sharp pain fills my head, I can’t control myself from thrashing around. There are more hands on me now, holding me down and stilling my movements.
“Hold still, we’re here to help. This might sting a bit, and I’m sorry.” The woman says again.
There is something cold and wet being placed on my head and a pinching sensation on my arm. My head spins in spirals and then I’m being pulled back into the darkness and away from the voices and the pain.
Then there is blessed nothingness.
Chapter Thirty One
Slowly I feel myself begin to wake up, but it takes a while to open my eyes. My head feels all muddled, and my eyelids are heavy. When I finally open them, there are crusties in the corners and a few eyelashes tear as I force them open. It takes me a minute to realize I’m lying down on a bed, and when I do only then do I feel it. It’s soft and feels warm on my back, but I’m shivering suddenly and the rest of me am cold. Squinting my eyes, I stare around the darkened room and it comes into focus as a light appears under the door to the right.
Something moves on the bed beside me, and I have a feeling that I’m not alone.
I almost turn my head to the left and as I do something wet falls off my forehead. When it’s gone, my shivering slows and I wonder what it was for. I do raise my hands and touch the tender spot along my left temple, and I feel the rough edges of bandages. It stings from my touch, and I drop my hands away. Turning my head all the way I see that there is someone beside me and it’s a sleeping Claire. Seeing her I know I should feel safe, but if anything I’m more curious as to what happened. I raise my arms up and push back the heavy blankets that were lying on me, and try to sit up.
As soon as I’m only halfway up my head spins and my stomach roll. Short of breath, I ease myself back down on the bed. Laying back down my head begins to ache a steady throbbing pain. My movements must have waked Claire, because now she’s sitting up and staring down at me.
At first her face registers shock. Then a slight smile forms on her lips.
“You’re awake.” She says with a full out smile.
I don’t know what has her so happy, but I just groan and close my eyes. I feel the bed shift as she gets off, and I hear her feet as she makes her way to the door. The door opens with a click, and I can almost feel the light falling on my face.
“Kelli, hurry she’s awake.” Claire says with excitement in her voice.
I hear quiet murmurs from the other room and can hear several pairs of feet as they make their way into the room. I open my eyes again when they get closer to the room. Claire comes back to the bed, as Dan walks into the room. The first thing I notice is that my brother isn’t wearing a shirt. The second thing I notice is that his chest is covered in bruises and a wide bandage is wrapped around his ribs. As soon as his eyes meet mine, he grins and hurries to my side. I try to smile for him, but my head is hurting worse now and it’s hard to move.
That’s when Gabe comes into the room. I can’t stop my eyes from taking him in.
He finally changed his clothes, and is now in a big pair of jeans and a shirt too small for him. Not that any of it looks bad on him, his hair is wet and half his face is patterned with dark bruises. With a swagger in his step and a smile on his lips he comes to my side by Dan. I finally smile myself when he reaches for my hand and gives it the tiniest squeezes.
I look back to the door, as a strange man and woman come in. Though I have a vague memory that I’ve seen them before. The woman makes it into the room first and I’m startled to see how clean and beautiful she is. She looks almost out of place with all the violence and death that has been going on. Her eyes are dark but very bright with reassurance. Her hair