Chapter 2

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© ItalRT4u, 2012

     I awoke feeling extremely tired.  I cursed those damn nightmares; I hadn't had them in nearly six months.  I felt odd this morning.  I glanced over at my bedside table looking for the time; it was just after ten in the morning.  Feeling like I had wasted so much of my day already, I got up and dressed in my workout clothes.  Tying my shoes, I headed downstairs and grabbed my iPhone and house keys.

     A good run is all I need.  I thought to myself, heading out the front door.

     Half-way through my run, I had reached the park when I began feeling even more off for the lack of a better description.  My stomach was beginning to churn, knots felt like they were forming within it, and my head began to pound.  I shook it off and tried to pace myself for the second half of my run.

     I was five minutes away from my house when my knees buckled and my hands clutched the sides of my head.  Sitting on my knees, on someone’s front lawn, I attempted to breathe through the overwhelmingly throbbing pain.  I hadn't noticed the pair of shoes that had stopped in front of me until I felt the person's hand on my shoulder – a hot touch.

     “Hey!  Are you alright?”  The soft-spoken manly voice asked.

     “I'll be fine.”  I tell him softly with my head still hanging in my hands.  I tried to pick myself up only to collapse back down to the ground, my vision beginning to slightly blur.

     “I'm taking you home.”  He said as he crouched down to my level.

     “No.  Honestly, I...”  My voice trailed off as I found myself looking slightly upward into familiar eyes.

     “It's you!”  He said with a slight air of surprise.

     “Huh?”  I said as he helped me to my feet slowly.  I wasn't running home yet, that's for sure.  The pounding in my head was easing off but the churning in my stomach was turning, its knots growing progressively tighter, the unsettling getting worse.

     “You're that girl.”  He says and then, that's when I realized that it was the guy from the club last night – Mr. Bright Eyes.

     “That girl?”  I eyed him, curious as to what he meant by it.

     “I saw what you did to that dude after he grabbed you.  It looked like you instilled the fear of God in him with whatever you told him.”  He tells me.  “Then again, grab any guy by the balls like that and I'm sure he wouldn't dare mess with you any time soon.”  I felt my entire face blush and heat up and he chuckled at my reaction.

     “You saw that huh?”  I couldn't look at him and I suddenly felt like I should keep making my way home.  I began to walk away.

     “Where are you going?”  He took the two quick steps to fall in stride beside me.  My legs were strong but the jelly feeling was getting stronger and stronger within them.  The last thing I needed was another collapse.

     “Home.”  I answer.

     “Let me walk you.”

     Despite my protesting, I caved and was relieved in a sense because I could feel the earlier symptoms slowly creeping up on me once again as he escorted me home.  Reaching my front walkway, he almost seemed disappointed that we had arrived at my house.  I know I wasn't going to be hearing the end of it after I noticed Sahara's car parked out front, on the side of the street.

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