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My mouth is dry and it’s somewhat welcome, since my throat hurts like hell for me to swallow. Remembering my struggles from last night, I can still feel phantom hands strangling the last breath from my body. I truly didn’t think I’d live to see today.
My heartbeat is pulsing in my throat as I fight to suck in a tiny breath of air. I feel as though my windpipe has been crushed. My nostrils flair, inhaling more oxygen, thinking it will somehow bypass my windpipe to add more volume in my lungs. I have to tell myself not to panic, to take tiny breaths. Small breaths will keep me alive just as much as big ones. Panicking never helps, especially when it comes to starving my lungs of vital oxygen. I hear another whimper escape from my cracked lips.
“She’s stirring now,” I hear a distant voice say. Chair legs suddenly scrape loudly on a bare floor, and I hear the heavy clacking of shoes making their way across the room, stopping at close range.
“Wake up, my sleeping princess.” The man’s voice sounds kind and sweet, yet firm and masculine. I’m confused as to who the hell would be calling me his princess; only my father calls me the endearment. I’ll set the man straight at another date and time. Since those men were so kind to do such a number on my throat last night, I don’t have the will to spit out fighting words. I don’t open my eyes, ignoring the command of my new captor. Fearing my head will disintegrate upon impact, I’m afraid to allow even a miniscule amount of light to filter past my eyelashes.
I can barely manage a whisper of despair. “My head…it hurts…so bad.” The pain is so severe; I almost wish the men would have killed me last night. The way I eased into the deep darkness of sleep last night was almost too easy. Since I have to contend with the living, all I can do at this point is signal to my throat and let out another whimper, wincing from the pain. I feel my hair being gently moved away from my face, baring my neck to the men hovering over me. I hear one of them gasp.
“Son of a bitch! This wasn’t supposed to happen! I told them to go easy on her; that’s why Jared gave the dumbasses the cocktail of paralytics!” He’s livid; his loud voice laced with menacing anger reverberates inside my head, and when I let out a helpless wince, he seems to realize the need to tone it down.
“Did you see this, Travis? She’s fuckin’ bruised all over her neck. Where the hell is Jared? Has he seen her?”
“Nick, calm down, man. Yes, she’s been looked after. I’ve been up all night taking care of her. It was close to one in the morning when one of the boys called me en route to the facility. He gave me a heads up about what transpired so we could have medical on standby. I had Jared meet me here before they even got her through the door.” Travis’ voice held a calm assurance, placating Nick, steering him away from his growing anger. I hear the men shuffling around beside me as the man with the rich baritone voice, Travis, continues to speak, inching his way closer to me.
“Jared left me everything I need; all her meds are right here beside her and labeled to help her stay as comfortable as possible. I’ve kept her medicated through the night.”
“What else did they do to her? I don’t even want to begin to imagine the things I can’t see,” Nick says with agitation mixed with anger.
I hear a package crinkling beside my head, then I feel a cooling sensation snaking its way through my veins. At this point, I don’t care what they’re giving me as long as it puts me out of my misery.
“The guys told me she put up one hell of a fight before they could put her out. They slammed her head around like a tetherball. She’s got a nice goose egg on the back of her head to prove it.”
I hear the man, Nick, curse under his breath, but I can’t make out what he says.
“The second they brought her into the clinic, I had Jared examine her, start an IV, and a regimen of pain meds. I wanted to be prepared for any scenario by having the IV available, especially since we didn’t know the extent of her injuries.” Travis pauses, but then continues with disgust and a hint of ire lacing his voice, “Other than the fact her windpipe was damn near crushed, she’ll be black and blue for a bit. She was pretty shook up last night, but she will be all right. I wound up sleeping on the sofa last night anyway to make sure there were no complications.”
