Page 15 of Liberated By Sin
A sharp hiss left my lips when she flipped me over and pushed wet, muddy hair from my face.
An angel.
“Honey, what on earth happened to you? Where did you come from?”
I shook my head. “They’re coming. Please, don’t let them get me.”
“Who? Who’s coming?”
I blinked away fat droplets of rain and clutched her jacket as I fought to stay conscious. “We have to go…Can’t stay here.”
“It’ll be okay. We’ll get you help.”
Why was she talking funny? And why are there two of them now?
I collapsed to the ground and realized I was passing out…or dying.
The angel kept speaking, her words incoherent until they faded into nothing.
6
THE CASTLE – Chris Grey
Faintwhispers and distant beeping roused me awake. The air smelled sterile and cold, forcing a shiver to ripple across my body. Panic followed as visions of my last memories came crashing down. I clutched the sheets and attempted to sit, but a pair of hands gripped my shoulders.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re safe.” My fight faded when the woman’s familiar voice broke through and the bright light from a nearby window ignited like a halo behind her.
My angel.
Sinking into the pillow, a calm I hadn’t known in so damn long washed over me as her gentle brown eyes greeted me with a smile.
“I’m glad you’re finally awake. How do you feel?”
Like I’d been hit by a freight train, then run over by a bus. Chewed up and spit out. Every inch was fiery and bruised. I attempted to speak, but my throat felt dry and grainy like sandpaper.
“Water,” I rasped, eyes on a white Styrofoam cup by the windowsill.
Without hesitation, she propped the straw to my lips and patiently waited until I had my fill.
“The nurse is scheduled to make her rounds in a bit, but if you want me to go fetch her, just let me know.”
I shook my head, but immediately regretted the gesture, as even the slight jostle intensified a dull ache brewing in the background. My body was fiending to be put to sleep, craving that sweet prick of a needle.
“No, not yet. I just need to…breathe for now.”
“I understand,” she said as she reached for my bandaged hand. “You’ve been through a lot. Three days ago, I wasn’t so sure you’d make it.”
“Three days?”
Her smile wavered as she nodded. “Yeah, you’re pretty banged up. I’m so sorry they did this to you.”
“You don’t even know me, and you stuck around for three days.”
“Maybe…I’ve been in your shoes. And I remember wishing someone had been there for me when I woke up.”
Tears brimmed in my eyes at this stranger’s kindness. She could have dropped me off and moved on with her life—or worse yet, kept driving. I contemplated if I would have done just that had the roles been reversed.
“Thank you.”