Page 57 of Marked By Shadows
I groaned. “Sorry, Freya.”
“It’s fine. I’m glad you’re okay. It sounds like you had a rough night.” She said. She took the highway, instead of the back roads I’d followed. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” I said.
“We’ll be back soon,” Freya told us. “So you can rest.”
“Did they find Byrony?” I asked. “Is Joe okay?”
Freya seemed to tense at the question, but Alex patted my hand. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, after you’ve gotten some rest. The police didn’t give me much information, and I was more worried about you than anything they found,” Alex said. “You hit that car pretty hard. I was right behind you, but my fucking hip locked up, slowing me down, else I’d have caught you before you ran into it.”
I let out a sigh and locked my fingers into Alex’s, squeezing for a moment. I needed to talk to him anyway. Just him. Tell him what I saw. Had he seen it too? The last thing I wanted was to spill all of it in front of Freya and have her think I was as crazy as I felt.
Crazy. Fuck. That was what Alex was afraid of. Had been for a while. And now I was teetering on the edge of the same thing. Did I want to see things? No. I, too, wanted to be normal. Was there a choice? Alex indicated he couldn’t turn it off. Had never really determined until recently that the things he saw weren’t what everyone else saw. Perhaps he didn’t witness the horror like I had. Maybe he only saw them as people. Had it been Byrony in the road? A collage of all her emotions and lifetime of memories squashed into one form? It hadn’t looked like Byrony, but it wasn’t like I stood there and examined it either.
I let out a long breath of air and clung to Alex’s hand, eyes closed, trying not to see the world around us. More memories I didn’t need. Almost like a nightmare. Was that why Alex didn’t want me to go into the woods? Had he seen this thing before the night he’d seen Byrony? Perhaps he’d known somehow that I would find the car. I didn’t realize I dozed until Alex roused me again, and I found us stopped in the little lot outside the B&B.
“I can clean up the room Byrony was staying in if you two want to stay in the main house,” Freya offered.
“Thank you, but we are fine in the cabin,” Alex answered for us. He helped me out of the car, and held his hand out for the keys. Freya got out and handed them to him.
“Let me know if you need anything,” she said.
“Thanks again. Sorry for the late night,” Alex said. He hit the button on the fob to lock the car. “See you in the morning.” He directed me around the house and toward the cabin.
“I’m okay,” I promised him. “Just tired.” Though I admit to clinging to him as we walked the lighted stone walkway to the cabin. Every sound, every shadow, every dark corner made my heart pound, and by the time we got to the door of the cabin, I was trembling.
Alex opened the door, reached inside to turn on the light and tugged me in behind him. He locked the door then wrapped me up in his arms. I couldn’t stop trembling. Was that still the shock? Maybe the concussion. I’d never had one before. Alex was breathing hard, not crying, but focusing on deep inhales and exhales, like I often did when I needed a minute.
“Alex?” I whispered. What had he seen? His sight was always so much more intense than mine. If I’d seen some hideous monster in the dark, what must it have looked like to him?
“Better to talk about it in the morning, I think,” Alex said after a minute. “Things are less scary in the daytime.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he pulled back enough so I could see his face and how tired he looked. He shook his head. “Not tonight. For my sanity, too. Let’s get you cleaned up and in bed.”
“I feel gross,” I said. Hospitals always did that to me. The scents of disinfectants, and other people, drugs, and latex, among other things, always seemed to cling to my clothes. Plus I’d thrown up, and felt like I could still smell that too, though I didn’t think I’d gotten any on myself.
Alex led me toward the tiny shower area. There wouldn’t be enough room for the both of us. Rubbing off together required no space between us, actual washing did. And I was too tired and strung out for the rubbing off.
“What’s that look for?” Alex asked as he turned on the water and began to tug off my clothes.
“Wishing I wasn’t too… everything to sex you up.”
He grinned. “Tomorrow.”
“I hope my head doesn’t hurt still.” I let him strip away my clothes and watched him gather it up into a pile, then I stepped into the small shower. The water was hot and I let it cascade over my back, avoiding my stitches and my aching face.
“Be right back,” Alex said. He vanished from the bathroom, leaving me in the small glass enclosed shower area for only a minute or two before returning with a fresh pile of clothes. Undies for both of us, and a T-shirt for him. Alex did not like sleeping naked. Part of his time serving, he said. Always be prepared in case they had to jump up in the middle of the night and fight or something. I only slept in undies because it made him less embarrassed by the way his body responded to me. Another reminder that we were new together, adjusting and learning. Was I worth the effort, I wondered again?
He opened the little toiletries bag I’d brought with and pulled out a bandage. “I knew I’d thrown some waterproof ones in here. Let me put this over your stitches so I can I wash your hair.”
I stepped closer to him, away from the spray and let him brush my hair back to apply the bandage. “Is there blood in my hair?” I asked.
Alex nodded. “And leaves and dirt.”
“Gross.” I turned back toward the water, avoiding putting the injured side of my face near the downpour. Alex stripped out of his clothes and squeezed in behind me, bringing in my shampoo and a small washcloth. I leaned against the wall, resting my chin on my elbows as Alex washed my hair, then carefully used the washcloth to rinse away the rest of the dirt all over my body. I was half asleep when the water was turned off, but mind still racing, not quite letting me succumb again.
“Were the police already there?” I wondered out loud. They had been there too soon to have responded to the 911 call.