Why was I wet?
Wet and cold?
I opened my eyes and closed them again instantly. The sun was shining into my eyes. I took a deep breath and sat up, opening my eyes again to look around.
I was outside in the woods. Why was I outside, cold and wet?
I looked around more clearly this time, trying to figure out if anything was familiar to me. I placed my hand on a tree trunk to stand and gasped. My hand was covered in blood. My eyes went down to my shirt and I saw it was covered with blood as well.
"Oh my gosh," I said and stood up, really taking in my appearance. My jeans were ripped, filthy and covered with blood and dirt. My hands and arms were much the same. Torn up and dirty.
"What have I done?" I said out loud.
"Nothing that didn't come naturally, Lara." I screamed, stepped backwards and fell over the tree truck and landed on my back hard. The impact knocked the breath from my lungs and for a moment I was convinced I was going to die.
"Lara, calm down. You're okay." David was standing over me, moving the hair from my face so I could see him better. I placed my hand on my chest and fought with myself to breath properly.
"How... where?"
"Try and focus on my breathing." David grabbed the hand on my chest and placed it on his own. His eyes looked right into mine and I gasped at the intensity of his gaze. "Relax and focus, Lara. No one will hurt you."
David took deep breaths and I watched him coach me like I'd never breathed on my own until now. I took some shallow breaths and before I knew it I was taking deep breaths that matched his. David's hand was still over mine, against his hard chest. I slowly moved my focus from breathing to the fact that I was touching this handsome man.
"Lara," David said softly as a twitch of a smile covered his face. It caused me to gasp and fall back onto my behind.
"David, how did you find me? How did I get here. Where is here anyways?" A true smile covered his face and when my hand left his chest, so did the smile on his face.
"Calm down, Lara. Focus on those deep breaths and not... other things." David looked to me quickly and then turned away from me. My heart dropped a moment and then all of my recent questions flooded my mind.
"David, where are we? How did I get here?" I stood up again and took a few steps backwards. Up until this moment I was sure that David was a good man. A man with secrets because in all the years I'd worked at the diner I'd never seen him open up to anyone other than Mavis. He didn't talk or smile. He didn't laugh and now suddenly he'd shown concern for me two days in a row?
"Lara, your heart is beating so quickly. I promise I'm not going to hurt you." How could he know that I was anxious? He wasn't even facing me.
I took two more steps away from him and a twig broke under my foot. David turned around to look at me but I was already off and running in the other direction. David yelled my name and told me to stop but I was scared. I wanted to be somewhere that I was comfortable and clean.
"Lara, stop!" David said as his arms quickly circled around my waist. I kicked my legs and screamed.
"Let me go. Help, someone. Anyone!" David's hand covered my mouth and as everything went quiet I could hear his breath against my ear.
"I meant what I said when I said I wasn't going to hurt you, Lara. Why would I want to cause you any pain?" There was a long pause and it made me anxious because I couldn't tell what he was doing. Suddenly David started to move and he placed my feet on the ground. "If I remove my hand will you be calm and listen?"
