Page 54 of Marked By Shadows
The area brightened with dozens of lights and voices now. Cops. I could see the mass of uniforms moving around us, and the EMT crouched beside me.
“Micah?” The EMT said. “I need you to respond. Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” I whispered. The word came out more like a wheeze. I had thought sound returned before that moment, but it all slammed down on me like a bomb of noise. A dozen voices, the crunching of rocks and leaves, Alex’s soft words, the EMT’s questions. And the police examining the vehicle I’d magically found during my escape.
“Is it the missing vehicle?” One cop asked.
“Plate matches,” someone replied.
“Anyone find the girl yet?” Someone else asked.
And that’s where I lost consciousness.
Chapter 17
Iwasn’t out long. There was a ride to a hospital, and a trip to the ER, in which they insisted on doing x-rays to check for a concussion. I threw up a couple times, which had them giving me nausea meds. But I sat in a small room in the ER waiting for the nurse or one of the doctors to return. They had already stitched up my forehead. Two whole stitches. At least it stopped bleeding. Maybe Alex and I would have matching scars.
Alex stayed with me most of the time. Though the police arrived and asked him to step out to answer some questions for a while. I wondered when they would ask me. And wasn’t surprised when it was Detective Manning who came into my room, with a nurse behind him, and took the chair Alex had been sitting in.
“Mr. Richards. I’d like to ask you some questions,” Detective Manning said. “Your friend insisted your nurse stay here for the questioning, to ensure it doesn’t stress you too much.”
“He has a concussion,” the nurse said, tight-lipped.
“Mild, from what the doctor said,” Manning pointed out.
“Still a concussion,” the nurse said. “If he starts randomly chatting or spouting confessions, I’m shutting this down in favor of his sanity and freedom.”
Confessions? To what? I blinked at them both. “Okay.” My heart still raced, even though it felt like hours had passed since seeing that monster. I was exhausted and would have preferred Alex to be at my side while I was questioned about something I had no real way to explain. We hadn’t talked about it yet, what I had seen. Hadn’t talked much at all other than to the constant roll of nurses in and out of my room. My head hurt, but it was a dull throb. In fact, my whole face ached. I vaguely recalled smashing into the car at a full run, a bit like a bug hitting a windshield. Only the curve of the car had kept me from major damage, or so the doctor had mentioned earlier. I’d have liked to curl up in bed, wrap myself in Alex’s arms and sleep for a week until the pain finally faded. Would have been nice to have Jet on my pillow too, protecting me from scary mutated people monsters.
“You saw Mr. Thomas in the road?” Manning began.
Huh? “Mr. Thomas?”
“Joe? Byrony’s boyfriend?”
“Oh. I didn’t see him. Not really. I saw a shadow. Alex must have too because he gasped. Did that press of imaginary brakes thing. I slammed on the brake. Didn’t mean to hit anything.”
“Do you remember hitting him?”
Had I? No. The shadow had run into the stopped car. “No. I stopped before that. Wasn’t going that fast. Was worried about deer.”
“Not a lot of deer in that area,” Manning said.
I shrugged. “Lots of trees, makes me think deer.”
“Do you remember your panic attack?” Manning asked. “Mr. Caine was on the phone with a 911 operator when he said you had an attack and ran.”
I had seen something. My stomach churned again. The nurse gave me one of those blue plastic-rimmed barf bags. I gagged but nothing came up. “Sorry,” I muttered after a moment. “Yes, I remember the panic attack.”
“Most people shut down for a panic attack.”
“And some people run,” I said. “That’s why it’s called fight or flight or freeze. I have training in handling other people’s attacks.” Mostly PTSD, but Sky had them sometimes too, ever since she’d been attacked last year.
“Except your own?”
“Haven’t had one like that in years. Not since…” those first few weeks after I’d returned.
“Since?”