Page 32 of Reckoning

I snarl, I jerk, trying to get free.

“Put her on the gurney.”

“She’s drunk.”

“We might need to strap her down for her own safety.”

“No,” I gasp but no one is paying attention to me.

As my eyes focus, as the horrible blur seems to fade, I realise I’m in a woods, no, a park? There’s police everywhere, a crowd too. Lights are flashing, cameras are flashing. It’s evening. Where the hell have I been all day?

My heart is racing, my body is shivering from the cold. I had a coat on this morning but apparently that’s gone now.

I don’t know how I got here. I don’t understand what the hell is going on. As the person holding me places me onto the gurney, I take in their uniform, the fact that they’re EMTs. Have I been in an accident? Am I hurt? I don’t feel hurt, at least not seriously but then my body is so used to pain I wonder if it’d even register it.

“How much have you drunk?”

My eyes, my head turns to the other one, the other EMT with the scowl on his face, who’s looking at me like I’m total trash.

I shake my head. “I don’t drink.”

Raised eyebrows and disbelief is the response I get.

“I need my brother.” I state. “I need Roman.”

They don’t reply. No one replies. They just begin moving me towards the waiting ambulance.

And then my mind whispers that this is all a trick, that they’re not really EMTs, that this isn’t a real accident. This is a ploy, a way to kidnap me again. Afterall, they faked my brother’s death didn’t they, they went to such lengths to silence us Montagues, who says they won’t do it again?

My fear twists, my panic rises, I start fighting, I start screaming. I’m not even sure of the words coming out of my mouth, I just know that I can’t trust these people, I can’t trust anyone.

“Sedate her.” Someone yells.

I scream out. I lash out. I won’t let this happen, not again, I’m not going down without a fight. I refuse to be that weak person again.

A needle jabs into my neck. I feel it tear my skin as I try to pull myself away. Someone swears. Straps suddenly pin me in place and a voice that’s meant to be soothing is telling me to calm down. To be reasonable.

Sure, I’ll just lie back down and let them kidnap me.

I can feel my tears streaming down my cheeks. I can feel my body turning sluggish, and as the supposed ambulance pulls off, any fight I have left is gone.

Sofia

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

I hear the voice but I don’t respond. No, I can’t. I feel dazed, confused. My limbs are heavier than ever and I can’t seem to break out of whatever this awful exhaustion is.

A machine is beeping and that should be enough to tell me where I am.

But it’s Roman, his questioning, his terse voice that tells me that something really bad has happened.

“It’s all over social media.”

Ben. So he’s here too, is he?

I groan, turning my head, feeling the coolness of a pillow making contact with my cheek. I’m so thirsty. It feels like I haven’t drunk anything in forever.

“Can you take it off? Get it removed?”