Falling for Him

Bruised..

As I wade in the cold water, my body felt numb all over. Coldness crept through me, consuming me entirely from limb to limb. The steady sound of a constant beeping noise began to creep in my mind getting louder and louder. Muffled voices then fill my ears. I try to open my eyes but the brightness of the room cause me to squint. I groan in pain as I regain awareness of my limbs and feel an immense pain in my abdomen. I attempt to open my eyes more and take in my surroundings. I realize I am in a hospital room. I notice the tubes attached to my arm as I try to sit up; that’s when I see two men standing by the door. One in a white coat and the other in a suit, a suit I’m familiar with. When my eyes meet his, I see his eyes relax in relief. I try to speak but my throat felt like sand paper.

“Don’t try to speak baby” Russell says as he rushes to my side. He takes a cup of water from the stand next to the bed and offers me a drink. I try to take it from him but my hand shakes as I try to raise it. He brings the cup to my lips for me to take a sip of water. I take small sips and he watches on, with his yes intently on mine. His eyes look tired like he needed sleep, with small dark circles forming underneath them but I was still getting lost in his gaze.

“I’m Dr Peters, nice to see that you are finally awake” a voice bellows from behind him sounding a bit too cheerful for my current mood. It forces me to break my gaze from him. The person takes a few steps to the foot of the bed.

“Do you have any recollection of what happened to you?” The moment he finishes his question my mind floods with images of me laying in a pool of blood. I nod my head reluctantly to his question.

“It’s okay.. whenever you’re ready the police will be called for you to give a statement but for right now just try to get some rest. You’ll stay for observation a few more days and then you can go home and continue to recover.” He smiled and bounced out of the room. My eyes turn to Russell, who’s standing beside my bed still. His eyes are full of questions.

“Who did this to you?” He tried his best to sound calm. I turn my gaze away from him and toward the opposite side of the room.

“How did I get here?” I whisper with my voice cracking, trying to avoid his question.

“I brought you here..” I wasn’t expecting him to say that and my eyes quickly dart back to his.

“When I didn’t see you at work.. I got a bad feeling and when you didn’t answer your phone I came to see you” there’s hurt evident in his voice but why, I thought he forgot about me.

“I found you.. laying there. I thought you were dead” he sits on the bed and grabs my hand squeezing it in his.

“I’m fine.. it’s just been a few hours” I try to force a smile to reassure him.

“Hours? ..Elise you’ve been unconscious for just over three weeks” his words cause my eyes to widen.

“What?” I say softly in shock.

“I thought I lost you..” his eyes fixed on mine. I see tears filling in his eyes and it makes me feel uneasy.

“You left..” I whispered to him. He pauses for a brief moment.

“Everything I did was to keep you safe.. I never wanted to leave you” he brings my hand to rest on his cheek as a tear escapes from his eye. He squeezes his eyes shut and inhales deeply.

“I care for you deeply Elise.. now please tell me who did this to you” his eyes dart open to me and I search his eyes as I breathe shakily.

“It was Ben” I say softly and watch as his eyes harden as I said that name.

“I’m not going to leave your side.. I promise to keep you safe” he whispers between us and places a soft kiss on my forehead.

“Why did you leave that night?” I posed the confronting question. He exhales deeply.

“Elise.. they’re people after me. I thought if I stayed away I would be keeping you safe but I see now that’s not the case.” He explained.

“Why are people after you?”

“Because of my past life.. I did some bad things but that’s behind me now”.

“Let’s focus on getting you better..” he says before I can question him more since he vaguely answered my questions.

“Don’t worry.. I’m not going anywhere, we have time” he tries to reassure me.

“I’m going to make a few calls and be right back. Try to get some rest” he rubs the top of my head and a soft smile appears on his lips before he stands and leaves.

I stay sitting up, my eyes dart about the room. There’s flowers by the windows in bouquets by the dozen. They were all different kinds, maybe he was trying to guess what my favorite flower was, the thought made me smile. They were beautiful and some of them were beginning to wither. Was I really unconscious that long? I attempted to leave the bed to go over to the window but sharp pains shoot in my stomach, debilitating me. I rest my head back against the pillow and stare at the ceiling before I somehow drift off to sleep. The next time I open my eyes outside was dark. I manage to make out Russell asleep in a chair in the corner of the room, I smile to myself at the thought of him being so protective of me. I turn on my side to face him, taking in his face as he slept peacefully before drifting back off to sleep.

I feel a coldness run through my entire body; it causes me to stir and wake up. I open to my eyes to see two men to white coats and one of them was injecting something into my IV bag.

“Shit.. she’s awake” the other one mumbles. The one with the syringe empties the contents into the IV bag.

“What are you doing?” I ask in a panic. My eyes search about the room for Russell but I don’t see him. I try to remove the IV from my arm but my hand does not cooperate, my vision goes blurred. I barely notice a tattoo on one of the men’s neck. It was shaped like some type of bird but it was hard to make out given my current situation. My eyes go dark but I can still faintly hear what was going on around me. I heard them whisper amongst themselves before covering my body with something and pushing me out of the room on the bed. I hoped someone would notice something was wrong and help but it was no use. I hear the wind howling as they push me outdoors before stopping abruptly and I hear a vehicle door open. I’m thrown into the back of a van to which I involuntarily groan on impact.

“I think we should give her another dose.. just in case” one of the voices says. I feel I stick in my arm followed by a coldness that runs through my body. After a few moments, I was completely unconscious.