Dream and Nightmare

Chapter 6 - Sparks *

"Ow!" The shock was so bad that she could smell burnt flesh. "What was that?" 

"What happened?" He frowned at the mirror as if thinking she'd cut herself on a sharp edge.  

"You didn't feel that? You shocked me!" Her entire arm was hurting from the shock, all the way up to her shoulder. 

"Sorry." He still looked confused. "Must've been some static electricity." 

"Then that's some freakishly strong static electricity. How did you not feel that?" 

He shrugged, setting the mirror on the table. "Give me your hand. We have to clean off that cut to keep it from getting infected." 

Jack pried the bandage off Anah's hand as she checked the damage on her face in the handheld mirror. It wasn't good. The fresh bruises were darkening around her eye and across her cheekbone. The skin had been broken open in a few places over bone, and there was a long scratch where her wedding ring had made contact. Anah cringed, but that just hurt the bruises worse. Jack fixed up her hand with a lot less pain than last time. "You get hurt a lot." He noted. 

Anah smiled but stopped quickly because of the pain. "I don't try to." 

He looked at her and she stared right back in his pale blue eyes. They were a bit unnatural with how pale they were. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Your hair's a mess, princess." Anah told him.  

Jack ruffled his hand through his hair making it stick up in a thousand directions. It was longer than it appeared when it was carefully combed back. Anah laughed then put the icepack back against her face to soothe the pain that had caused. 

She did the same with her hair that was already a crimped mess from being in a braid all day. Jack laughed and Anah cherished the sound. "You're pretty even with your hair a mess." He said through his laughs.  

He found her pretty? Stop, Anah. Stop, She scolded herself, he's interested in Felidy, not you.  

She shook her head. "Stop. You're going to make me laugh again and it hurts." 

"Sorry." He smoothed his hair back. "So you do remember when you were all loopy?" 

Anah kept her eyes on the table, remembering what she had said to him and his reaction to it. "No. Bits and pieces of it. It's all really hazy. Why? What did I say?" 

"Not much. Take some pain killers." He handed her a couple of pills. That time he didn't electrocute her, but she was still weary.  

"Thanks. Sorry I'm so much trouble." She left her hair messy, not at all because he'd called her pretty. 

Jack laughed. "Trouble? Anah I'd be bored as hell without you." 

"No you wouldn't." She argued. "You'd have that world, and you'd have Felidy." She tried her very best not to sound jealous. Because she wasn't jealous, not at all.  

He shrugged his shoulders, leaning back in his chair. "I suppose, but you're the best friend I've ever had." He shrugged again. "It wouldn't be the same." 

"Who was that girl?" Anah asked, just remembering what had happened earlier that day. "The woman coming out of your house with the purse?" 

Jack lifted his brow at her. "I was wondering when you were going to ask about that. She's an actress." He sat up straight, letting the front legs of his chair hit the ground with a thud. "I think she'll do." 

"Actress? What? That's not...code for something, is it?" Anah tried very hard to look anywhere but at him. She couldn't imagine any other reason he would have for hiring an actress. It made her uncomfortable to even think about it, let alone talk about it.