The Hidden

Chapter 30

Thick fingers encased the entirety of my body in a tight unforgiving grip that made it difficult to breath. That along with the violent fear coursing through me caused my breaths to come out in sharp gasps as I squirmed in the strong grip of the hand imprisoning me. 

The warmth that radiated off of the spongy and slightly clammy hand made me feel nauseous. It was my unfortunate third time in human hands, and it did not get better with repetition, in fact this time was so much worse. I could practically feel the anger in the strong grip that held me, like any moment it would tighten even further and crush me to death. 

I looked fearfully into the dark brown eyes that held me in their intense glare, I could see the angry betrayal in them as they harshly scrutinized me. 

"You told me you were the only one, that everyone else was dead!" Connor's voice rumbled through me, the quieted tones he had adopted before long gone.

I opened my mouth to splutter out a response, some sort of excuse or lie but before I could get a word out I found myself suddenly soaring through the air once again. I felt my stomach lurch in protest as Connor's hand quickly dropped down several inches in the air so that I was no longer held in front of his face and was instead level with the bottom of his chest. 

"Connor!" I managed to choke out, but was ignored as Connor turned around and made his way over to the table he had set up in the corner early.

Before I could fully wonder what he was doing, Connor's hand lurched into action once again, this time unceremoniously depositing me on the top of the table.

I landed on the plastic glossed wooden surface of the table on my hands and knees, my breath coming out in sharp pants. Afraid of having my back turned to an angry and dangerous human, I stumbled up to my feet quickly and turned around. The table I stood on only reached about up to the bottom of Connor's thighs, but it was high enough that if I tried to jump off to get away, I'd end up with at least one broken limb.

Had there not been adrenaline flooding my veins, keeping my fear under control, I think I probably would have been paralyzed. Though if there ever was a time for me to be afraid, it was when a massively huge human was staring me down with anger in his eyes.

"So all that sob story stuff about your family being dead was just a whole bunch of crap, huh?" Connor shouted down at me.

I winced fiercely at the volume of the words. "Y--yes but--" 

"And then you tried to run away with that other one. Acting like I'm some sort of frigging monster or something!" Connor exclaimed, both incredulous and rage filled at the same time.

I stumbled backwards several steps, trying to distance myself from the giant looming in front of me, though I had no where to go, I was trapped on the tabletop. 

"You've just been sneaking around and lying to me this whole time." He growled, not as a question but as a statement, as if he knew exactly what was going on now.

"I had to!" I cried up at him.

Connor scoffed bitterly. "Why?" He demanded.

"Humans are dangerous, they can't be trusted!" I yelled, anger rising up through the fear. 

I felt myself become suddenly outraged that I was being forced to explain myself to this guy. I didn't owe him anything, but I was forced to justify my actions to him because I feared if I didn't, I would be faced with a rage that could result in my own injury or demise.

Though he said nothing, I could see the anger intensifying in his expression. Then he lowered himself down to his knees so that his face was closer to being level with me. Though he looked less massive this way, I could tell from the look on his face that he hadn't done it to make me feel any more at ease. 

I backed up even further, all the way to the very back edge of the table, as far back as I could go. Connor's fierce brown eyes holding me in a hard glare. He seemed to be in a state of dangerous calm, which I wasn't sure was better than explosive anger or not. 

"I did what I had to do to protect my family." I told him quietly, but with a hardness in my tone.

Suddenly a bright spark of fury flickered in Connor's eyes at my words. I wasn't sure why exactly, but what I had said had set something off in him for some reason. 

"Stop acting like I'm some kind of frigging monster!" He yelled and then suddenly in a flash his fist was slamming onto the top of the table. The impact sent tremors through the table, causing the already unstable piece of furniture to shake.

I realized too late that my position at the very back edge of the table hadn't been the best idea as the movements of the table caused by the impact of Connor's fist caused me to lose my balance. I let out a sharp gasp as I stumbled backwards into empty air. I plummeted down the few inches that to me was so much more. A cry of pain escaped me as I crashed into the ground, landing sideways on my right side. Pain exploded through my arm as I felt something beneath the skin snap. 

Quickly, everything around me became fuzzy and distant. I heard a panicked voice saying something indiscernible and could just barely make out blurry shapes moving around me. I felt an intense urgency to just GET AWAY, but I was already slipping into unconsciousness, my body desperate to escape experiencing the sharp pain coursing through my right side. 

The last thing I saw was an indistinct shape reaching out towards me and a distressed voice saying something that sounded vaguely like my name.