A ray of sunshine made its way into the window of the old building. He stretched and scratched his smooth chin. He didn't like that. He rubbed it wondering where he was. The building was unfamiliar and what's this? A woman lying nearby, handcuffed? He pushed his brain to remember something, anything... A police car, yes the inside of a police car, and a pretty girl.
He turned her over slowly and got bile stuck in his throat when he saw the large pool of blood and streaks of read across her shoulder and upper right chest.
"Oh god!" He stumbled a couple of steps backwards. "Get a hold of yourself Rob!" He took several deep breaths then looked down at her again. She was kind of pretty with her red curls and freckles. "Jesus!" He slapped himself in the face, what was he thinking? He couldn't fall for a girl. Not one he didn't know, especially not like this. He looked around, realized suddenly that he was naked and as if she could see him, he covered himself.
He quickly searched the rest of the place and luckily found clothes that were far too tight but would do until he could get to a store, and medical supplies. He patched her up as best he could. He wasn't exactly a nurse. He also found a couple small pins he used to pick the lock of her handcuffs. He laid her comfortably on the sheet covered sofa and then got the hell out of there.
***
If Beth ever thought she'd wake up in a strange house with strange sensations it wasn't like this. Even after drug trips she'd wake up in fairly familiar locations feeling only fuzziness. She was weak and in pain and her head was clear but the room spun.
How long had she been out? The sun seemed up fairly high in the sky. Whoa! She held her head as she became dizzy sitting up. Ow! Moving her right arm hurt a lot. Could the glass have cut her that badly? She was sitting on the driver's side, it would have cut her left shoulder. Confusedly she looked at her wrists and realized she was free.
This was all too much! How did she get here and away from the cops? Where was here? Who was that guy? And what the hell happened? Did it happen? And why the hell did her shoulder hurt so much?
She reached up expecting to find some glass or metal protruding from her shoulder only to touch cotton and tape. Someone had patched her up? Who? How? Her eyes darted about the room. It was completely empty. She sat silently listening and heard nothing. This was so freaky! She was afraid that monster would come popping through the door at any moment. Butterflies pounded against the walls of her stomach as she waited. Nothing ever happened.
Finally her bodily functions got the best of her. She looked around and found the bathroom. She looked in the mirror there and thought she looked like hell on holiday. She peeled back the tape on her wound and winced. What an ugly mess that was. Dried blood crusted the surface of what looked like several deep scratches. Claw marks? No, too close together. Teeth? Too strange of a mark to be normal teeth. Some kind of tool then?
It was certainly odd. She checked the rest of her body but found no other wounds. Why hadn't that thing mauled her completely? Didn't it like the taste of her? She shook as she realized it spared her for a reason. The disgust wound its way through her body until she realized she didn't feel violated. Her clothes, save for her blouse at the shoulder, were all in one piece and whoever found her obviously took care of her. There's no way she'd ever really know, but no point in worrying about it at the moment.
No, she laughed at herself. Obviously she'd gotten into a fight or something. There were no handcuffs in the house. So she had imagined the whole thing.
She ran her fingers through her tangled curls. She'd have to disguise herself. She was sure she was considered a fugitive now. Even if she wasn't a fugitive from the law, something happened that she needed to get away from. It didn't bother her too much since she's always been on the run. She ran away from home when she was sixteen and never stopped running.
What did bother her was having to get rid of her locks. She loved her big red curls.
Finding something to cut it was a chore. The people who lived here must have been on extended leave or dead. There were clothes, and some other necessities like towels and such, but all drawers were empty. The fridge was empty as was her stomach. She consoled it when it protested against the emptiness of it all. There in the kitchen she found a pair of shears in the knife set. Quickly her locks fell to the floor. She would have liked to color what was left, but could find nothing with which to do so.
To finish off her disguise she raided the closet of some designer clothes. As she changed, the newly shortened hair on the back of her neck stood to attention. She had the sudden sensation that someone was watching her.
Something was at the window. She froze and watched out of the corner of her eye. It didn't move either. She decided if she moved fast enough she'd be able to look right at it. She swung around and found the window empty. Had she imagined the whole thing?
