Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,89
girl, not even old enough to legally drink. How could I have possibly known what was best for three people?
“I…I…can’t.”
It had been a long time since I’d run away. At some point over the summer, I’d stopped needing too. But the technique came back to me flawlessly as I fled the magnitude of what I’d just had to consider.
My clothes had dried stiff in the places they weren’t still damp, but I had no thoughts for comfort. I only wanted to get away. I used the front exit, bypassing the security guard standing at the fence without a word.
A sharp flash of lightning struck right in front of my face, and I took a dazed step backwards. And then another disorienting flash slapped me. I staggered to the side as the light hit me again and again.
They were photographers, an entire horde of them, and they were all focused on me.
I tried to get my bearings enough to tell them they had the wrong person. I was nobody, but then they began calling my name.
“Adley!”
“This way, Ms. Adair!”
“Adley!”
“Adley!”
“How does your ex feel about your new movie star beau?”
“Ms. Adair.” This one came from right in front of my face. I swatted at the camera after it rammed into my nose. “Are you going to try and get custody of your child, now that you have the financial means to support it?”
They prodded me at all sides, moving like a swarm around me, as I tried to navigate back towards the gate. Tripping over a curb, my knees scraped raw against the concrete.
“Have you set a date yet?” “Are you still in contact with the author of The Girl in the Yellow Dress?” “Do you have a cameo in the movie?” “Adley!” “Is it true you’re planning a line of baby clothes?” “Ms. Adair.”
I knew, at that moment, how it felt to be the victim of a piranha attack. They picked at you from all sides, little by little, until there wasn’t enough of you left to care. I was a second away from curling up in a ball right there on the street, and letting them turn me into a skeleton.
Like Moses parting the Red Sea, a giant bulldozing body swept through the crowd. He lifted me easily, tucking my head into the cushion of his chest and away from the hailstorm of flashes.
Inside the safety of the gate, he placed me back on my feet, but there was no time to recover as we took off again, Alfred dragging me briskly in a new direction.
There were things I needed to say – to ask – but my brain had been invaded by those flashes, preventing me from forming any line of sensible thinking.
Declan was waiting at the back exit, his shoulders tense, even though the rest of him looked laid back. He was leaning against the wall, just a short ways down from where a few guards stood stern in front of the private entrance.
He charged towards us, catching sight of my limping approach, unable to wait the few seconds it would have taken us to reach him.
“What the hell did they do? Beat her?” He grabbed my hands, bringing them up for investigation and drawing attention to the blood smeared in my palms. “Fucking animals!”
“They knew my name.” The first sentence I managed to string together was alarmingly calm. I could have been talking about the weather or a new pair of shoes.
“Do you think anything’s broken? You didn’t twist your ankle again, did you?” He dropped down to his knees to inspect the injuries that marred the skin of my legs. They were just scratches and scrapes, all superficial wounds.
“They knew who I was,” I tried again, thinking maybe he hadn’t heard me.
He continued his examination, mumbling about killing the lot of them.
“She should put some Neosporin on those cuts, Mr. Davies, but I think she’s fine otherwise. Maybe in a little bit of shock,” Alfred tried to calm him.
I’d say it was a fairly accurate assessment of my current mental and physical state. I couldn’t feel the scrapes yet, but I knew they’d sting like a bitch when the shock passed.
“They were asking me questions. They knew who I was.” Even when I tried to sound panicked, I couldn’t. Everything came out sounding perfectly peachy, just another day at the office.
“Thank you, Alfred. The guard wouldn’t let me out. He said I’d only make it worse.” Declan ignored