As I Was

Fourteen

"Come on, it's just this way."

She narrowed her eyes as she followed the figure down one of the Parisian side streets. It was difficult to keep up with his long strides and she felt out of breath, like she had been running. Despite it being a cool night her skin was clammy, a sweat running down her back and a lightheaded feeling almost knocking her off her feet.

The sun had gone down long ago leaving them wandering street light to street light. Unable to recognise anything they passed she wanted to ask where they were heading but whenever she opened her mouth no words emerged, the sound of her boots against the pavement and her ragged breathing the only noises echoing from the walls encasing them.

Her brow furrowed as her trembling fingers reached up to touch her forehead, panic streaming through her veins when she pulled them away to see the trickling along her skin wasn't sweat, as she had assumed, but blood.

"Leonie? Come on now."

The sound of the name hit her in the stomach and she stopped in her tracks for a couple of seconds. In all of her memory it was something she had never been called before but found it struck a chord in her so deep it almost brought tears to her eyes.

"You need to get that sorted," the man, still slightly in the shadow, said as he too came to a stop. He was pointing toward her head, his tone filled with disappointment rather than concern, and was shaking his own "Quickly now because we need to get you back to the facility."

Her legs felt heavy as she pushed them to move. She was beginning to feel a bit dizzy, her hand going to her head once more as the blood trickled down passed her eyebrow and almost into her eye.

"You need to be more careful," he practically scolded as she reached him, his face still covered with the darkness of the night "We need you in top shape during your missions," he continued as he grasped roughly onto her arm to guide her toward a doorway "You haven't seen this one before so don't freak out," he warned following her closely, his hand pressing against her back every now and then to keep her moving along the equally as dark corridor.

She was tired. Her feet dragged beneath her and her aching arms hung uselessly at her sides. All she wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep but every time she stopped the man behind her placed his hand between her shoulder blades and pushed her along.

"And left," he barked guiding her into a room lit so brightly she had to shield her eyes. Her head pounded and her eyes slid in and out of focus as she tried to take in what was happening.

There was a table at the other side of the room filled with shining silver medical looking utensils and an examination table sitting beside it, prepped and ready for her to sit down beneath an overhanging large lamp.

His touch, somehow his face was still out of focus, was a lot softer as they made their way across the floor and, despite herself, she felt a rush of affection "Hop up here," he said helping her up onto the sheet covered examination table "She'll be through in a second to sort you out," he said as Harper allowed herself to lean backwards, the dizziness causing her eyes to close and her head to pound.

She felt nauseous and exhausted, almost every single muscle in her body ached and all she wanted was there to be a blanket on hand for her to curl up beneath and hide from the world. There was a metallic smell of blood in the all too silent room, a similar taste in her mouth, but she was so exhausted she couldn't even bring herself to wonder what was going on and why she was wherever she was.

"Leonie!"

Her brow furrowed as a hand nudged her shin to wake her up, the unfamiliar name echoing around her ears as she forced her eyes to open.