DAWNING POINT (AgeTabooRomance)

Chapter 20

Author's Note: As always, I hope the wait was worth it. Please vote, comment and tell your friends if you like DP. Thank you all for your amazing support! Nearly at thirteen thousand views. Absolutely mind blowing! <3

I stirred to the distant call of my name.

My eyelids fluttered, feeling warm hands pressed somewhere against my skin. I couldn't grasp reason as consciousness dangled just beyond my reach, my head swirling with every harsh breath too difficult to draw. I wanted to step outside of my mind, wanted to rationalise my inability to respond, but I remained quiet, feeling far from words as my lids closed again.

"...Isla... Christ..." he breathed as if only to himself as twigs cracked and leaves crunched underfoot.

I noted the alarm in his voice. I wanted to tell him that I was okay. Despite my efforts, however, incoherent noises were all that rumbled from my throat. Blinking long, my vision remained hazy and unfocused as if submerged well below water's surface, and deep within my head I kicked and swam for clarity that awaited me somewhere above.

What was going on?

I realised I was being lifted. My body felt weightless as the darkness soon flooded with light and the dirt turned to pavement below us, my pounding head cradled against his body. My lids flitted open once again, recognising his arms around my back and under my knees as he carried me toward his truck. Still supporting my weight, he opened the passenger door before settling me carefully onto the seat.

I fought the wave of nausea rolling in as he eyed me cautiously, his features taught and grim. "Isla..." he whispered my name, assuring me he was here.

I vaguely noted the sensation of my neck between the warmth of his hands whilst he looked me over. The worry casting shadows over his expression didn't ease with his assessment of my body.

Manning...

What was he doing here?

Everything around his glorious form continued to dance in front of me, and I reached out for his shoulder to steady myself, flinching with the sting.

Manning's arms slipped carefully around my waist, holding me upright. "Isla, answer me," his eyes were pleading, and so out of character for him.

Did he say something? "...What?" I exhaled on the word.

"Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

My heart beat escalated. "Yes," I blinked a few more times, "yes, I can hear you."

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

As he waited patiently, crouched in front of me, I racked my brain for the last memory I had. Trying to piece together the pain I felt throbbing through my head, my neck, my shoulder, my ankle and under the soles of my feet. All of that, and why the hell I was sitting here with Manning right now.

I came up empty. "N-no, I... I don't..." the fragmented pieces rattled around in my brain, and the harder I tried to remember, the more it hurt. But as I examined the parts of my body that burned like blue fire, I sighted the reasons for Manning's angst.

Blood spattered my skin. Marks along arms and legs deepened to purple. Little shards of glass rained down from my hair. And a mixture of red and brown coated my swollen feet.

What the hell?

The past few hours began to flood back to me, hitting my lungs like pellets. I couldn't breathe. "I'm– I'm going to be sick–"

Manning caught me as I tumbled out of the truck for the closest bush that skirted the parking lot. Falling to my knees, he hastily pulled my hair away as I threw up everything left in my stomach. Bile stung my gut, my throat, my nose. The sound was ghastly, and in the back of my mind I feared his disgust.