He awoke to pain. The bushes next to the parking lot scratched his arms and face. His head thrummed. He touched it and his hand came away bloody. He started to cough and his ribs erupted in a spasm of agony.
So he lay still. His mind was fuzzy. What to do? Call someone. Not Fiona because she already had too much on her plate. Elise would get too upset. Oliver. He could call Oliver. But he didn’t want his friend in danger in case the guy came back.
Fishing his phone from his pocket racked him with pain. The numbers were blurry. He managed to hit 9-1-1.
“911. What’s your emergency?”
“I’m Finn McKenna.” His voice came out in a croak. “I’ve been attacked in the parking lot of the Harmony Healing Collective. I’m…I’m hurt…badly.”
“We’ve got a read on the location. We’re sending the police and an ambulance now.”
“T-thanks.”
The person kept talking but he was depleted from the effort of the call and dropped the phone. He closed his eyes. The whir of sirens woke him. Flashing lights preceded their arrival. And pain. Deep, deep pain shot to all his nerve endings.
A lot of people appeared.
A female attendant knelt beside him. “Sir, I’m Emily. A paramedic. What’s your name?”
“F-Finn.”
“I need to examine you before we move you.”
He was poked and prodded. The pain was great and he cried out. A C-collar was slid around his neck. “We’re going to move you to the stretcher.”
His scream sounded into the night air…and was prolonged until he was flat out again on the stretcher. He felt the bed raise up. Movement took his breath away. Bump, bump, bump. New levels of agony assaulted him.
He heard, “Can you wait for a second, Emily? I have to ask the victim a couple of things.”
A cop asked, “Mr. McKenna, what were you doing out in the parking lot?”
“I work at the Harmony Healing. I was leaving for the night.”
“In what?”
“Excuse me?”
“There’s no car in the parking lot.”
“My car was here.”
“The attacker must have taken your keys and stolen your car.”
Overwhelmed, Finn’s head lolled to the side. Blackness consumed him.
He awoke to voices and shouts in the background. The pain wasn’t as bad. Still, his head pounded.
“Hey, buddy.”
He blinked. “Oliver? Did I call you?”
His friend’s face was lined with worry. “Yeah. Don’t you remember?”
“No.”
“That’s okay. I’m sorry this happened to you.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened. Somebody grabbed me from behind, punched me in the stomach. That’s pretty much all I remember.”
