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Danni showered and changed into a sundress with a hoodie. It was too cool for the light green dress without the extra-warmth of the jacket. She slipped on her tennis shoes and headed out the door. As it was, she was going to be late for brunch because she had slept in after last night’s excitement.
Then she realized she had no windshield. Glass was scattered across the hood of the truck. Danni went back inside and grabbed a broom. She swept up the mess around her truck after sweeping the shards off the hood. Inside wasn’t much better. She cleaned up the glass inside and took her dustpan broom and bag of broken glass back to the house.
At the door, she hesitated to glance at the phone in her pocket. 11:30, she was really, late. Danni was surprised one of her brothers or her mother hadn’t called her to find out where she was. Brunch usually started by now.
She opened the door and went to the closet outside the kitchen where she laid the broom and dust pan. She turned and was going to grab her purse, so she could head to her mom’s house when the phone in her pocket rang. It was her brother, Ben.
“Hey Ben, I’m coming.”
“Mom is livid, you’re late. She likes to start brunch right at eleven-thirty.”
“I’m coming,” Danni snapped.
She was touchy this morning because Walker left her bed last night. Then he left the cabin early this morning without saying goodbye. He was running from her. Running from his feelings for her and it made her angry. She didn’t know how to reach Walker. How to make him understand that he was what she wanted. He was right for her.
“Goodbye Ben,” she said. She bent to pick up her purse. She was jerked backwards and nearly dropped her phone.
Then her body was turned, and her head slammed against the counter top. Hard enough she knew she could have a concussion. Her head throbbed, and stars danced before her eyes.
Danni staggered. Then a fist connected with her face and she went down on her back, legs and arms flailing trying to catch air to save herself. She could hear Ben’s voice and she thought it was her imagination.
“Help me,” she cried not knowing if her brother was real or not.
Her cellphone was removed from her hand and she heard it crash against the wall. She never wanted the damn thing anyway. Its loss was no big deal to her.
Her assailant hit her in the mouth. He didn’t say anything to her. She couldn’t see him for the mask that covered his face. Right now, there were three of him anyway. She wasn’t sure she would be able to give anyone a description of him even if he wasn’t wearing a mask.
“Why are you doing this to me?” She asked, and the man stopped, fist drawn back ready to hit her again.
He said nothing at first and Danni
thought he wasn’t going to respond. “It has to be done to teach him a lesson.”
Then he punched her in the mouth. She licked her lip and Danni could taste her own blood. Before she could gather herself, try to make sense of this, another punch to the face made everything dark.
“Danni,” someone was saying her name. “Danni, please don’t be dead. I love you.”
She thought it was Walker. Her left eye was half-closed with swelling. Danni almost whispered his name when she realized that it was Jackson hovering over her, not Walker.
He was on his knees beside her, touching her, whispering to her. Then he was calling 911.
Danni heard her brothers. So many voices but the one she wanted to hear. Ben was beside her, lifting her in his arms.
“Ben don’t move her.” She felt herself being laid gently on the floor. Her brother’s lips caressed her forehead.
“Walker,” she whispered, wanting the one person who wasn’t here.
Then her father caressed her cheek. “Honey, Matt’s looking for him to be sure he’s okay.”
She hadn’t even thought of that. Walker could be hurt too. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and into her hair. Someone wiped it away. She had no idea who.
The paramedics moved Jackson, her dad and Ben away from her. She felt her eyelid pried open and a light shone in her eye. It was painful, both the touch on her eye and the light.
“Possible concussion.”
She ached in places she didn’t know she could ache. Her head pounded like a jackhammer was going off inside her skull.
