Week 59 – I suggest you sit

The pain in her stomach was excruciating.

The only thing stopping her from passing out was fear for Mekhi. His crazy brother, Damian, had attacked him while they had been in the shower.

They had been kissing, on the brink of making love, when all of a sudden Mekhi had slumped to the floor. The water had run red with his blood, and for one horrifying moment Alayna had thought that he was dead.

He wasn’t.

But now he was lying, beaten, on the floor, forced to watch his brother torture her.

She did her best to hold back her screams, aware of how much they agitated Mekhi. She was worried that at any second he was going to launch himself at his brother and his brother’s men and wind up getting himself killed.

Her vision started to go hazy. The world around her started to spin. Alayna clung to consciousness, she was terrified of what Damian was going to do to her if she passed out. He’d said she belonged to the family now. Did that mean that Mekhi’s brothers and father intended to rape her? Were they going to keep her prisoner here? Were they going to hurt her like Damian was right now? Was this why Mekhi had locked her in that box, was he just trying to protect her from his family?

All those questions made her dizzy.

Just when she started to teeter on the edge of consciousness the world erupted into gunfire.

Gunfire.

Mekhi.

Where was he? Was he hurt?

Strong hands gripped her arms and started to pull her away. She had no idea who it was and she fought against them as hard as she could.

“I suggest you sit,” a gentle voice instructed, guiding her down to the floor.

“Mekhi?” she asked, desperately.

His face appeared above her like magic. Only he didn’t look relieved, or happy, or even angry. He looked terrified.

Was something wrong?

Alayna never got a chance to ask because pain engulfed her and she slipped away.