Playing His Own Games | ✔︎

chapter thirty-five | fautless

*•*•*•*
"There is nothing more painful than being unable to help someone you love the most out of the hell they are going through."
*•*•*•*

Carrie

I WAKE TO THE INCESSANT beeping of machines and my cheek scraping against the rough material of my pillow.

Gradually, I push away the curtain of darkness that has fallen over my eyes. The hospital room swings into focus and I squint, momentarily blinded by the white light glaring down at me.

In seconds, I become aware of a dull throb behind my eyes and the great waves of pain crashing down upon my body, particularly my side.

There's an IV drip attached my forearm as it feeds a clear liquid into my bloodstream and a heart rate monitor clipped over my pointer finger. Large plaster casts are wrapped around my torso and an oxygen mask has been pulled over my mouth and nose.

I grip the coarse bedsheets and bite the inside of my cheek. The flesh is tender and sore, as though something heavy has struck it. With both my thoughts slow and sluggish and my body feeling heavy as boulders, I struggle to allow my mind to catch up to the moment.

The doorhandle to my left twists and a young nurse with kind eyes and a warm smile enters, rolling a cart with her. It contains rather revolting-looking food and a small tray of medication.

"Hello, sweetie." She pushes the cart so it's pressed up against the side of the metal bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," I confess, my voice muffled by the plastic of the mask.

"You're safe here," the nurse assures me, gently removing the oxygen mask and handing me a remote to control the angle of the bed. "Nobody can hurt you."

"Hurt me?" I repeat, frowning. And then everything comes rushing in, overloading my mind with dozens of excruciating memories and sensations. Kane. The pistol. Lots of pain. Fading into an ocean of blackness.

My heart rake spikes, sending the machine into a frenzy.

The nurse is by my side in an instant, her doe eyes observing me cautiously. "Carrie, take some deep breathes. In and out. Just like that."

"Where is he?" I choke out, tears already prickling the corners of my eyes. Images dance before my eyelids. The cold floor pressing into my back as I gazed up into the black eyes of the monster I once loved. His shirt and knuckles stained with my blood, the muzzle of the pistol aimed right at my head.

"Handcuffed in a jail cell, from the little information I have gathered," the nurse tells me in a soft, pitying tone. "Carrie, you are safe and in good hands. You need to rest and relax. You've lost a lot of blood."

My teeth are chattering and the back of my throat is swimming in bile. I must look like a wreck with my red-rimmed eyes, snotty nose and beaten in face. "Where are my parents?" I croak out, before another thought pops into my mind. "Is my-my boyfriend here? Tall, dark hair, blue eyes? Very handsome?"

The nurse hesitates, clearly biting back her words. "Your parents are downstairs at the moment, buying food from a vending machine, I think. I will alert them you're awake as soon as they come up. Someone else is here to see you, though."