Awakening Book One of the Trust Series(6)
She tried to comply and focus her eyes on where her finger landed, but non-distinguishable blurbs of color of white, blues, and greens greeted her instead.
And then everything went to hell.
A million flames felt like they were scorching her body, coursing through every muscle fiber, consuming her whole. Her body then plunged into an icy depth as if drowning into the coldest seas. She shook violently, her head erupting in pain.
Caitlyn heard herself scream. She was dying. She thought fleetingly that she would never go on that great adventure, would never use her degree, and would never get to see any of the people she cared about again. The last thing she would ever feel was a strong pair of arms catching her as she finally gave into the darkness that surrounded her.
Chapter 2
Garrett stroked her face gently as she began to stir and awaken. She blushed in embarrassment as he held her head, peering down at her. “Well, hello sleepyhead.”
She stretched her legs tentatively before responding. Immediately, she noticed she felt different. The continual achiness, the chills, the pain, they had all gone. Her head did not have the dull ache she had become accustomed to over the past few months, she felt good. No, that wasn’t right. She felt great.
Suppressing her mortification at passing out in front of him, she asked him the first question that popped in her head. “How long was I out for?”
Garrett’s face quickly lifted up to a clock that hung on the wall. “Eighteen hours and seventeen minutes.”
She sat up in a panic, her eyes flashing in alarm as she gaped at Garrett. “Eighteen hours? I’ve been out for eighteen hours?”
Garrett placed a hand on her shoulder, attempting to calm her down. She couldn’t help but notice the relief written on his face. “Yes. Feeling better? You look healthier.”
Caitlyn did not know why she was not in a hospital room right that moment. A normal person would have called an ambulance, especially if the person had not woken back up. She glanced around, realizing that she was in a bedroom. Garrett’s bedroom. Grudgingly she answered, “Umm…Much better actually. I feel like myself again.”
He cocked his head, “Anything different?”
She did not know what he meant by that, but when he mentioned it, she realized that nothing was different, yet everything was. Caitlyn felt as if she had been seeing everything in a haze her entire life. The chairs, windows, and plants, everything was now in sharp focus, it was like she had suddenly switched from a tube television to a high definition flat screen. She could smell everything around her, the plants that Garrett had in his apartment let off a soft floral scent, like a rose. Garrett smelled like pine and fresh soap. The blankets she sat on felt incredibly soft, and she swore she could feel every fiber, every thread count on his sheets.
Every sense of Caitlyn's was suddenly enhanced. It was amazing. She woke up to a completely new world.
Garrett's smirk returned as it dawned on her the differences. “It's amazing the first time you truly awaken, isn't it?”
Caitlyn's look of wonder did not cease. “Everything… Everything is different. I can't describe it. You even look different!”
And Garrett did. While it was impossible for one not to acknowledge Garrett was good looking, she never noticed all the little details. She had noticed his eyes were hazel in color previously, but she now could see every brown and green fleck that made up his eye color. She could see that his hair, while predominantly dirty blond, actually was made up of seven different shades of blond strands. His jaw line was strong but had several small scars lining it, and his nose was straight, with the exception of a miniscule bump in the middle she had never noticed before.
“Garrett, what do you mean, when you awaken? What is happening to me?” Caitlyn asked, trying to keep her voice calm. At first, she was thrilled just with the idea that she was still alive and not dying, but now that she was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, she did not know if that scared her more. She inched away from him cautiously. She had trusted him, but the reality was, she had only known him for several weeks. What if he had done something to her? Did he possibly drug her somehow? “What did you do to me?”
“You've changed, Caitlyn, just like I did six years ago. It's what our kind calls, ‘The Awakening,’when it happens. You see-”
“Wait. Our kind? What the hell do you mean by our kind?” She stood up quickly, grateful that she was still in yesterday’s clothes. Never taking her eyes off the man, she moved quickly towards the door.