The Ecstatic Life Of Sofia

Chapter Twenty-One: A Rain Cloud

The next month sort of blurred together, Anthony and Sofia made love for the first time. Brad and Sydney announced their relationship to Sara and Sofia, but Brad continued to stare Sofia down, which made her uncomfortable around him and Sydney. Sofia constantly felt like she was being followed and watched, but she passed it off as her imagination. Finally summer came, and Sofia packed for her stay at the inn, she had promised Mr. and Mrs. Sala she would stay with them over the summer.

When Sofia arrived at the inn, she was surprised to practically run into Anthony with his parents, and even more surprised when he caught her in a kiss. When he pulled back Mr. and Mrs. Sala smiled.

"What are you doing?" She asked flustered.

"Well, since you are no longer in my Psychology class, we don't have to hide our relationship."

Sofia had forgotten that they were even hiding, it had become second nature for her to deny their relationship certain places. "You're right."

Anthony smiled. "Come on, we have to get started."

Around town they acted like they were just starting a relationship. First it was hand holding and movies, then kisses and romantic dinners. They moved at intervals with the whole thing, and it was fun to act it out. The hardest part was avoiding her friends and their questions.

Sofia hurried to the coffee shop in town, she was going to meet Anthony, but just as she turned a corner she ran into Brad.

"Sorry." He smiled at her.

"Don't worry." She began to move around him.

"Wait." He said. "Let me take you to lunch?"

Sofia grew uneasy. "I can't today, I'm meeting someone."

Brad looked away. "Right, the professor." He tried to hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Yes." She said indignantly. "I am meeting Anthony."

Brad glared at her. "See you." He stomped off.

Sofia sighed and walked on to the coffee shop.

"You okay?" Anthony asked.

"Yeah." Sofia said.

After spending the day together, that night Sofia walked out into the woods behind the inn. She walked and enjoyed nature, but soon she was scared. She knew someone was there watching her, following her. She turned to head back to the inn. As she turned around someone pushed her against a tree, she faced a masked assailant. She struggled underneath him, but couldn't get free. Soon he was pushing her hard against the tree and kissing her, his rough lips travelled from her lips to her neck. Sofia brought her knee up and kicked him where it hurt. He stumbled back and glared at her, but Sofia had already taken off running. When she reached the edge of the woods she screamed.

"Help!" She had just made it onto the yard when she felt herself pushed to the ground. She mustered up her voice as the man turned her over and screamed again. "Help!" She yelled. She struggled underneath the man and managed to roll them over so she was on top. She tried to stand, but he pulled her back down. "Hel-!" His hand went over her mouth and he slammed her head down hard. She almost lost consciousness, but instead she reached up and scratched the man's eye.

"You bitch!" He yelled and stood up, he kicked her hard in the side then held his eye.

Sofia quickly got to her feet and stumbled closer to the house, she was coughing up globs of something sticky and could feel blood trickling down her back. "He-" She choked and coughed, she could barely speak. She made it to the door and banged on it, trying over and over to say help, but all that came out were rough choking sounds. She slumped down, then the back light came on. The door opened to reveal Anthony glaring straight ahead, then he looked down and his expression changed.

"Oh my god." He picked her up and brought her to her bed.

The night was spent with Anthony and Mrs. Sala tending over Sofia. Mr. Sala called an old doctor friend of the family, who agreed to come on house call because of the circumstances.

"We need to get her to the hospital." The doctor said. "I think she may just be bruised up, but I need to make sure."

Sofia moved, she could feel her mind slipping, she was tired. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that happened was she coughed and found out that the sticky stuff she had been coughing up was globs of blood.

The doctor stared at her. "That's not a good sign, we need to go now."

Anthony picked her up and carried her to the doctors car. Sofia stared up at Anthony, then she slipped into unconsciousness.

Sofia awoke and looked around, there were flowers all around her. She sat up, her whole body felt like it was lead.

"Sofia, you're awake!"

Sofia turned and saw her mother looking down at her with tired eyes.

Her dad yelled down the hall for a doctor and her youngest brother ran up to her bed and crawled in with her. "Sofia!" He threw his arms around her.

Sofia let out a sorta groan as she fell back against the pillow. "How'd you guys get here?"

Her mom took her hand. "Well, when we heard about what happened we got here as fast as we could."

"Who told you?" She asked tired.

"Your boy-" Her middle brother spoke, but was cut off by her dad's cough and glare. He came up and gave her a hug. "I'm glad you're awake Sof, it's been a couple months."

Sofia groaned at the sound of her childhood nickname. Then something occurred to her. "A couple months? I haven't been home in about a year."

"More like a year and a half." Her dad said angry.

"Don't lie it's only been a year, nowhere near a year and a half."

Her mom spoke up. "Sweetie, you've been in a coma, for a couple of months."

The doctor came in and as he checked Sofia, her mother recounted how they had arrived in Meadow View and everything since. After the doctor exited the room Sofia sighed, there was a thought playing on the edges of her mind, a question she desperately wanted to ask.

"I'm gonna run and get some food." Her dad got up and walked out the door.

"Finally!" Sofia exclaimed a few seconds after her dad was gone. "Where is Anthony?"

Her mom smiled. "I knew you'd ask for him. Poor guy stayed here staring at you for almost a week, he didn't eat, didn't sleep, the only way we got him to drink was the doctor saying he'd have to put him on a drip IV away from you. After that we got him to sleep and eat. Today was actually his first day out of the this room, he'll be upset he missed you waking up."

"What about his job?"

"I didn't know he had a job."

"He told the university he was taking the semester off." Her middle brother spoke.

"I didn't know he had even talked Clark." Her mother said.

"Well, for the love of god, did you think he was mute?" Clark asked.

"...No" Her mother said lamely.

Sofia's youngest brother ran back up to her bed. Sofia smiled and patted the bed next to her. "Hello Marcus, did you miss me?"

He climbed up and shook his head.

"No?" She asked.

He shook his head again. Then threw his arms around her. "'Course I missed ya!"

Sofia laughed. "I missed you too." She hugged him close, then turned to her mom again. "How's dad, with Anthony?"

"As insufferable as ever, but he was really worried about you. He said he stayed overnight to keep an eye on Anthony, in case he tried anything shady, but I know he was really worried about you."

Sofia smiled and laughed. She chatted and caught up with her family. After a few minutes Anthony came rushing through the door.