Chapter 24
When I woke I was lying in a strange dark room, I felt exhausted and drained, I blinked and turned my head trying to work out where I was and how I had got there.
All I could remember were flashes of memory, like photographs instead of a continuous film.
Voices shouting through a crowd of frightened people;
"It- it's blood!" that was a shocked female
"Ebony." a male voice breaking down into sobs
"Bind it, we need to bind it," a commanding female voice.
After that there was the sensation of being carried, what I remembered after that was the room I was lying in, but in different lights and with different people sat next to me, like stills taken at intervals from a film. I also remembered a voice telling me to sleep and several lines of a conversation:
A female voice in tears asking "Why would she do that to herself?" answered by a heavy pain filled male voice
"I don't know"
None of it really made much sense.
I looked around the room I was laid in, it looked like one of the mall's old store rooms, shelves and boxes were scattered about but pushed against the walls to make room for the bed I was lying on. Turning my head I saw Jay was lying asleep on the edge of my bed.
I reached out to stroke his hair but my arms were heavy. Lifting them so I could see what was making them so heavy I saw in horror that my wrists were swathed in thick bandages. I touched one of the bandages nervously and then began to gently pull on it to see what they hid.
"No Ebony, you can't" Jay's voice told me. I turned and saw he was awake and watching me, his hair was a mess and his war paint smudged. As if to explain he said in a slightly calmer voice "Patch said we couldn't move them yet"
"What happened?" I asked still totally confused as to what was going on
He got angry at my question "What happened? What happened?" he yelled at me standing up. Then he calmed down and sat down close to me and pointed at my wrists whispering horsley to me "That happened Ebony" He reached out and held my hand, staring into my eyes "Why Ebony, Why?" he whispered tenderly stroking my hair as I struggled to answer questions that confused my already bewildered mind even more.
But I never got chance to answer as Patch, obviously hearing Jay's shouts, came in and pulled Jay away saying quietly too him "Let her rest, this isn't the time. There'll be plenty of time to talk later" He led Jay to the door but just as he was about to go out Jay turned and whispered plaintively in a voice which cut straight to my heart
"Why?" and then he was gone.
After about a minute Allyn came into my room and sat beside me, I moved my mouth trying to come up with a question to ask but she stoked my forehead and told me
"Rest now, there's time to talk later" and gradually I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
When I woke I was lying in a strange dark room, I felt exhausted and drained, I blinked and turned my head trying to work out where I was and how I had got there.
All I could remember were flashes of memory, like photographs instead of a continuous film.
Voices shouting through a crowd of frightened people;
"It- it's blood!" that was a shocked female
"Ebony." a male voice breaking down into sobs
"Bind it, we need to bind it," a commanding female voice.
After that there was the sensation of being carried, what I remembered after that was the room I was lying in, but in different lights and with different people sat next to me, like stills taken at intervals from a film. I also remembered a voice telling me to sleep and several lines of a conversation:
A female voice in tears asking "Why would she do that to herself?" answered by a heavy pain filled male voice
"I don't know"
None of it really made much sense.
I looked around the room I was laid in, it looked like one of the mall's old store rooms, shelves and boxes were scattered about but pushed against the walls to make room for the bed I was lying on. Turning my head I saw Jay was lying asleep on the edge of my bed.
I reached out to stroke his hair but my arms were heavy. Lifting them so I could see what was making them so heavy I saw in horror that my wrists were swathed in thick bandages. I touched one of the bandages nervously and then began to gently pull on it to see what they hid.
"No Ebony, you can't" Jay's voice told me. I turned and saw he was awake and watching me, his hair was a mess and his war paint smudged. As if to explain he said in a slightly calmer voice "Patch said we couldn't move them yet"
"What happened?" I asked still totally confused as to what was going on
He got angry at my question "What happened? What happened?" he yelled at me standing up. Then he calmed down and sat down close to me and pointed at my wrists whispering horsley to me "That happened Ebony" He reached out and held my hand, staring into my eyes "Why Ebony, Why?" he whispered tenderly stroking my hair as I struggled to answer questions that confused my already bewildered mind even more.
But I never got chance to answer as Patch, obviously hearing Jay's shouts, came in and pulled Jay away saying quietly too him "Let her rest, this isn't the time. There'll be plenty of time to talk later" He led Jay to the door but just as he was about to go out Jay turned and whispered plaintively in a voice which cut straight to my heart
"Why?" and then he was gone.
After about a minute Allyn came into my room and sat beside me, I moved my mouth trying to come up with a question to ask but she stoked my forehead and told me
"Rest now, there's time to talk later" and gradually I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
