Chapter 15
"Bad Moods All Around"
Annie carefully brought the spoon to her mouth. The warm tomato soup felt good going down her throat. Bringing another bit to her mouth she sensed she was being watched.
"You're watching me, aren't you?" Annie asked turning her head toward where Auggie sat at the table.
"How'd you know that?" Auggie asked embarrassed. It still surprised him sometimes the things she could do without sight.
"Well, I don't know, just a feeling I guess." Annie said before cupping the soup bowl with her right hand and dipping the spoon into the liquid again. Bringing the spoon to her lips she hoped she continued to be able to actually bring the food to her mouth. A couple times the spoon came up empty, but she hoped August didn't notice. Today was her second day home and it was a day she'd rather be alone, but she was trying not to let August in on her bad mood and more importantly the reason for her bad mood.
"Yes, I was watching you." Auggie admitted after a minute. He was distracted today, but was trying not to let Annie catch him off his game. "Does it bother you if people look at you?"
"Well, wouldn't it bother you if people were constantly staring at you and you couldn't look back?" Annie snapped much more defensively than she meant to.
Auggie sat in silence beside her continuing to eat his grilled cheese and soup. Annie went back to eating, much slower than usual since she was now both blind and using her non-dominate hand.
Auggie didn't say anything else to her for the remainder of their meal. He only looked at her occasionally. He wanted to offer his help when she struggled to break her sandwich into smaller pieces, but kept his month closed. He noticed that she had been in a much worse mood today than any other day since he had known her. He hoped his own bad mood was not affecting her. If he had not been assigned to help Annie, he would have asked for today off. Joan must have forgotten what today was.
Annie felt bad for snapping at Auggie and then felt even worse for not apologizing right away. As time passed, she felt awkward. Finishing her lunch, she looked up from her plate as if looking for August. "Did I get it all?" She said suddenly. Auggie peaked his head towards her from the kitchen.
"Looks like it." He said not leaving the kitchen. She heard him turn the water on and plates moving around in the sink. "I'll come get your plate in a minute." He said.
"Hey August, I'm sorry about snapping earlier. I'm just in a bit of a bad mood today. I shouldn't take it out on you." Annie said all of a sudden.
"It's okay Annie. I understand." Auggie said beside her, surprising her.
"Whoa." Annie said surprised. "I didn't hear you come in back in here from the kitchen, you surprised me being so close suddenly."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I just assumed you heard me. Don't worry about being in a bad mood. You've been through a lot the past two weeks. You're allowed to be upset about it all."
"Well, its not that actually." She said.
"Oh?" He said simply, taking her lunch dishes to the kitchen. "What is it then?" he asked from the kitchen.
"Umm, I don't know if I can talk about it yet." She admitted, hanging her head.
"I understand. I'm not in the best of moods today either. I'm here if and when you need to talk about anything. Let me just finish these dishes and then I'll help you back to the living room. Silke is over at your sister's. Your nieces came to get her while your sister was helping you this morning. I assumed it would be okay for them to take her."
"Yeah, they love her. Since I can't give her the attention I usually do, I'm glad they are out of school for spring break to play with her." She said fidgeting with the napkin that had been in her lap. Sitting in the hard backed kitchen chair was causing a good bit of pain, but she wanted to go as long as she could without taking her pain medicine. Fidgeting distracted her mind from the pain.
As if he read her mind, Auggie said "In pain, aren't you?"
Annie blinked for a moment astonished. How could he possibly know that? "Ye- How did you know that?"
"You're fidgeting. I assume you're trying to distract yourself from something. Pain was my first guess." Auggie said. "I'll get your pain medicine as soon as I get you on the couch and settled. What would you like to do today?"
"How are you so good at all of this? You're a CIA agent, but all this medicine, changing bandages, and helping me seems to come almost as easy to you as it does the nurses at the hospital."
"Ummm, I don't know. Just doing what Joan told me to do." He said vaguely. Annie sensed there was more to this than he was telling her. But she refrained from pressing the issue. She turned her focus to distracting her mind from the pain she was experiencing.
An hour later, Annie sat on the couch with her laptop on her lap listening to a book. She preferred reading books to listening to them, but she needed to rest her arm. Her right arm was currently resting in a sling on her chest as she used her left to work with computer. She'd reluctantly taken her pain medicine ten minutes earlier and was getting drowsy.
"August?" she called, unsure where he was. When he didn't come right away, she called again, projecting her voice a little more.
"August? Can you come here for a minute?"
"Yea" He cleared his throat as he came from the direction of the bedrooms down the hallway toward her "Yes, Annie?" There was something in his voice she couldn't quite place. Had he been crying? Was he upset about something? She furrowed her brows in thought for a moment before answering him.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"No" He said too quickly. "I'm fine." Annie pursed her lips in thought. Not wanting to call him on his lie. "What do you need, Annie?" he said slightly impatient.
"Oh, ummm, sorry to bother you. Could you just help me? I can't move the laptop to the table when my arm is in this sling. I'm feeling a little drowsy and dizzy. I think I need to take a nap."
