I am sorry for being so mean with this cliffhanger! But I have to keep you reading… Just a short chapter for now…
Normal Disclaimers apply.
Chapter 6
Meredith
What hurts?
Head.
Arm.
Ribs.
And who on earth is groaning?
Oh heavens.
It's me.
I sat up as a string of incomplete thoughts went through my head. I heard myself groan again, and opened my eyes, as I tried to order my fuddled brain.
Everything was a blur…I felt sluggish, confused, dazed. I supposed I must have been drugged, because everything seemed to be happening so slowly, and all I wanted to do was to go back into that painless, lulling sleep that I had been in.
No. Concentrate, Meredith. First of all, where was I? Through the blurs, I perceived a darkened room. No windows, one door on the wall in front of me. Several pictures, but I could not focus on them. A sideboard, with one box and a large decanter of whisky on it. I lay on the floor, with a rug of some sort where my head had been. Wooden floorboards.
Next. How was I? My headache was subsiding slowly - no more did it feel like little men in steel studded boots were doing a Scottish jig on my brain. My left arm was bruised badly, and something had happened to the elbow, because I could not move it properly. The right forearm was a mass of small bruises and finger marks, together with a number of needle-pricks. I had been drugged with something needing an injection then - morphine, probably. My ribs were sore, and I was sure that one was cracked. Other than that, everything seemed alright.
Now, what had happened? I remembered Annalise…she had been hurt. And the face of that terrible man, with a black beard. So familiar… It came to me. No, surely it could not be?
I wondered whether they were looking for me. My family, Holmes, Watson. Surely they would? Although, my disappearance after a murder might bring them to the wrong conclusion.
Oh, how I wished I could remember! Things were coming back to me slowly through the fog, but it all seemed to take so long! The man, I remembered - or were there two? No, there had been two…men I had seen everyday, turning up outside the school, or outside Jane's house, or I had noticed whilst out shopping or riding. I had thought there had been something odd - of course, there was a reason why I should be at risk…just one, that I had been working on for the last few weeks…but no one had known about that, surely. But, just in case, and almost cursing myself for over-dramatics and paranoia, I had made arrangements for everything to be passed to my brother. The letter in the diary.
All of a sudden, sharp, unfriendly light cut through my musings, making me wince and shield my eyes, my head singing. A man had opened the door, and there he stood, silhouetted between the door posts.
I felt a thrill of fear as he came nearer, almost wanting to see who exactly he was. But it was not to be. My head and body rebelled at the bright light, and I felt the darkness stealthily cloud my vision. I fell back, and in the very last grips of consciousness, felt myself being caught and lowered to the floor before I could hit my head. I felt a needle being inserted into the vein in my right fore-arm, and everything dissolved into wonderful, soothing unconsciousness.
The evil laughing continues! Anyway, sorry about this…I promise that the next chapter will resolve all the explosion stuff!
