Page 108 of Hide From Me

Standing in the doorway, it really occurred to me that for all the times I’d felt alone, I’d truly never been, and even though I’d twisted my little fantasy to tell me he was there, somewhere in me knew. I paused a second, trying to figure out what I needed. It was hot in here. I would just hurry up and get out. I wanted my music box. The one thing mom mother had left me that actually mattered. I needed to just stop looking for things that couldn’t be found.

I reached for the jewelry box and lifted it, enjoying whatever the little song was. I didn’t really know what it played, and I guess it didn’t matter. It had simply been the one thing I could count on. The little ballerina circled around and around. I grabbed the dresser as the world seemed to spin a little. In the process, I knocked over the music box.

“No,” I cried. It was too late. It was already on the ground. What the hell was wrong with me?

The world moved slowly as I bent to reach for the little box. The ballerina was no longer moving.

“Damn it. I’m so sorry, Mom,” I said to a spirit that I somehow believed hung around me. The world went in and out of focus, but I blinked it away. Still, I sat on the floor, trying to stop whatever was happening.

I reached for the little box and tried to put the felt bottom back and paused. Something white peeked out and I pulled it out.

My name was scrawled over the piece of the tattered letter.

I blinked again when the writing blurred.

“What in the world is going on?”

I reached for my phone, getting it out with minimal fumbling. The only thing I could see was Cas’s number in my favorites. He must have added that at some point in the last few days. Well good, because right now I wasn’t sure I could figure out much else.

He answered on the second ring.

“Cas, I don’t feel good.”

That was all I could get out before my mouth struggled to form words. I could hear him yelling something, but everything sounded like it was in a tunnel.

I had the paper, and I had my phone, and I didn’t want to lose either. I shoved them both in my bra because it was about the best I could do until Cas got here.

I tried to tell myself to breathe, but even that seemed a little harder. What was happening to me?

If I could just get to the door, maybe I could go next door and get help. The air was so thick, it felt like I was swimming and fighting the tide.

It was fine. I was fine.

Except as I fought to drag my not-so-happy ass to the door, I really wasn’t fine. I tried to blink away the way the room tilted. I finally just laid down. I needed a second to catch my breath. Somewhere between heaving in air like I was trying to drink with eerily forced breath, a giant blob appeared above me.

I meant to ask if it was Cas, but the one thing that was still working was my sense of smell, and that was not his scent. Fucking hell.

“Well, well. You’re a hard one to get alone.”

My lips didn’t seem to remember how to connect to my brain, although I kept trying.

“Don’t bother trying to talk. I’ll have you delivered to my client soon enough.”

Client?

Had I locked the door? I really did need to work on my preservation and be a little more aware of my surroundings. I’d yell at Cas and tell him that his stalking had given me a strange sense of security. Where was his security now? Except I wasn’t supposed to be here, was I?

My limbs were no longer working, and as the guy grabbed me up and carried me out, I wasn’t much more than a rag doll. I wondered if this is what the subjects of all my photos would have felt as they died. Funny how I’d never really thought much about what their last minutes were like. Maybe I didn’t really care to be fair.

I just didn’t want Cas to see me like that.

“Freeze asshole. What are you doing with her?”

I would have looked up, but my head was just as useless as the rest of me. I could tell that was Winnie’s voice.

“Shit. You too? Look. I don’t want any trouble. I just need to take her to her family.”

Family?