The Hooded Beauty

Numb

Authors note: this chapter may trigger some people.
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My eyes automatically shut.

I'm waiting to feel pain or am I dead?

Then, someone tries to remove the gun which I still have raised. They struggle to loosen my grip on it. I can't open my eyes. I feel wet

I open them when fingers rub against my hand, trying to comfort me.

I see Jace infront of me.
My peripheral vision gets the better of me when I notice movements.
I look over.
A man lays on plastic sheets.
Half of his head missing.
It's in chunks across the floor.

I wasn't shot.
He was.

I don't react.
I don't say anything.
I don't scream or cry.
I just stare at the body.
I'm in complete shock.
I don't want this to be real.

Jace comes back into my eyesight and puts his hand on the small of my back and guides me out of the room. My eyes don't leave the body until I'm outside.

I look down. I'm covered in blood.
Some my own.
But most is not.
Chunks of flesh too.

Tears begin to fall down my face. Did not know that I had tears filling my eyes.
Jace grabs the back of my head and his hand hasn't moved from my back and he pulls me in for a tight hug. So tight I struggled to breathe. I don't want to let go.
A hug that I didn't know I needed.
I don't move.
I don't know how.
Wherever he guides me I just follow.
He rubs my back and tells me it's alright.
But it's not alright.

The image of his body doesn't leave my mind.
Jace guides me to the car.
He pulls out a first aid kit.

I totally forgot about my leg.
The knife that went into my thigh.
He props me up on the cars trunk. I just sit there and watch him.
He rips my leggings.
Usually I'd punch him for ripping my clothes. But I don't protest.
I let him do it.
He takes off the headband I had used to seal the wound.
Blood starts dripping off me.
He takes a sharp breath in.
"You need medical attention. Kady, I can't fix this"
He says everything loud and clear but to me sounds muffled and distant.
I don't respond.
He grabs disinfectant and mixes it in a water bottle.
He spreads it generously around the wound.
I don't even feel the pain from it.
I just feel numb.
He dries it off and covers it in padding and bandages it up.
He picks me up and puts me in the front passenger seat.
"Stay here"
Well where else am I supposed to go.
I don't say that though.
I just stare at a chunk of flesh attached to me.
I feel like I want to throw up.
I feel like I want to cry.
I feel like I want to scream.
Why can't I do it?
What's wrong with me?

Jace runs back into the building.
And after a few minutes he runs back out.
He slides in the drivers seat. He looks over at me.
He notices that I'm staring at a piece of flesh on my hoodie.
He grabs it and throws it out of the window.

The engine roars. Then, we speed off. The building gets further away as I stare at it through the wing mirror.
What I witnessed here tonight is something I'll never forget. This will live with me forever.

I watch the world pass by as we speed through the roads.
He pulls up in his driveway before I even recognise the road we was on.
He turns off the engine and gets out.
He opens the door for me and I don't move.
"Get out the car Kady"
I move my legs around and stand. My legs become jelly.
He picks me up and walks to the front door of the house where he greets someone and then he takes me upstairs.
I just stare at the ground.
He kicks a door open with ease.
Then he sits me on a chair.

His touch disappears from me, my eyes follow him, he begins to rummage through a wardrobe.
He pulls out a few things and closes the wardrobe and sets the clothes on the bed next to me.
He kneels down and touches my cheek, I look up at him.
"Get a shower and then change into these clothes. Leave the clothes you're wearing now in the bathroom and I'll throw them out"
He gestures to a door in the room.
"That's the bathroom"
And then he gets up and walks out of the room.
I watch as he leaves and closers the door behind him.
I fiddle with my sleeve for about five minutes then decide I'll take him up on that shower offer. I need to get out of these clothes. I need to clean.
I walk over to the bathroom and open it. It's a standard en-suite. A bath tub, sink, and a shower cubicle.
I lock the door promptly.
I take off my clothes and leave them in the corner.
I let my hair down.
I climb into the shower cubicle and just stand there letting the hot water fall down my body.
Then I begin to wash myself.
I scrub as hard as I can multiple times. On my whole body.
Just need to feel clean.
Once I'm satisfied with how clean I am.
I turn the shower off and step out.
Grabbing the towel in the process and drying myself off.
I towel dry my hair and leave it down to air dry.
I wrap the towel around me and open the door to the room.
As I do the cold air hits me and takes my breath away.
I look up and Jace is laid on the bed.
"Erm, can you, maybe, Er, close your eyes for a minute" I choke out quickly.
He nods and closes his eyes
I run over to the clothes he left me, I grab them and run back to the bathroom.
I change into the new clothes.
The scent of them hits me.

They're Jace's clothes