Hide (Sequel to RUN)

Chapter 21

I was falling.

Not metaphorically, but actually physically free-falling through the air. I landed with a soft thud on something cushioned. A putrid smell filled my nostrils, and I gagged, finally waking up. I opened my eyes, confused and disoriented. It took me a second to place where I was, though it should have been obvious given the smell: a garbage truck.

Everything around me vibrated, which angered the pain already coursing through my body. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong. My right leg burned with the same fire my broken arm did. I sat up on my elbows with a small cry and found that my leg was bound in a cast. I thudded back into the trash, unable to hold myself up for long. I was exhausted.

The truck stopped vibrating suddenly. It's door slammed a second later.

"Help!" I cried out hoarsely. I coughed. It felt like someone had used sandpaper along the length of my throat. But still, I tried again.

"It was a body!" someone called. I turned my head slowly towards the voice, finding a head peeking over the side of the wall.

"But it wasn't a dead one!" The man hauled himself over the metal and strode towards me with an expertise only a garbage man could have.

"My leg," I croaked. "My leg wasn't broken." He ignored me and called over his shoulder, "Call nine-one-one!"

"Lansing," I murmured, reaching out for him desperately.

"What was that?" The man asked, turning back towards me.

"Commander Neil Lansing." I pulled on his sleeve. I wasn't spending any more time in a hospital under: 'Jane Doe'. Not with Aaron on the loose. "Call him."

"You just keep calm, now. Don't you worry. Help is coming."

"My name is Lekia Born. I am sixteen. My birthday is next month. I have three little sisters..."

"Calm down. Just keep calm..."

It was something my therapist had told me to do once. The point was to calm my mind by repeating known facts. It also helped me get out of my head; away from the pain.

The facts kept me out of the ambulance, out of the gurney, out of another hospital room, and out of reality. By the time Lansing entered my room, I was quoting scripture.

"'You also must be ready,'" I whispered, "'because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.'"

"What about me coming at an hour you don't expect?" Lansing asked, coming up next to my bed. "The doctors can't do anything for you except prescribe painkillers you already have." His voice was tense, angry, and terrifying. I shivered in my bed, knowing the car ride home was going to be cold.

I went back to my scripture. It hadn't failed me yet.

Lansing finally interrupted me halfway through the car ride home.

"What were you thinking?"

I paused for a second, wondering if it was worth reentering reality to argue with Lansing. I decided to keep quoting. After a while, I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I jolted awake from a rogue nightmare. The room around me was dark. Shapes materialized out of it, reaching out to snatch me from under the covers. I flipped onto my side, catching a glimpse at the clock by the bedside. My bedside. My room. Lansing's house.

One o' three in the morning.

I sat up, tired but needing to talk to someone. Needing to talk to Lansing. I could feel the pressure in my throat building steadily, ready to spill out at any second. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could just make out the wheelchair placed conveniently next to the bed. I reached out and steadied the chair. Once I was sure the wheels were locked, I hauled myself into the seat. My mind wandered as I wheeled myself out of the room and across the hall into Lansing's. It went back to those few moments before I had blacked out.