His face wrenches tight as his Adam’s apple bobs.
“Rory…”
My head was already shaking before he could finish. If I thought I shouldn’t have come before then I was positive now that this was a mistake.
“Let me explain,” he says frantically.
I had never heard him sound so anxious. His voice strangled… scared.
My head was throbbing, and my gasps were coming in short and choppy. An uneasiness of panic setting in.
I couldn’t stop it, I tried but the memories were coming back in full force. The fog was blinding. Winning out as I was sucked back in like a nightmare.
I’m weightless. Was I floating? I wanted to laugh but it hurt to breathe. My throat dry and scratchy anytime I tried to inhale. My lungs were congested. Gorged and crowded. They weren’t normally like this?
“Wake up!”
I hear someone scream in panic. The voice sounded familiar, but my brain couldn’t register who. It felt congested.
My eyes flicker. The back of my neck prickling in heat.
Cole exhales through his nose. His chest rises and falls in rapid succession. Something clouding his own gaze even if his focus remained entirely on me.
The panic was replaced with horror.
“Come on, open your eyes.” The voice growing more pressing. “Please, open them. Open them for me!” Begging now.
I wanted to but my eyelids felt cemented shut. Concentrating, they cracked open the smallest amount. And that’s when I saw them. The flames.
My palms dampened with sweat, instantly heavy my shoulders fall.
Cole’s face never leaves mine. His eyes pulse in something that I was positive was apprehension but there was too much stillness to be sure.
Again, what was I missing?
“Why does my head hurt?” I asked groggily as I was lifted. Being carried.
“I’m so sorry.”
Groaning, I’m shifted. My limbs loose, limber.
My head weightless as it falls. Immediately it’s yanked back up facing the direction of my savior. A pair of familiar cerulean eyes hitting me.
“You’re going to be okay. We’re going to get out of here alright?”
I jerk my head as my insides turn to jelly.
“It was you.” My tone sounded desperate, willing it not to be true.
Cole’s mouth twitches but stays clamped shut. My panic swells as pain so severe it’s all-consuming, hits my stomach.
“…Iceman.”
Anger rises in my cheeks seeing the beaten look cross his eyes. I had seen it lying there on the floor. Before he pulled my head away.
I was shaking, bitterness sitting in the back of my throat like acid. Everything hit me at once like a bad dream.
The fog was lifting, and I was seeing everything with perfect clarity.