Lost

Chapter 66: Head-Strong

"I'm fine," she repeated mechanically, tugging at the laces of her shoes.

"Mmm, nope! You're not," Jason replied.

Salma did not argue. The vivid image of a man ripping open her dress flashed past her memory. She winced audibly, turning her face away as if to shake dismiss the image. So much could have gone wrong that night. So much. Thank God Zayn was there to -

No!

Salma quickly steered her thoughts away from him. He was reason she was bawling her eyes out. He was reason why she always felt so filthy. He was the one who violated her a number of times. She had given him enough credit for that one good deed. Too much credit. More than he deserved. . .

But still, she could not help but hear a voice in her mind remind her of the magnitude of the good in that one deed.

A blinding white light invaded her mind. Salma opened her eyes in fright, trying to focus on Jason's curly red hair.

She eyed the chocolate when he pushed it in front of her. Her dark memories kept invading. Salma accepted the chocolate hoping that if she triggered the sense of taste, it would give her brains something else to do and force her mind out of the gutter.

"Thank you," she muttered, fishing the bar under her veil. The sweet substance melted in her mouth soothing her senses. She took another bite. Salma hated to admit it, but Jason was right. Her senses did get a little sharp as she ate.

"What?" she whispered, her voice still shaky, when she felt Jason's curious eyes on her.

"I thought you were going to remove that." He pointed at her veil. "I didn't know you could channel food through it."

She was surprise by the urge to smile when he ducked his head a little as if trying to see the passage to her mouth.

"Silly boy," Salma muttered under breath, taking another bar he offered.

Jason kept her company and she was grateful. Whether it was the chocolate he offered, or the completely random things he talked about, Jason was helping. Half an hour later, Salma had calmed down significantly.

She decided to call someone to take her home. Feeling light headed and extremely exhausted, Salma desperately wanted to take a nap and forget about the whole ordeal.

"I should leave." Salma dusted off her abaya, drawing in a shaky breath. "Besides if the assistant realizes we've been missing . . . Let's just say I don't want her to find out."

"Oh, she knows." Jason smiled.

"What?" Salma asked in surprise.

"She's watching," Jason smiled, before turning his face upwards, lifting a thumbs-up to the CCTV camera. Salma's mouth hung open.

"She has the streaming linked to her computer." Jason informed her. "You know how protective she is of the lab. She likes to keep an eye on things."

"How do you know?" Salma stared at him in disbelief.

"She came up to me when you stayed here too long; asked me if I was friends with you." Jason shrugged. "She said something about not being good at comforting people or something."

It took Salma some time to digest the story. The scowling lab assistant sent Jason to comfort her instead of kicking her out? What has the world come to?

Shaking her head in disbelief, Salma pulled her phone out and dialed Anne. She picked on the third ring.

"Assalamo'Alaykom, Anne it's me, Sally. . . Er, I'm sorry to bother you. Would you please come and pick me up?" Salma requested before Anne could even utter a word. "I'm not feeling very well, and Asim --"