"Sure, uh, I'll put it right here on the table." He said picking it up and making sure it make a little thump sound as it was placed on the table so Annie heard where it was. "Do you need anything else? Something to drink or a blanket?"
"No, I think I'm fine. I'll just lay my head back and allow sleep to take over from there."
"You won't want to sleep sitting up Annie. You'll be sore when you wake up." Before Annie could protest, Auggie gently moved a pillow from behind her back and was helping her slide herself down further on the couch. He took the pillow that had been behind her back and lifted her left leg so that it was elevated off the couch more. "There's a blanket on the back of the couch if you need it. But I'm sure you already knew that." Auggie said with a smile.
"I did. Thank you, August. You're probably right, this is more comfortable. If you need to borrow a movie, book, or something you're welcome to anything I have. All my regular books are on the bookshelf on the far wall over there. I'm not sure why I kept them, but I couldn't bear to have Danielle sale them. There's a TV and DVD player in the room you're staying in, so make yourself at home."
"Thanks Annie. If you need anything, just call me. I'll just be down the hallway." Auggie said.
Annie sat in the room waiting for her abductors to come tell her what they wanted with her.
They had stopped her on her way to the school she was working on and said they needed help with their car. Getting out of her car, she went to help.
As she looked at the smoking engine of the car they lead her to, a bag was placed over her head as she felt herself being lifted by someone. She had tried to fight them off, but they were too strong. Someone hit her on the head, knocking her unconscious. When she woke later, she was laying in the middle of a room with her hands and feet bound together by tight ropes.
Three men come into the room. She smells them before she saw them. They smell of sweat and dirt. But this is a common smell here in Africa.
"What do you want from me?" She says in Swahili. She wasn't sure what language these men spoke, so she went with the most common.
"We want the money" The man in the middle replies back in a language between Swahili and another language Annie is less familiar with.
"I don't have any money." She tells them again, in Swahili. They seem to understand her at least. With this answer, they laugh at Annie and kick dirt in her face
"You are rich American woman, building schools here for our children. You have money." The man on the far right says with another laugh. "You will give us the money we know you have or we will beat you. It is your choice."
Annie misses a couple of these words, but understands that they are going to hurt her if she does not give them what they want, what she does not have.
"I don't have money." Annie declares again, hoping they believe her. She sits up as straight as the binds will allow her to. "Check my pockets, I have no money."
At this invitation, the men begin patting Annie down for any sign of anything valuable. One man takes her watch, another her wallet, which only contained her driver's license, a few bills, and a picture of her nieces, and another man takes the bracelet she got with Ben. None of these items are worth anything. As they examine the items, someone kicks dirt towards her. "Where is the money?" the man yells to her.
"I told you, I don't have any." She yells back.
She immediately regrets raising her voice to him. He quickly has his hand around her neck. "You need to learn to respect men." He says as he lifts her off the ground by her neck and punches her in the stomach.
As he releases her, her body falls to the ground. Someone kicks her and then someone from the other side of her kicks her again.
As someone puts their hand on her shoulder, she struggles to put herself into a fetal position and protect her already aching head.
When she opens her eyes again, she is met with darkness. A darkness that for the first time, comforts her before it terrifies her. Gasping for air, she shouts for Silke.
"Annie. It's okay. It's Auggie. I'm here. It was just a dream. Annie, you're okay. You're at home. I'm here." Auggie knows better than to touch her too much when she's remembering these events. He calmly reminds her that she is safe.
"August?" She says after a moment. Her head is tilting around as if trying to locate him. Her eyes are moving around as if trying to find something- anything- as well.
"Yeah?" As he speaks, her eyes land almost directly on him as he sits on the table in front of her.
"Can you- Would you- " She stammers, not sure how to ask the question.
"What is it Annie?" He asks concerned.
"Can I hold your hand for a moment? I just need some human contact right now." She said slightly embarrassed as she sighed. She hated feeling vulnerable.
"Of course Annie, whatever you need." As Annie outstretched her left hand, Auggie put his hand into hers. It wasn't awkward for either of them. He sat in front of her and held her hand, rubbing his thumb gently over the back of her hand.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked after several minutes of silence. "-the dream I mean?"
"I'll talk about my dream, if you'll tell me why you're upset today." She said in an attempt to get him to open up a little.
"Hmmm." He thought for a moment. It made her happy that he made this little sound instead of just staying silent. "Okay. Seems we both have stuff that we need to get off our chests'."
"Yeah. Can't hurt to trust each other, right? She said a little uncertain.
"Right." Auggie responded right away.
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed! The next chapter will be SUPER long, unless I decide to break it into two chapters (which is a possibility).
Reminder: Just like you would clap or boo for a concert you just sat through, please review my stories as you read them. I'm not above saying, I really do NEED to hear from you. Each review is like a chocolate bar rewarded to me for my hard work. This keeps me writing and encourages me. Do you think I deserve that reward?