She went to the window and searched the empty yard. There weren't even trees nearby. The evening sun started on its trip to the horizon and shadows played across the grass. Perhaps that was what she saw.
She decided it was time to move on before someone did notice her in this abandoned house.
***
Everything smelt so good, in particular that steak. Beth wanted meat. It wasn't as if she was a meat hound but every once in a while the craving hit her and right now it sent shock waves through her. She followed the smell of the steak through the streets. Gosh was it really that far away? Her stomach grumbled and her hands shook. She didn't know how much longer she'd last before she reached the source of the smell. She was almost there, her mouth salivating at the thought. There were people standing outside indicating a long wait.
"Damn!" She wanted to rip through them to get to the front of the line.
She smelt something close by that seemed familiar. She squinted her eyes in the darkness and perked her ears. She heard footsteps. When the wind blew just right, it was there, the musty animal like odor. She'd smelled it recently. Yes, the memory triggered. It was last night, in the cop car.
The cop car? Had that really happened? Somehow she had put it off to some drug trip. No, this memory was too real. A handsome man leaning in close to her and his big puppy dog eyes looking into hers.
She whirled around. There was no one there. Okay, now she knew she was going crazy. Paranoia on top of amnesia, next she'd be talking to herself. She smirked as she kept herself from saying "that's crazy" aloud.
In the meantime her stomach growled. "Okay we'll feed you soon." She told it speaking out loud without realizing it. She looked at the line again and suddenly realized she had no money. It would be futile to even put her name in. But it smelled sooooo good!
She stood trying to think how she could finagle her way inside when she saw a drunk guy going into the alley next to the restaurant, probably to take a whiz. The kitchen door was down there. Maybe if she went knocking...?
***
Rob watched her follow the drunk man down the alley. "Shit!" He watched the clouds. They didn't look as if they would part, but who knows, they could at anytime. If she lost it down there with that drunk guy, she'd be lost forever. It wasn't that he cared what happened to her, it's just he felt a little responsible. Even if the clouds didn't part she could still hurt the guy. He remembered his own rage when he was new at this and knew how many people he hurt with his bare hands. He couldn't let her do that, not to herself.
He followed down the alley keeping to the shadows, if he could distract her, she wouldn't make much of a scene. Yet he didn't want to scare her. She seemed such a fragile thing. She looked so helpless and alone. Could this be the potential mate he's been looking for? The one to relieve him of his lone wolf status? That fate might have already been decided last night, if only he could remember. He didn't think he slept with her, but anything was possible. Now was not the right time to be thinking about this either.
The drunk guy stopped and stood facing the wall just on the other side of the trash bin. Presumably he was relieving himself. What else could he have been doing there? It'd be perfect cover if she was going to attack him. Rob readied himself to stop her.
He watched her pass a large trash bin then the man. He sighed in relief. Rob could smell the alcohol on him even over the smell of the rotting garbage. Finally he did smell what she was after. Food. He wasn't hungry at all. He imagined she was however and hoped she'd be satiated.
Rob feared what might happen if she didn't or drunk guy noticed him so he hid himself on the side of the trash can nearest the street and waited.
***
No one answered the kitchen door. The drunk guy whistled annoyingly as his stream kept going and going. She smelt it and it really sent her stomach into spasms. She just had nothing left in it to clear out. It had started paining her several blocks back. She did become nauseous once and feared this might be getting worse.
Then there was that other smell, the familiar one, it was here too. Maybe it was the trash can? She walked closer to the trash to see if the smell did come from there. The drunk guy looked up at her as she approached. He had a sly grin on his face. "Hey babe, like what you see?" He lifted his hands to give her a clear view.
She sneered at the stupid man. She wanted to hit him. Didn't he realize she wasn't even looking at him.
"Come on chicky, why don't you hold it for me while I finish. You can even shake it off for me if you like."
She had the sudden urge to kill him.
***
Rob rounded the trash can before he even realized what he was doing. His fist went straight for the back of the guy's head. She was lunging for the man at the same time. The drunk fell to the ground and her inertia sent her straight into Rob's arms.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please send me any comments you might have, good or bad. Copyrighted 2008 by Christine Schnell. Go ahead and share it with others just keep my name with it.
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