Lacey woke up to the sound of hushed whispering over her. She couldn't open her eyes first and as she began to wake up more she realized her face felt swollen and sore. She let out a low groan of pain. She heard someone say in a quiet but excited tone
"She's waking up!" Lacey cracked one eye open. All she could see was the form of two people looking down on her. As her eye adjusted to the light she recognized Beth and a woman who looked to be a nurse. She slowly opened the other eye.
"Where am I?" she asked in a strained whisper.
"You're in the hospital Lace," said Beth, "You were attacked last night on your way home from work." It took Lacey a few seconds to remember what had happened.
"Oh my god," she said. She tried to sit up but felt "How did I get away?"
"Someone saved you," said Beth smiling. Another face appeared over her looking down at her with a small smile.
"Hi," he said shyly. "I'm Bruce." Lacey noticed how attractive he was right away. He had thick, curly, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a handsome face.
"You saved me?" she asked.
"Ya I did," said Bruce, still with a shy demeanor. Lacey was overwhelmed with emotions. Despite the throbbing in her head, she sat up and hugged Bruce tightly, breaking into sobs. She had obviously shocked Bruce who slowly put his arms around her. She didn't care if he was a stranger, he had saved her life.
"I thought I was dead!" she said, taking huge gulps of air to try and calm herself down. "Thank you so much!"
"Your welcome," said Bruce. "I wasn't just gonna leave you there." Lacey leaned back and got a better look at his handsome face.
"I'm sorry," she said "I'm making a mess of myself."
"No, you're fine," he said smiling.
"You'll never know how grateful I am," she said. "How did you get him off of me?"
"I managed to fight him off," said Bruce. He lifted up the sleeve of his shirt to show her a recently stitched up cut. "He got me with the knife before I was able to get him on the ground."
"Oh my god are you ok?" said Lacey getting overwhelmed, "Most people would have just stayed completely out of it and kept on walking."
"I'm fine," he said smiling, "I was just worried about you; you were unconscious when I found you."
"I feel good," said Lacey, trying to sit up even further. "My head just hurts a little and my face feels a little swollen." She sat up enough to see herself in the mirror on the wall next to her and she almost gasped in shock. Her face was unrecognizable, her cheeks were swollen tight with bruises and she had long stitched gash across her neck from the knife. "Oh my god that's me," she said.
"The swelling should go down pretty quick," said the nurse. "Give it a few days."
"It looks so terrible," said Lacey, lightly touching one of her cheeks. She was suddenly very aware that Bruce was looking at her and she felt embarrassed about her bloated face.
"It doesn't look that bad," said Beth. Lacey didn't answer as she observed the cut on her throat. Bruce's cell phone rang and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.
"Hey," he said. Lacey could hear a female voice talking loudly from the phone. "Ya I know Betty I'll be there, I'm just at the hospital." He hung up and said
"I'm sorry ladies I have to go," He turned to Lacey and said
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine," she said smiling.
"Well I'll see you later," he said, turning to leave.
"Wait!" said Lacey quickly. He turned back to her. "I really want to do something for you, I could never thank you enough for saving me but I want to give you something."
"You don't have-"
"No please I want to," said Lacey, "How about lunch on me tomorrow, so we can get to know each other better."
"I'd like that," said Bruce. Lacey smiled and said
"Ok noon at the Willowdale Diner?"
"Sounds good," said Bruce. When he walked out Beth was all over her.
"I'm so happy you're ok!" she said, pulling her into a hug. "And it's not all bad, he was cute and you're going to lunch with him."
