Stolen by Jalena Dunphy

Author:Jalena Dunphy [Dunphy, Jalena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Present day . . .

What is that incessant sound?

I know I didn’t say those words aloud, but the pounding in my head would make me think otherwise. It sounds like a quartet is playing a full piece and using my brain as the audience, and that beeping? Will someone please shut off that beeping?

My eyes feel painfully heavy when I try to open them to find the source of that noise to shut it off or break it—whatever I have to do to silence it. I start flailing my arms around hoping to hit my target; instead, I hit something hard and warm.

I push through the pain in my head and eyes, feeling defensive, suddenly aware that I don’t know what’s happening, what I just touched, what that sound is, where I even am. Hurling myself into an upright position I fight the sensation of wanting to vomit, my equilibrium spinning me around like one of those rides from a carnival, my eyes squeeze shut even tighter as I fall back, falling onto something soft and warm.

“Jess, Jess, just calm down, okay?” a voice softly coos.

“Wher—” I try to speak, to find out where I am, but a burning in my throat stops me mid word.

“Shh . . . Let me get you some water.” That same voice speaks.

I feel a straw come in contact with my lips, and when I do, I suck greedily, relishing the relief the cool water is providing. After the last slurp, the cup is taken away. I try once more to open my eyes—I don’t attempt to sit up again—finally succeeding, only to wish I hadn’t.

The room is bare, but for a small window; a chair, vacated at the moment, but by the indentation in the seat, only recently, a hideous painting of a girl next to a horse, the gold paint chipping off the frame, and the source of the irritating beeping—a heart rate monitor.

I’m in a hospital.

Panic floods every part of me. Why am I here? What’s happening? I try to sit up, only to be held down by strong hands. “Let me go,” I scream, thrashing about.

“Jess, please, it’s me, it’s Bruce. Just calm down, let me explain what’s happened, okay? Can you calm down for me?”

It’s Bruce? For him I’ll try. He’ll tell me the truth about why I’m here. I don’t acknowledge his question except to lie down and shut up.

“You’re in a hospital. I think you’ve figured that out already, yes?”

I nod.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

I stare blankly at him.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t. It would seem you had a bit of a breakdown,” he says sympathetically.

I feel the pain when my brows furrow, rippling behind my eyes and into my throbbing head. A breakdown? I don’t speak. I have nothing to say. He must be messing with me, a sick joke to get back at him for making him worry about me when I didn’t come home. Yeah, that’s what this is, a sick joke. Just then, the door opens and mom walks in, worry, exhaustion, and grief a heavy mask on her face.

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