TOUCHED

TOUCHED - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 

 

 

Eric considered carefully the woman in front of him. He tried not to look at the knife that was inches from his throat. The impulse that had brought him back to the lobby seemed a million miles away. He didn’t know what he had expected but it wasn’t this. He had no doubt that if he moved an inch closer she would stab the first part of him that came into range. He also realized that, at the rate she was going, five more minutes would have her completely incapacitated and he was sure she knew that too. Her ability to remain conscious as she shook was as baffling as it was impossible.

It made no sense. He knew he should grab the rest of her stuff and clear out. He had seen a lot of crazy in the past hour but there was no way she had been telling the truth about surviving this. She was shaking just like everyone else did. He told himself that the fact that she was still awake for it, was just a sad addition to the truth. He could set a watch to the final minutes of her life, same as he had with a hundred others. More than that, he knew the responsible thing to do would be to barricade the doors as he left and report the body to the first uniform he saw.

But he couldn’t do it. Eric considered himself a lot of things but he hoped cruel was not one of them. It didn’t matter what she said, she had saved his life. More than that, she was like no other person he had met. He had always considered himself a risk taker but she made him feel like a toddler taking his first steps. And because of that total recklessness, someone who should have died, would have died, was walking down the street with a second chance.

But what if she had been telling the truth? What if-

“Okay then, my name is Eric Mitchel.” He spoke methodically in a slow voice, as if she was a wild animal that he had cornered. “I am, was, a brewer for a company just outside of Seattle. I was very happy there by the way, until this insanity began. Okay, I’ll admit, at first sales were up and end of year bonuses were looking really fat but I should have been paying more attention. You work a job like that and it’s your life. I had one friend, one person who knew my life inside and out. We had been buddies since grade school, we liked all the same stuff and we had each other’s back. Going into the same profession, splitting an apartment to double our benefits was just smart.

“I was on that bus today because of him; because of the one thing we didn’t agree on. He had this odd sense of responsibility to the other people he shares blood with, kept in touch, talked about it like knowing them made him part of a special club. Weird but I didn’t think about it much until he hears that two of them have died and one of them had kids, young ones. It didn’t matter how many times I reminded him that the companies that paid for them to be conceived are taking care of them. I mean, that’s half the point right, that and the boost to your work profile?

“He was beside himself, making plans to go apply for guardianship. I’d never seen him like that, up at all hours talking to a half-sister about them. There was no way he was going to be able to move his employment contract to another brewery or get clearance for them in our building but he wouldn’t listen to any of that. He wouldn’t listen to me, so I delayed him; I argued how unnecessary his attachment was. And then we got word that his half-sister had died.”

Eric stopped, finally looking away. The memory of what he had found that next morning playing through his mind. The bags were packed, Garret had left a message promising to be back in a couple of days, and the door to the ILM was wedged open, a pale hand blocking it. He had collapsed just inside the door of that black room. His best and only real friend in the world had died while Eric slept in the other room. He had been so angry and then-

“I couldn’t bear to stay there after that but I didn’t know where to go. He had already made all the arrangements for them to travel. I thought maybe if I found the kids for him then maybe…” He paused, his throat catching. He took a second to compose himself, swallowing hard. “I agree that it’s not normal behavior but I don’t expect you to understand. We were close, like blood. I owe him.”

It had been harder to relate the story than he expected but in spite of all his open sharing it had not achieved the desired result. She hadn’t budged an inch. Eric’s temper flared again.

“You are impossible! How do I convince you that you can trust me?” He was trying to be nice damn it! What more did she want? He got no response, only a hostile glare. One of Garret’s favorite sayings popped into his head; you just can’t help some people. “Then tell me you want to die, that that’s the real reason you risked what you did on that bus. Say the words and I will walk away.”

Finally the knife dropped out of her hand but it was hard to tell if it was out of surrender or because the shaking had become too severe. Eric took the opening and moved closer. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he removed his gloves. He had to force himself to cross the remaining distance between them. Placing one hand on the hand closest to the fallen knife and reached for the back of her exposed neck with the other.

As his palm closed around the soft skin his nerves calmed. A sense of contentment that was both electrifying and soothing filled him.