I found myself huddled in the back of a coffee shop in the centre of town, a book gripped in my hands, but the words on the page didn't make it further than my peripheral vision. Instead my mind was painting a page of its own, only this one didn't have distinguishable lines and left my thoughts more coiled up than before. Not only did I have the memory of my nightmare to ponder about, but also the comfort Luke had provided. He'd been keen to make it clear that he was simply there to protect me, yet his compassionate actions had gone directly against what he had assured yesterday, filling my mind with a fraction of optimism that we could at least get on.
However, I had woken up this morning only to find the house empty, a tattered note hung on the fridge to inform me that Luke had 'gone out'. He was meant to be protecting me and I knew the threat was imminent, meaning Luke not being around wasn't safe in the slightest. I had full faith in what he was doing, but that didn't prevent the worry that seized my veins at the reminder he had been absence from my sight for nearly eight hours. What only made this worse was that fact that I was still in the dark as to what or more so who we were hiding from.
My father had assured me that it was safer for me not to know, but in regards to my sanity, it left me scratching for a release of the anxiety constantly clamping against my chest. My lack of memory left my body feeling heavy, as if the constant battle for finding the smallest inkling of a memory was only adding to the suffocating quantity of thoughts already piled up in my mind. Both my mother and father had refused to answer any of my questions regarding my past, only leaving me with a few vague details on the car crash that left me void of memories and that my safety was somehow linked to the secret intelligence agency my father ran. It was my right to begin building my life back up again, but I couldn't do that without the support of my family, not when they'd shipped me off to the other side of the world with simply a pair of crutches and an ignorant jerk for company.
My months in the hospital hadn't left me induced in a single nightmare, but my first night out in the real world had rifled my body with sheer terror. I still couldn't comprehend the pain my body had been under in the time my sub-conscious had drifted into a depth of pure, unimaginable horror. It left my body feeling distant, my eyes wanting never to shut in fear of the haunting images making a return.
I had Luke to be thankful for. He'd calmed my body in its sate of frenzy and allowed my mind to return to a state of peace. I wasn't certain on how long he had stopped with my tear-wrenching exterior last night, but the image of him cradling me was the last I received before I was plummeted into a relieving slumber. The sights I was haunted by in my nightmare still left me uneasy, the shrill of the frantic voice being repeated in my mind with every breathe I took, my fingers toying meaninglessly among one another as if warding off the chilliness icing my veins.
"Excuse me?" My body flinched at the beckoning above me, my eyes darting up instantly to greet a tall, young man. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he requested, motioning to the empty seat opposite me. He soon took note of my evident uneasiness, his body remaining patient as he spoke. "It's just this place is packed and-"
"No, it's fine," I silenced him, suddenly feeling guilty for my unreceptive attitude when he first approached me. It was only at this point that I had taken my gaze away from the book in my hands to notice that the cafe was in fact now brimming with people, the seat opposite me appearing to be the only vacant one. "Sorry, I'm not with it today."
"Don't sweat," he said, politely taking a seat. His blonde, unruly hair fell slightly over their ears, a quiff resting softly over his forehead, where tanned olive skin adorned his striking features. "I'd gathered that before I came over here."
I raised my brow, feeling suddenly self-conscious that I was giving away a message of not being well put-together in the slightest. He waved off my uncertainty, a small laugh escaping his lips. "I don't know many people that would pay for a coffee that they're just going to watch go cold."
