Open Wounds | Captain Swan

32. Drugged

EMMA'S POV

I woke up to find radiant lights shining right through my eyelids, sending a throbbing pain through my orbits as a major wave of dizziness hit me. I didn't dare to open my eyes nor move any other muscle in my body, too scared it would amplify the amount of pain I was already feeling.

I tried desperately to seek for answers in the memory part of my brain, but concentrating was a task I couldn't render right now. I was too disoriented to focus on anything other than the lights because they were the only certain thing for me in this moment.

My chest felt tight and my airways narrowed when I realized I couldn't remember anything. I vaguely remembered who I was and particular events that had occurred in the past, but the most recent memory I had was from about a week ago.

I remembered lying in a hospital bed, annoyed by the fact that a doctor had taken away Killian when the door opened and Neal stepped inside.  But after that everything was just blurry.

I heard footsteps slowly approaching my bed, or so I thought. My brain wasn't capable of providing me with coherent ideas yet. I was just trying to decide if it was a prudent idea to open my eyes and see if the notion I had developed of the situation was accurate when I felt a soft touch on my skin. Whoever the person was that had entered the room he or she was now reaching out for my hand.

"Hey, Em." I felt sparkles in my ear, the ones you get when you chew for the first time in a long time and the muscles in your jaw start producing proteins again. But I felt them in my ear, did that mean no decent words had entered my ears in a long time?

"I don't know if you can hear me," I recognized the voice immediately. Well, if I could trust my brain's ability to put indications together in this state, but that wasn't important right now. The fact that her voice was filled with too many emotions to enumerate was what startled me. "But please wake up, I can't lose you."

I tried to squeeze her hand, desperately needing to appease her, but it was as if all contact between my brain and nerves had been cut out. I couldn't move a muscle, even if I wanted to.

My mind was practically begging me not to proceed with trying to grab her hand and the muscles in my fingers were burning, but it didn't prevent me from continuing with my attempts to move.

I hadn't managed to figure out what this feeling exactly was, but my guts told me I needed to soothe her. They told me it would allay the tremendous ache in my heart, of which I, by the way, didn't know the reason behind it.

And then it happened.

It was only a minuscule centimeter, but the minor friction was enough to be noticeable. She rubbed the back of my hand with her thumb, sending shivers through my hand and arm until they slowly vanished just before my shoulder. She must've thought communicating by means of gestures would be more convenient because after that she remained silent for a long time, just quietly holding my hand.

I wanted to wake up, but I wasn't familiar with the information that contained such instructions. It felt like a dream, where you know you're dreaming, but you simply just can't wake up. It was tormenting.

It was only that my eyes briefly met my surroundings when someone walked into the room, the unknown voice startling me. He had a deep, creaky voice, which reminded me of a crow, but nothing more than that popped up in my brain.

I'm not sure whether it was my human instincts that wanted to protect me from any form of danger or just a coincidence, but I woke up.

The luminous light invaded my pupils like a dagger would, at least, I guessed the amount of pain would be comparable. Because I had been stabbed by a knife before and that feeling did resemble to this one.

I let a soft groan flee my throat, trying to comprehend everything that I saw. I hadn't planned for it to happen because all the attention was immediately drawn to me, but it did.

"Emma!" Jen squealed, throwing her arms around my neck in a record time, completely unaware of the fact that she had ignored the doctor's speech.

I wished I could hug her back, but every muscle in my body felt too weak to make any kind of movement. So, for now, the finger I had managed to lift about half an hour ago was plenty.

".... So, she should wake up soon." The doctor finished his sentence, but I was honestly too shocked to hear any of his words, let alone register them in a coherent order.

We pulled away and she thoroughly overwhelmed me by overloading me with a ton of questions. My welfare being the main topic she was asking about. I couldn't help but chuckle at her rambling as I slowly began to feel better by just listening to her and attempting to apprehend the meaning of her words.

"Can I ask you something?" I blurted out, I had debated whether I should ask her this question or just wait for her to tell me on her own, but I was done being patient. I needed answers now.

She stared at me with wide eyes. She had probably already figured out which question I was going to ask. But she was holding back what I longed for and it was slowly driving me crazy, which could only hint for one thing, but I declined the idea only a fraction of a second after I had come across it, not wanting to believe what could be the devastating truth.

"Where's Killian?" I questioned, sucking in a breath but refusing to let go of it until I received some answers.

"He - I - uhm..." I was still holding my breath as the sorrowful truth dawned on me; he was gone. And this time, I did believe it. Or at least injured, but he wasn't fine that was certain.

Tears began to cloud my vision before I had even realized what my brain was to deceive me. It was a bad habit I had developed over the years. I jumped to the wrong conclusions too fast and overthought about them too much.

"He's gone, isn't he?" I tried not to panic and the only thing that was keeping me stable was the tiny bump on my stomach, reminding me why I couldn't stress too much.

I wanted to shake my head, grip my hair, anything to distract me from my crammed mind, but my arms were glued to my sides and head frozen on my neck. I tried to focus my eyes on one point in the room and my ears on my breathing. It was working for now, but I doubted it would continue for longer than a few brief moments if I couldn't catch some answers soon.

"It's a long story. Basically, you got kidnapped by a guy named Neal and Killian was convicted of abusing you and confined to a penitentiary nearby. He was an inmate for about a week before the police received crucial evidence that proved he was tricked by Neal and acquitted him. The police speculated that there was someone else involved, too-"

Suddenly all the memories came floating back into my mind, so fast I had to close my eyes due to the dizziness that crept up in me. It didn't even last two minutes, within one minute I was well aware of who kidnapped and what sins he had committed. Or perhaps, how how he had harmed me was more appropriate.

"Albert." I whispered under my breath, judging by Jen's confused facial expressions I hadn't set it loud enough, but she must've decided not to bother me with it because she continued her story swiftly.

"The police found you on the side of the road, passed out, and they brought you here. They immediately called me because I had reported you as missing since they wouldn't let Killian talk to nor see anyone. The police are still investigating, but they called about two hours ago to say they found something-"

She never got the chance to finish that sentence because she got interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.

We both glanced into the direction of the noise, the name that was written across the lit-up screen made my heart momentarily stop.

[Who do you think it is?😏

Ha, this is the most boring thing I've ever written, but I wanted to update before I begin to study 24/7 for my finals because of my perfectionism. And thank you for all the sweet compliments on my previous chapter, I feel so blessed😍 Maybe tell me what you think?💕]