Page 4 of Butch

Muffled voices.

That was the first thing Rae heard as she started to wake up. She didn’t know what they were saying, but she heard several different pitches from people talking. Where was she? What happened?

Groaning, she moved her head to the left and took a deep breath in. Her body was aching even worse than it had been before. But she knew this was how it went. She always felt worse after a beating, before things started to get better. Rae just needed to make sure she survived the next couple of days, and everything would go smoothly afterward.

Raelynn moved her arm so she could tuck it under herself as she tried to move, but a voice stopped her.

“Don’t… too much… IV… hand… don’t… ripped out,” a deep but gentle voice told her. “You’re… medicine… high fever… infection. But… safe.”

Why did that voice sound so familiar?

Everything came rushing back to her. She had heard somebody call her name after she’d talked to Echo and passed out. Who’d caught her? Who’d called out her name?

Rae opened her eyes to a very dark room. Her breathing started to pick up as her eyes bounced from one person to another, not being able to make out who they were or whether they had any connections to her captor. All she knew was she needed to leave.

“You’re okay,” the person said again, and her eyes flew across the room to the person standing right next to her.

Butch.

Butch was actually standing right in front of her, or to the side of the bed where she was currently lying. Her gaze moved to her hands to an IV sticking in the back of her hand.

Rae had never been good with needles, and the thought of getting stuck with one was making her nauseous.

“…okay,” Butch said, grabbing her hand.

“I need to leave,” she quickly replied.

She shouldn’t be here. She was trying to stay away from Butch. Rae should never have gone to the bus station. She should have found a motel to stay in overnight and then found someone who could drive her out west. She had tried her best to stay away from Butch after attempting to see him.

“You’re not…. stay… bed… tell… happened. Who did this to you?” He asked as he gently squeezed her hand.

She shook her head and groaned again as it protested.

“Don’t… head… much… hurt,” another person said.

Her breathing started to race as she looked at everyone in the room. They were already staring back at her. Why were they all in here? She didn’t even know any of them besides Butch. All she wanted to do right now was cuddle up in his arms to try to calm herself down. But she couldn’t allow herself to get attached to him. Not when she was trying to get away from him and find some town or city she could disappear in.

“I need to leave,” she desperately said as she yanked her hand out of Butch’s. “I need to leave before he finds me. I should never have come here. All of you are now in danger. Please let me leave before anything bad happens.”

Rae grabbed her shirt right above her chest as she leaned forward and sucked in an inhale. The room was starting to spin, and her lungs were begging her to take a deep breath, but she couldn’t. The panic was seizing every part of her body as everyone stared at her.

“Everyone… out!” Butch yelled. “Now!”

She heard muffled sounds as she assumed the people had left, but it didn’t help ease the panic inside her. She was going to die. She was going to get everyone else killed if she didn’t leave right now, and she didn’t want that on her conscience. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if anything happened to these people.

Rae swung her legs off the bed, pushing through the dizziness that assaulted her. But Butch was still in front of her.

Worry, anger, and happiness swirled inside her as she looked at his thighs. She never thought she was going to see Butch again, let alone talk to him. But things would never go back to what they were in high school. So much had changed.

“Rae,” Butch said.

“I need to go.” She spoke before he could say anything else.

Tears rolled down her face. She didn’t want to go, but she needed to. If he found her, then everybody who was near her would be dead.

“…Stay,” Butch said.

Her eyebrows bunched together as she looked up at him. “Move. I need to go.”