eyeing Luca, waiting. "The more you push yourself, the longer you will take to heal." Again, nothing. "Look, I get that you don't believe the word 'safe', but that's what you you are. We aren't going to hurt you." Nothing. "If I was going to try to kill you, I'd have poisoned your damn soup. So will you just let me help you?" Luca was about to give up, when he felt plastic being pressed into is palm.

"OK. Let's do this." Carefully, and knowing any sudden movement could be a fatal mistake, Luca continued from where she'd left off. Both remained silent for the entire process.

As the woman used a towel to wipe her newly hairless head, Luca ended the uneasy truce,

"We're looking for Rafe, you know."

In seconds, Luca had been rammed out of the bathroom and against the hallway wall opposite, an arm was pressed against his throat. Luca raised his hands so they were in her eye-line and dropped the razor that he hadn't put down yet.

"I knew it. You're protecting him. You're protecting my brother," An extra bout of pressure was added against his trachea in warning. "Thank you." Luca struggled out the words.

The pressure on his throat eased off. Luca's ability to speak returned.

"Whatever you've done to help my brother, you have our gratitude. Judging by your reaction, he's alive as far as you know." Another warning was pushed against throat and then eased back off.

"You can do that as much as you want, I wont fight back. I will not hurt you."

A pause and then the arm was removed. The woman looked Luca up and down in disgust. And with that, she walked away.