Lethe Vita

Chapter 39

I had an unexpected snow day from work, so it allowed me to plow through this chapter.

I must warn you, it's not an easy one!

-x

Bricks clattered against concrete, through a chain-link fence.

Ice-picks drilled at the fence.

Wooden figurines holding the ice-picks step-danced on blacktop.

Blacktop.

There was something about blacktop, something she was supposed to know.

Wake up!

Fog surrounded the blacktop. A shadowy figure stepped out, hovering above her lips.

His tone was brazen, impertinent.

Wake up! he repeated.

I can't, she told the figure. My head; a thousand symphonies are playing in it all at once, and they're clashing in the most dreadful music.

Ignoring her protest, he looked straight through her.

Dammit, Val, wake up! he yelled, louder this time.

You don't have to shout, she said.

Then wake the fuck up!

Well, if you're gonna be so rude about it. Didn't your mother ever teach you some manners?

"She did." His voice became clearer, less muddled by the fog. "But she would say manners lose their importance when your girlfriend, your pregnant girlfriend no less, has been knocked out all night."

"All night?" Valerie opened each eye one at a time. "Fuck," she groaned, attempting to clutch at her head.

She couldn't lift her hands.

That was when she remembered.

"Abby!" she shouted, abruptly sitting upright.

"Hey," said David. "Easy." He used his knees to lower Valerie's head back down to his lap. "You took quite the fall," he told her. "Twice."

That would explain her disorientation.

"Twice?" she asked.

"When they," David swallowed, blinking back tears that indicated he was clearly reliving a horrific memory, "when they drug - drugged you, you, you hit your head. Against the blacktop. I thought my heart had ceased to beat enough then, until they brought us here and threw you on the floor."

Valerie slowly scooted herself up.

"Where?" she asked, taking in a blurred picture of their surroundings.

"There," David nodded to the spot. "You landed against the threshold."

"On my back," said Valerie. "Please tell me it was on my back."

"I could tell you that," said David.

"But it would be a lie," said Valerie. "I see it, in your eyes. It would be a lie, wouldn't it?"

"On your stomach," David choked out. "You landed on your stomach. The - the threshold dug into - into your stomach."

"Oh God," Valerie squeaked.

"Don't panic," he told her. "If we're gonna get through this, neither of us can panic."

"If?" asked Val.

"We will," said David. "We will get out of here, and I will get you to a hospital to get the both of you checked out."

"You need to be checked out," said Val.