When I Met Tom (A Tom Hiddleston Fan Fiction)

Chapter Thirty

On hearing the gunshot I threw myself to the floor, hearing only my own heartbeat in my ears, as I pulled myself into a ball by the corner of the door. I had felt no pain but I still searched my curled up body with my hands for where I could have been shot. I lay there crunched up thinking about how she must have missed me.

‘Charlotte, Charlotte,’ the sound of a male voice calling my name pushed its way into my head but I couldn’t move myself.

I refused to lift my head, mainly because it felt heavy and it was like my body had forgotten how to move by itself. I willed myself to move but it didn’t happen.

I heard my name continue to be called and eventually I felt two strong hands on me, with one pushing its way under my shoulder that was pressed firmly against the floor, and the other tucking under the bend of my knees.

I felt myself being lifted up slowly. Everything felt as if it was in slow motion, even my hearing. I tried to screw my eyes up tight, not wanting to look around me, but my body even failed me on that part. They slipped open just enough to see Jeff’s jacket sleeve, showing that he was the one who was carrying me, and the body of Wendy laying lifeless on the floor, surrounded by her own blood as it spread out around her.

Jeff was carrying me away from the locker room, out into the corridor where Tom had been on the other side of the door talking to me. When we walked through the doorframe I noticed that the door was no longer whole, but instead lay mostly on the floor with large splinters of wood pointing out of the remainder of it still in the doorway like thorns.

I could still hear Jeff’s voice but my head wasn’t registering what was being said. The next thing I knew after being held in my security guard’s arms was being lowered – only slightly – into Tom’s waiting ones, as he grabbed hold of me like he would never let go again. I really don’t remember that much from those moments after the event that happened in the changing rooms, but I do recall the moment after Tom took hold of me we collapsed to the floor together, with me like a heavy, unresponsive baby and Tom a quivering, teary mess. I had never seen him like that before.

I tried to move so I could hug him right back, show him that I was alright and that all I needed was him, but I was still left like this floppy heap in his lap. As I lay bundled up there my thoughts turned to Jen who was also in that room on the cold floor.

Amongst my thoughts I could make out voices, and then the sound of sirens. There were a couple of screams in there too, and some shouting that sounded angry and distressed. Who was speaking, I didn’t know.

Tom shifted my slightly in my grasp and planted a kiss in the centre of my forehead. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up into the slightest smile that I could manage. And that was the last thing I remembered from that moment.

*

Just like the last time I saw Wendy, the next time I woke up I was in a hospital bed. My eyes gradually opened and let in the light that was streaming through the blinds. My throat felt dry and rough, and my eyes stung like I had slept with my eyes open in front of a very strong fan.