Never As It Seems

Chapter 36

Aware of being lifted and carried, she gave into the strange comfort of the blackness that was attempting to shroud her. She didn't know how long she was unconscious for but it can't have been long because she was still cold and wet when the sounds around her seeped back into her mind.

As her eyes began to focus she felt a hand steadying her where she was half sitting, half laying. She attempted to turn to see who it was but the pain in her neck and head caused her to wince and stop. The hand around her shoulder gripped tighter and when Amber heard the female voice, she felt suddenly sick with fear again.

"It's ok. You're safe. There's an ambulance on the way."

When she was sure the hand holding her wasn't her attacker, Amber relaxed, but only a little. She tried to remember exactly what had happened but it was difficult with water dripping from her hair into her eyes and her head pounding. The lights and the noise of the city were almost too much to bear. She was slumped on the ground with her back against the wall of the fountain. The woman who she still hadn't actually looked at supported her at her left side and to her right, she was aware of raised voices. She wanted to raise her head to look up but the pain was too much. Instead she looked down at her dripping wet clothes. She shivered and out of reflex pulled her jacket tighter around her suddenly remembering that she wasn't wearing a jacket before. She studied its familiarity and then pressed the collar to her nose. Jay's. It was a reflex reaction as she jerked to get herself off the ground.

"You really shouldn't." The woman attempted but Amber staggered to her feet, still unable to raise her head.

She could hear his voice now though and the relief made her knees buckle. He'd seen her rise and got to her in time to help the woman rest her back down to the ground.

"No. No." She protested. "I'll just lean on the wall. I'm ok."

Jay took her face in his hands and checked her over worriedly. His own face was ashen and full of a mixture of anger and concern. He looked to the woman and she nodded, returning to Amber's side. Jay went back to talking to who she now realised, from her new vantage point, were policemen.

"What's going on?" Her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else.

"You were arguing with another girl and she pushed you in. I'm not sure if she fell or if you pulled her but she went in too and as you tried to get out, she pushed you again and you hit your head on the wall. She um...I don't know if I..." The woman trailed off.

"Please go on."

"She wasn't giving up. She tried to pull you up again, uh, by your hair and she was screaming at you but then that guy." She gestured toward Jay. "Is he your boyfriend?" Amber nodded as best she could. "He jumped in and separated you and got you out."

"Oh." Was all she could manage as the strange conversation leading up to all of this replayed in short snippets in her mind. Anything her head tried to put together to make sense of it all was hampered by the pain, which was sharpened by the shrill cry of the police car that pulled up on the concourse before them, separating people who were trying, but failing at not looking nosey. The officers who exited the car joined their 'on foot' colleagues with Jay and then one approached Amber, while the other went back to the car.

"Are you ok?" The woman approaching asked.

Amber raised her eyes but it was all she could manage. The other officer returned with a large coat. The female officer wrapped it around her. And turned to her colleague.

"I don't think we'll be able to talk to her for a while." She looked back to Amber. "Let's get you seen to honey." She said as the whining sirens of the approaching ambulance caused her to wince.