Fear Cuts Like A Blade - Tiffany Bauer (most read books of all time txt) 📗

know I've met you before." Olivia mumbled, still sounding a little groggy from her nap.
Green Eyes only response was a smirk, though his vibrant eyes held little amusement. I shifted in vain to remove the piece of jagged metal digging into my sore back. One of Green Eyes' companions, a short guy dressed in an All-black suit complete with the glossy shoes, scoured the shelves along the back.
Finally finding what he wanted he turned to face us and, holding up zip ties and a thick roll of leopard print duct tape, grinned at us. Or more specifically me, since Olivia was still walking the fence of reality and La La Land.
"One. More. Step." I said through gritted teeth, "And you won't see the light of tomorrow's rising sun." My face was stone cold dead. And you know what? He laughed. Laughed as if what I said was the funniest thing in the world.
And guess what else? He took exactly one more step. Payback's a witch, revenge is sweet, I'm the sweetest witch you'll ever meet. Wow, if only my ELA teacher could see me now. Her jaw would drop, and for once, she'd be utterly speechless.
My stone cold dead face cracked a grin when my creative imagination conjured up the picture of her reaction to my proper grammar and rhyming syllables. Peering blankly out the window opposite me, bad guy #3 made another mistake by stepping closer.
I turned my death glare back to him, then contorted my face to express my thoughts of ' Really? You're that stupid?'. I stuck my tongue out at him and made the last move. I kicked my too light for my taste boot at him. The sole hit both his eyes, tearing the retina, taking his vision away for the time being.
If he was smart enough (or stupid enough, depending on how you look at it) He'd go to the hospital right away. If he was very lucky, the Docter on duty would be able to reattach the retina, giving him the privilege of sight.
Green Eyes' jumped up and pointed an AK47, Where'd he even get that? at me. The other three men followed suit. To test the waters of their patience, I stuck my tongue out at them. It was very assuring when Green Eyes lowered the gun and gave me a stern look as if warning a child about sticking their hand in the cookie jar.
The entire episode had taken maybe a minute. The car careened to the right, throwing my head back against the immobile door that had served as a backrest for me earlier. The sudden force sent black dots spiraling through my vision.
The driver made a hard left, this time tossing everyone in the backseat to the right side.
"What's going on up there?" Green Eyes hollered, alarm coating his once calm voice.
My sight became hazy and when I looked around me everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Somehow Olivia had landed on top of me. I tried moving my left hand to pull her off but the second I made movement pain shot up through my whole arm, centering in on my wrist and shoulder.
I cried out as a piece of jagged metal went through the right side of my lower abdomen. Blood seeped from the fresh wound, soaking my shirt and puddling beneath me. Suddenly it felt I was soaring through the air. I had always wanted to see the world through an eagle's view. And wow was it an amazing sight.
The ringing in my ears was so loud I had to concentrate deeply to hear the steady drumming of my heart. The wind tousled my hair, bringing with it the smell of burnt motor oil and smoked rubber. Knowing what would come next, I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to make it out of this mess alive.
Coming into contact with the blacktop felt like nothing more than a light smack. Although that light smack had knocked the air from my lungs. The numbness slowly subsided; leaving behind the immense pain to rule my tired body. Tears blurred my vision as I fought off the darkness consistently swiping away at my consciousness.
The heat rose from the pavement in waves; warming my chilled skin but doing nothing for my insides. The bright lights above me turned fuzzier as my eyelids grew extremely heavy. Sirens sounded in the distance, coming closer with each passing second. Before anyone had the chance to arrive at the scene, I, very reluctantly, succumbed to the deep sleep that nagged at my exhausted body. Temporary Amnesia

Beep! beep! beep! What was the noise that dared to wake me from my much-needed sleep? I will find you. And I will kill you, I thought now very irritated. Slowly, I blinked my eyes open, only to have them assaulted by the overly bright lights all around. Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeeep! The high-pitched beeping seemed to reverberate in my ears. I quickly closed my eyes; shielding them from the blinding glare. Where was I?
I strained to recall the events of last night. My memory was in bits and pieces and extremely fuzzy. What had happened? Did I run into something, again? Oh geez, if I ran into something again they'd never let me live it down.
My head was pounding vigorously, making my brain feel more like a ticking time bomb rather than an idea projector. The unsteady beeping drove me to madness. "Shut up! Can't you see I'm trying to get some sleep here? Ugh, you're even making my headache worse!" I snapped in the direction of the nonliving machine. That'll work. Totally going to listen to me and do as I say.
