Tangled Up In You
Teaser
The rain pelted her back but the pain radiating from her side kept her from noticing the cold water, her orange jumpsuit soaked and her shoes caked with mud up to the ankles. "Just- just hold on." A voice spoke next to her as Hope leaned in a slump against the outside, fingers clutching the wood to keep from crying out in pain, eyes shut tightly against the wet and darkness.
"Hope, come on. Just-" Hope felt something shift, and heard a creak, and then she was being propelled inside, her arm draped over her rescuer's shoulder. The room was darker than the night outside and she bumped against the edge of something causing her to yelp in pain.
"Hope, I'm so sorry."
Somewhere in her mind Hope knew she should say something, that she was okay, thank you, something- but her mind was worn and her tongue fuzzy, and she only managed to let out a soft groan like the mewing of an injured kitten as they found the bed and she crawled into it. It smelled stale and like something familiar at the same time, her fingers twisted inside the holes of the crocheted blanket underneath her, something solid in a world that slippery in her grasp. She felt like she had been walking forever, time was a blur, days and hours bleeding into each other, the pain the only constant and the thought that somehow she just needed to keep going, to keep fighting, but the bed was soft and her eyes closed.
She listened still at the fumbling in the darkness, drawers and cabinets opened and then a quick smell of sulfur match, something that reminded Hope of ice cream cakes and birthdays, and then there was dim light she could almost see beneath her closed eyelids. "Here, you are freezing." And another blanket was placed over her.
"Hope." Hope struggled to open her eyes, peering up through heavy lids. "Hope. I have to take care of some stuff. I want you to stay right here, okay? Don't get up. Don't move. Okay?"
And then there were footsteps and the sound of rain and a door shutting. "Wait" Hope called, her voice weak. "Jen, wait." But it was too late; Jennifer had already left, left to get help, she had left to go get Bo.
