Till The Clock Strikes Gone

21 | love

Eliza stirred in her sleep when the rough pillow on her face disturbed the softness of her cheeks. She slowly turned around to lie on her back as she groaned and rubbed her eyes. Her eyes fluttered and the eyelids felt heavy; she made an effort to open them. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a cracked ceiling.

Her room didn't have a cracked ceiling.

She panicked when she looked around her and spotted the familiar sentence her friends had drawn on certain walls.

'This town doesn't want you'

She jerked up and instantly regretted when the movement brought forward a stinging pain making her blind for a moment. She held her head as she began to fall back but strong arms caught her and she felt herself being laid down slowly. The pillow was cushioned in a position to rest her back and she felt more comfortable with that instead of lying down.

"Papa?" she called in a low voice; her throat felt dry.

"Ah...it's me."

William

She flapped her eyes open and stared at William. He was shirtless and his hair was wet; he must have been in the shower. He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and she observed his perfectly sculptured muscles and abs; her fingers itched to trace them. There was a tattoo on his chest; it looked like a sentence but she couldn't read it. She looked at his strong arms that were holding her by her shoulders. When he saw her studying him, he let go and moved towards one side.

She followed his movements as he went to his cupboard and opened it to pull out a dark blue, full-sleeved T-shirt. She watched him as he wore it with his back turned to her. The flexing of his muscles made her cheeks heat up. He turned to look at her and she averted her eyes quickly to avoid his gaze. He moved across the room and was back at her side.

"You okay?" he asked and she lifted her eyes to look at him.

His bright, blue eyes were full of genuine care and she nodded. He reached out for the bedside table and she noticed the glass of water that was kept on it. He picked it up and brought it towards her.

She took the glass and drank the water in one huge gulp, relief spreading through her entire body. She finally felt like she could speak again.

"Why am I here?" she asked him as he took the empty glass from her and placed it back on the table.

"You don't remember?"

She panicked at the sound of those words. The last thing she could remember was dialling her father's number. After that, everything was blank. She focused hard to remember anything, but she couldn't.

"No," she confessed.

"You called your Dad. I picked it up and you said that you were in trouble so I went to search for you and when I found you, you asked me not to take you to your Dad and so I brought you here."

She felt a blush form on her cheeks at the fact that she couldn't remember any of those things.

"Hmm...thanks I guess?" she said, looking at him innocently. He chuckled and his laughter sounded heavenly to her ears.

"Sure," he said, nodding his head.

Eliza looked at herself and finally realized something. She was not wearing her clothes. She was wearing a black oversized shirt and she panicked when she felt the rough mattress underneath her thighs. She wasn't wearing her jeans either. Embarrassed, she pulled the blanket closer to her body to cover herself.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked, fearing the answer. He pointed to her left and she turned to find them neatly folded beside her.

"Why am I..." she started to ask but stopped midway.