Heart

Twelve

Air whispered through my eardrums and wavered over my skin, warm to the touch. The noise it made sounded too loud for my awakening senses, and I felt my face pucker in a wince. Something soft was cushioning my head, but I was still aware of the soreness there. My instinct was to massage it; however I soon found that my arms were too limp to operate properly, and the same went for my legs. Come to think of it, I couldn’t feel them much at all.

“Kara?”

The voice quivered through the air to my ears, sounding like someone was trying to communicate underwater. It was a bit difficult to understand at first, but then the person spoke again.

“Kara? You hear me?”

Ah, I recognized that voice. It was Alan.

I struggled to respond, but my own voice was lost. Instead, I tried forcing my eyes to open, which wasn’t so easy. The first stab of light seared my retinas, causing my lids to instinctively slide shut again, but after a few blinks, I was okay. I came to find that I was inside a vehicle, presumably Al’s truck. He had the heater on full blast, all vents directed at me, and also had me stretched out over the front seats.

“Kara,” Alan sighed, the breath coming out heavily, hinting that he had been extremely stressed, “How are you feeling? Are you warm enough?”

I blinked and slanted my gaze down my nose so I could see Al. He sat behind the wheel, slightly turned towards me with my legs resting in his lap. His brown eyes were practically trembling with worry.

“H-Hey, Al,” I rasped.

A bright smile claimed his features for a moment. “You’re okay? Does anything hurt?”

“Um, my head’s just a little sore. But I’m fine other than that.”

His eyes turned serious, and I knew he was trying to decide if I was just sugar coating or telling the truth. He ended up just shaking his head. “What happened, Kara?”

I frowned and tried to get the fragments of my memory to piece together correctly. Everything seemed to be working quite sluggishly, so it probably took longer than the norm. “Well, I was sitting on the bench waiting for you, and then I was just . . .attacked.”

His eyes hardened. “Did you see who it was?”

“No,” I answered, surprised. I went through all that and hadn’t gotten one single glimpse of the assailant. Heck, it could have even been a chick with a really deep voice for all I knew.

I probably should have told Alan about the little message my attacker gave me, but then he would fire my shadow and hire himself for the position! I could just imagine him constantly breathing down my neck and growling at every stranger that came within biting distance like some bulldog. There was no way I was going down that road.

Alan pressed his hand to his scalp and slowly slid it over the back of his head, smoothing his gelled hair. Then, with an aggravated jerk to his movements, reached out and turned the heat to its lowest setting. I wasn’t exactly sure what was frustrating him, but I could narrow it down to either himself for not being around to protect me, or the attacker for hindering my protection.

“Alan,” I began, “How did I get here?”

He slanted his gaze over to me, and I saw his chest inflate as he sucked in a breath. “You must have been out for an hour or two before I found you. No jacket or anything, and it’s pretty cold out there,” he murmured, “Your attacker had tossed you behind that statue in the middle of the walkway in front of the school.” Al shook his head, obviously getting annoyed at himself, “I just sat here in my truck only a few yards away while you . . .” He closed his jaw and glared out the windshield.