Open Wounds (Harbour Bay #2)(21)
She felt serene until hands touched her body and head and she started struggling groggily. When the hands restrained her, she screamed. The words tumbled out of her mouth but as she heard them sounding far in the distance, they made no sense to her, just a bunch of gibberish. She dug her fingernails into the nearest hand and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath.
“Calm down, miss. We’re here to help you. You’ve been hurt and we can’t heal you if you don’t stop moving,” a voice said, a moment before her hands were bound to the stretcher.
“Stop, please, no more,” she screamed as she bucked wildly.
“Shhh, miss…”
Kellie felt a soothing hand on her face and hair. She bit down on her lower lip as a sharp stab of another syringe penetrated her skin. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her body relaxed without her permission. Her eyelids grew heavy and drifted shut as her racing heartbeat slowed.
“She’s lucky to be alive, poor girl,” she heard someone say.
“I don’t think she’ll see it that way when she regains consciousness,” another voice, filled with sympathy and compassion, replied.
Kellie rolled over in her bed, unable to stop the flood of memories.
She awoke when someone drew near while she lay vulnerable in the hospital bed.
Her eyes opened wide in terror and she almost screamed at the intruder, feeling vulnerable as she lay in the hospital bed, her mind and body broken.
“Don’t touch me!”
Surprise etched into Mia’s mocha tanned face.
“I’m sorry,” she said hastily, her gaze wandering up and down Kellie’s prone figure lying beneath the light muslin hospital sheet.
Deep down, she knew she should apologise. Her friend had done nothing wrong, had in fact only tried to comfort and support her. But she couldn’t find the words or the energy to take the bite away from her actions, and didn’t care to do so.
Her body felt tender all over, her head pounding, and she could feel something wrapped around her crown. She moved her hand towards her head and the needle in her hand pinched as it tugged against her IV. She winced at the new pain as she touched the white gauze bandage protecting her head.
Kellie turned away from the now blurry face, her hands clenched into fists as sobs welled in her throat and her heart constricted in her chest.
“Kellie,” Amelia said softly.
Another voice spoke her name, too. It was familiar yet she couldn’t place it. The deep voice belonged to a man and her brain screamed at her not to open her eyes, but she couldn’t help herself. As if she no longer had control over them, they opened and she stared into the cruel face of her attacker.
She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out as he approached her with a deadly calm demeanour, reaching out towards her as he prepared to finish the job. She struggled to stand, her body weighing her down so she couldn’t move.
She bucked wildly on the bed, willing herself to wake up as in her mind she felt him touch her.
“No, no, no, no,” she whimpered.
Please, Kellie, wake up…wake up now, she told herself, knowing she was in the midst of a nightmare.
She coughed as huge hands caught hold of her throat and squeezed. She reached up to hold onto his hands as she fought him with everything she had. Her nails dug deep into his skin and blood dripped out from the small half-moons she left there.
The world spun around her and she could smell smoke and body odour. Not the normal odour from a man, but something worse, something dark and wrong. Kellie stared into brutal dark brown eyes just before everything went black.
She jerked up in bed, a scream tearing through the dark room. Her blanket fell to the floor in a heap as her fitful movements pushed it off the bed. She could hear her own screams inside her head and outside, filling the otherwise silent bedroom, her shriek piercing her eardrums. She collapsed back, her head falling on the pillow as perspiration coated her forehead and her clothes stuck to her overheated, damp skin.
She fought to catch her breath, her hand resting over her heart as she willed it slow. It had been years since she’d dreamed about that night and the events after. The case involving Coleani was bringing about old memories she preferred to keep hidden, never to see the light of day again.
On shaky feet, she made her way to the bathroom that adjoined her bedroom and turned on the tap to the shower. She stripped out of her sweat soaked pyjamas as she waited for the water to heat up, and when it did she stepped into the glass cubicle and washed the remnants of her nightmare away.
Forty-five minutes later, she was dressed to kill in her red A-line skirt and black V-neck blouse. She had put her hair in a loose chignon and had slipped into her favourite pair of black heels. She couldn’t sleep and had no desire to try in case her past returned to haunt her. Since it was too early in the morning to do anything around her house, she grabbed her purse and climbed into her white Ford Laser. A moment later she was driving off down the street.
***
Kellie stepped through the doors of the LAC carrying a bright pink box and a travel coffee mug. She pressed the button for the second floor on the elevator, and waited in silence as it took her there.
She entered the Pig Pen and stopped short. Darryl sat at his desk, his gaze moving from his computer monitor to a sheet of paper. She glanced around at the other empty desks and let out a deep breath before moving slowly to join him.