My rant turned quickly into a coughing fit; inflaming my sore, dry throat. Pain shot through me as I began to elevate myself into a sitting position. I fluttered my crystal blue eyes open again in an attempt to figure out where I was exactly. The door burst open and in came JJ and Kate with worry and shock etched clearly into their stunning features.
"Hey." I croaked, my last cough dying down. I looked up and was immediately enveloped in a warm hug. Kate stood to my left; JJ on my right determined to squeeze the very life out of me in her iron band hold. "Can't breathe," I muttered in her ear, causing her to jump back.
Tears pooled in JJ's eyes, threatening to spill over and smear her perfectly done mascara. I turned my head back to Kate and saw a much different reaction. Her face was dead. No emotion whatsoever could be seen. Her rich emerald eyes were dull and stared directly at me yet seemed to see nothing of me.
"Soooo..." I said, hoping they would get the message and explain what had happened. I quickly glanced back and forth, searching their faces for clues. Nothing seemed to jump out at me, so I leaned my head back into the poofy pillow behind me and released the tension in my shoulders. The intense pain had faded slightly; a dull ache setting into place.
"Soooooo....." I tried again with the same result, silence. A heavy sigh escaped my chapped lips, stirring the stray strands of hair shading my tired eyes. After continuously racking my brain, I came up with nothing. The door opened slowly to reveal a woman dressed in a long white doctor's coat that hung loosely over a pastel blue button up. Her white sneakers were silent as she walked across the gleaming tile floor with purpose.
She studied her clipboard with diligent green eyes. Stepping around Kate she looked up at me with a tense face. "How do you feel?" She asked in a voice as smooth as silk. I stared at her blankly. How did I feel? I felt like trash. Worn out and ripped up trash.
"Good." I lied through my teeth. My state could be explained by nothing less than plowed with a freight train going 1000mph loaded to the max.
Her gaze never left mine as she said in the direction of Kate and JJ, "I'm going to have to ask you two to leave. Visiting hours are over, so go home and get some rest." Though reluctant to walk away, they complied with the doctor's wishes.
The door closed softly behind them, the sound seemed to reverberate off the walls, Through the glass, I managed to catch JJ look back one last time before finally striding down the hall. The doctor let out a long breath still staring at me like was a rat in some 7th graders science experiment.
"Alright, how do you really feel?" She asked, concern tangled in her soothing voice. I glanced down, unable to look her in the eyes, to see her white-knuckle grip on a red pen hovering over the clipboard as if ready to write notes on the semester test.
"What time is it?" I asked, dodging her question.
"Eleven at night. Now, answer my question. How do you feel?" She replied with a forced smugness in her bright smile. She knew what I was doing.
"Honestly? Like I just got trampled by a stampede of angry bulls." I stated quickly, just wanting to get this over with. And find out what happened.I really wanted - No, I needed - to know what went down last night.
She set her clipboard on the bedside table and stepped towards a table that held multiple monitors of all kinds. I narrowed my eyes at the rude beeping machines. I mean, really, waking me up from my peaceful slumber for no apparent reason? Who does that? What does that? I'll tell you what does that, those rude little robots.
Going through what looked like a well-practiced routine, she clicked buttons, tapped screens, and flipped switches, finally silencing the highly irritating devices. Turning on her heel she leaned on the table and eyed me carefully.
"You don't recognize me, do you?" She said, hands propped on the counter behind her. My mind went into a turmoil. Who was she?She looked slightly familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Did I recognize her from somewhere? Had I met her before? Bumped into her while on my expedition around the neighborhood?
After much deep thought, I came up with nothing. My face creased into a frown as I slowly shook my pounding head. "No." I answered with reluctance. It was right beneath the surface. So close to remembering.
A small smile played at her lips, seeping into her depthless eyes. "No? Well, maybe I should just take those stitches out of your lip then, aye?" She joked before pushing off the table and walking around to the other side of the bed.
"What stitches?" Was my immediate reply. "Oh. Those stitches." I dragged on, eyes widening, as the realization hit full-force. Josie. Cat-fight. Stitches. This was the nurse that had bandaged me up after my not-so-little scuffle with Arch-enemy Josie Wulf. (That's pronounced wolf, by the way)
On instinct, I lightly touched my index finger to my barely swollen bottom lip, wincing when the pain flared. I looked back up at her, searching her lightly tanned face for answers. No way did I get hurt this much from one fight. No way am I still in the hospital from a few hits to the face.
Josie