Where I Found You

Chapter 14 - Alyssa now.

Chapter 14 - Alyssa now.

I'm angry when Jack appears at my window, his face frantic as he peers in at me. The car doors and walls start to close in on me and then the world spins around my head, as I clutch onto something - I don't know what it is, only until I let Jack in and he prises the bottle from my hand.

"Alyssa." He crouches close to me, all up in my face, then I lift a hand to slowly push him back, being able to feel the actual panic on my face.

"Jack. Stay back." The words take forever to say.

As he leans back - too much, now - his face starts to blur before my eyes. I can't tell if that's me or my tears.

All I can tell is that he looks pained. "Come on. Let me get you home." I'm feeling arms wrapping around me now, and my eyelids begin to droop.

"Home? Where's home?" I mumble, and then suddenly feel bile rise in my throat. I pull away from him as it all comes up, onto the grass beside Jack's foot. I don't know if it goes on Jack or not, but that's when I begin to cry, and he lifts me up.

"Oh, love. I'm sorry, baby. Come on. Into my car and back to my house. You can stay the night." I feel gentle pressure for a split second on the top of my head - I think that's where he kisses my hair. I let the tears roll down my face and my sobs come out, and I cough and I cough while he brings me round to his car. I'm not paging attention to what's happening to me now - only to the awful feeling inside my stomach and the bitter taste of vomit in the back of my throat.

I can't even open my eyes anymore, for crying out loud.

"I hate this, Jack. I hate this."

I feel myself being dropped into a seat, and the scraping of something against my neck before there's a random click. The seatbelt. Then I hear his voice, "I know. It'll be over soon, I promise. And I'm not going to leave you."

I don't think I've survived the car journey until I wake up in the bright, silent hallway of a house. Will's house, just with different furniture. I'm lifted up the stairs, and put in a bed with a navy duvet that I recognise. Then, all there is is nothingness.

-

I wake up uncomfortable, as if all the fabric in the world is tangled around me in the most awkward position. I slowly open my eyes, only to have to shut them again due to the intense sunlight. Grumbling, I reach for my phone, wondering if I've got messages from anyone. Anyone at all.

"Mornin', sleeping beauty."

Jumping, I sit up and knock the uncomfortable sheets off me. Only to look down at my bare legs.

I'm wearing a shirt. Just a shirt, which is rolled around my waist.

I make a sound of surprise, quickly looking up as I pull it down.

Two green eyes stare back at me, slightly worried but slightly amused. I quickly pull the sheets up to my chest, staring at Jack from the other side of the room. I hear girlish screams and giggles from downstairs, until Jack closes the door to block them out. As he walks towards the bed, I slide as much away from him as possible while all sorts of questions run through my mind. Such as, where are my clothes? Why am I not in Cambridge? What happened last night?

"What's- What are you doing?" I ask alarmingly as he sits on the edge of the bed and then peers at my face. I rub my eyes and scramble up to the very head of the bed, right as the vein in my temple starts to pulse madly.

"Nothing," he replies, still looking at me strangely. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I have a bit of a headache, but I'm alright," I tell him cautiously. "May I ask where my clothes are? What am I wearing?"