Page 7 of Hold Me Before You Go

Where was I?

I looked left and right and then leaned my head all the way back to look behind me. Dizziness crashed into me like a harsh, unrelenting wave, forcing me to right my head and lie still.

The ground underneath me shifted, and I felt my body move, as if it was being pulled to the left but everything around me was heading right.

I was in a vehicle.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to tame the spinning. After a few minutes or hours of trying, it was no use. I was still dizzy, my vision still blurred. My throat was dry and burning. I also couldn’t feel my legs or hands.

But I was still breathing.

Suddenly, I was in the air, and a half a second later, I was slammed back down onto the hard surface.

“Jesus, Brandon. Be fucking careful!” a female voice scolded from somewhere around me.

Brandon.

Suddenly, faint memories came rushing back to me.

Rossy needed paper.

I walked to the store.

Then, I was attacked.

My eyelids felt heavy once more, and I wanted to go back to sleep.

Before I closed my eyes, I was in the air again as the vehicle I was trapped in went over another bump. This time, I landed on my side, my head bouncing on the hard metal beneath me. A sound left my lips then, but I couldn’t say what the sound was. My ears were too busy ringing, my heart pounding hard. I felt a bead of sweat trickle across my forehead as I winced, pain flaring in my hip.

“Shut up, Monica,” a male voice growled.

I tilted my head back and narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out where those people were. There was a large metal partition in front of me, and at the very top was a small window, cracked open. I couldn’t see much light, though.

It’s nighttime, Carrie.

A deep, smooth voice sounded in my mind, and suddenly, the pain in my body faded away. My head fell back down as my eyes gave up, closing once more. I took a deep breath, coughing at the end of it. “I’m so tired,” I croaked, not caring if my kidnappers heard me or not.

Fight for me, baby. Wake up and fight.

I couldn’t fight.

I was too weak, too tired to fight.

“Grayson,” I murmured, his name coming out broken. The darkness was surrounding me now, beckoning me to fall back into it, to let go.

Sunshine.

I told him I loved him, but I don’t know it if was out loud or not.

It was too late. The darkness had taken me.

“Carrie, I don’t have time for this,” Robert sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses on top of his head.

He only wore them for the computer, but lately, he’d been wearing them more and more. It was odd, given that they were readers. Maybe he liked the look of them on his face; I couldn’t figure it out. He certainly didn’t ask me for my opinion on the matter.

“Robert, I just want to know if you’re going to be home tonight,” I clarified softly, my fingers smoothing out my workout top. I was covered in sweat and badly needed a shower, but I needed to catch Robert before he vanished for the day. More and more, he’d been spending less time at home. He told me it was for work, that my father needed him on a big project.

I never knew the details of those things.

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