You Can't Run From the Past

Chapter 7: Danger, Danger

Chapter 7: Danger, Danger

I sat in the cafe sipping my coco when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped up to find myself face to face with a tall, fairly attractive, dark haired man. He wore a black suit and his hair was combed neatly on top of his head.

"122..." He froze looking at me, “I mean Tessa?"

"Mr. Thackolroy?" I asked even though I already knew who he was.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked while moving to sit across from me in the booth.

"Why?" I asked simply as I sat too.

"Why What?" he asked me.  He looked really confused.

"Why did you kill all those people? What did they ever do to you? Why did they have to die? What makes me so special?" Questions began to flood out of my mouth.

"Okay, I can see why you’re upset," he said.

"Oh really?" I asked sarcastically, "Because it’s your fault there dead in the first place."

"I know that. We didn't realize how many people it was going to kill till it was too late," he whispered.

"So they died and I lived?" I half asked.

"There were seven others that lived," he said in all seriousness.

"What?" I asked in shock.

"Your friends, Jesse, Nate, and Alex, are among those seven," he said.

"Then there are only six others left," I whispered. I wanted to cry at the thought of Alex.

"What?" he asked looking a little shocked.

"Alex was shot about a week ago," I said. Tears threatened to fill my eyes, but I pushed them back.

"Oh no," He said under his breath.

"What?" I asked. He had an expression of horror on his face.

"Um," he said as if deep in thought.

"What?" I asked more forcefully this time.

"Tessa."  That when I lost it. I grabbed the front of his suit coat pulling him to his feet over the table.

"Tell me!" I practically yelled. I stared him dead in the eyes. I noticed that the few people that were in the cafe were staring at us with shocked expressions.

"We need to get out of here. I'll take you to wherever you are staying," he whispered. I slowly let go of his suit coat.

"Fine," I said, anger filled my voice.

When we were outside he lead me to a black, very new and nice, Honda. That when I heard the first gun fire. Out of instinct I dived under the front of the car. I looked around franticly for Veevien’s feet. The shots ended just as soon as they started. I crawled out from under the car to find Veevien leaning against the car behind his. He had his hand over a spot on his leg.

"Are you okay?" I asked kneeling next to him.

"It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine.  Just help me to the car," he said weakly. I helped him to his feet and to the passenger door of his car.

"Keys?" I asked as I climbed through the driver door. He reluctantly handed me his keys.

It only took about twenty minutes to get to Adeline’s house from the cafe. By the time I parked the car and got Veevien out of the car Adeline had already came out, took one look at us, and then ran back in.

"Tessa? What happened?" Nate had come out now and was standing on the porch.

"Nate, go back to your room. I'll be up in a minute," I said sternly.

Nate knew not to ignore me when I gave an order. He had learned that lesson a long time ago.

"Adeline?" I called.

"In the back bedroom," she called back.

"Tessa," Veevien asked, "why are you helping me?"

"I never leave a man behind," I responded.

When I got him into the back bedroom I found Adeline with a bunch of towels, some anesthetic, and a few other medical supplies.

"Tessa go check on Nate and Jessie. I'll take care of Veevien," Adeline said to me as I helped him onto the bed.

"Thank you," I whispered to her as I left the room.

I found Nate lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.

"Nate?" I asked as I pushed his door the rest of the way open. He looked over at me as he sat up.

"Tessa," he said with a smirk as he got to his feet.

"Hi," I said walking farther into his room.

"Hi," he said walking towards me. When we were about an inch away I pulled him into the tightest hug I could. Tears began to pour down my face as we stood there.

"Stop scaring me," I whispered into his chest.  I felt him nod. I pulled away to look up at him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Then suddenly he leaned down and kissed me.

"Nate?" I asked when he pulled away.

"Yeah?"

"I need to change your bandage," I said.

"Oh, right," he said.

"I'll be right back," I said pulling away and going into the bathroom. I got the bandages Adeline had left for Nate then headed back into the room. I found Nate sitting on the bed, shirtless.

"Hey," he said as I walked back in.

"Hi," I said sitting next to him on the bed.

"Who was that guy?" he asked as I began to unwrap the bandage around his abdomen.

"His names Veevien. He's Adeline’s 'boss'," I said putting air quotes around boss.

"Oh," he said.

"Sorry," I said.

"What for?" he asked.

"This," I pulled the part of the bandage that was covering his wound off; he winced.

"Tessa?" he asked as I stood up to throw away the bandage.

"Yeah?" I asked turning around to look at him.

"Look," he whispered.

"What?" I asked. That was when I noticed the severe bruising around his wound.  I set the bandage down on the bed side table and sat down next to him again.  "Does this hurt?" I asked. I pressed gently around the wound. He nodded biting his lip.

"What's wrong?" he asked noticing my concerned expression.

"I think you broke a rib," I whispered more to myself than to him.

"So?" he looked at me expectantly.

"Stay here." I stood up and made my way into the bathroom. I turned on the water in the bath tub then went back into the room.

"T?"

"Stand up," I said. He obeyed and followed me into the bathroom.

"What's going on?"

"Nate, you have to trust me." I stared him dead in the eye.

"I do," he whispered.

"I need you to lie down in the bath tub. Okay?" He nodded. " Okay, sit down right here." I pointed to the side of the tub. "Then I will help you actually lay in the tub."  After he sat down I knelt next to him. I put one hand on his back and helped lower him into the water.

"Hi," he said smiling up at me.

"Hi," I said smiling back at him.

We sat there for a little while. I cleaned the extra blood from around his wound. Everything seemed almost normal, that is until I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and everything went black, again.

~~~~~~~~~~

-Gabby