Page 88 of The Harbinger
I stood, turned off the water, then grabbed the towel she handed to me as I stepped out. “Why do you think I’m here, Katya? Have you asked him that?” I wrapped the towel around my body and secured it at my breasts.
Katya shook her head. “Sacha doesn’t explain anything to us. That’s not our place.”
Not their place?
“You aren’t the least bit curious why you found us in the closet that way?”
Her throat bobbed up and down as she swallowed, her hands wringing in front of her before she hid them behind her back. “No.”
What is she hiding?
Katya’s brows furrowed as I stepped toward her, her gaze focused on the bruises. “What happened?”
“Sacha happened.” I brushed past her, walked into the closet, avoiding eye contact with the bathroom door he’d strapped me to, and found myself a chemise.
“But…”
“Isn’t that why I’m here, Katya.” I dropped the towel and pulled the chemise over my head, covering my nakedness, my soaked hair wetting the thin material, then twisted the towel into a turban on my head.
My fingers brushed against the ghostly strings of heat still coating my body. No amount of scrubbing could take that away. Just like no amount of therapy or deep breathing would take away the cravings on the back of my tongue like a tickle in my throat.
“Sacha wasn’t supposed to...”
“To do what?”
Katya’s face drained away, and her lips clamped shut as she shook her head and walked away from me, evacuating my bathroom with haste. “I’ll bring you some new towels.”
“Katya, don’t walk away from me.” I rushed after her. “What does that mean?” She disappeared from my room with a quiet snick of the door before I could catch up.
I could run the halls after her, demanding that she explain what she meant, but it would only draw him out of the shadows and back into my orbit, leading me right back to square one. The quieter I was, the less likely he’d see me.
Right?
I could get him to see through me.
My chest heaved as I sucked in air and black spots trickled through my vision.
Not yet.
Not right now.
A deep hot fire burned in my lungs, my chest constricting as I dropped to my knees, the air refusing to flow in as it should. Speckles of multicolored stars castrated my vision as I fought to stay conscious when a sharp prick hit my brain.
“She’s coming to.”
My mother stands over me, her eyebrows knitted together as she caresses my forehead. “Hi, sweetie. The doctor said everything went great. You should be out of here in no time.”
“Mom?”
“I’m here.” My mother’s dirty-blonde hair sits in curls around her shoulders and tickles my cheeks when she leans over and kisses my head. “Everything’s gonna be just fine. Close your eyes and rest, now.”
The room around me fades as I reach for her, but my mother disappears.
I woke in a heap on my bed, the sheets pulled over my chest and my heart bleeding in the darkness. “Mom?” I reached out, hoping to find a thread of her existence beside me. A warm hand took hold of mine, and my chest growing with elation, my nightmare was over, and I’d finally come home.
“Your mother’s not here.”
My lungs constricted, and I pulled my hand from his, tucking it under the sheets, my joy dashed as an errant tear slipped down my cheek. “Why are you here? Didn’t you have your fun?”