Chapter Six (Tim); Tainted Innocence.
I emerge from my slumber, unsure of what has awoken me. I blink, getting used to the few thin tendrils of sunlight creeping through the curtains. I turn over onto my side, and blink; Heather's gone. How annoying! I had planned on waking her up with a cup of tea (giving it to her, as opposed to dropping it on her or something!) but she's obviously woken up earlier than me and gone downstairs or something. Damn. Pulling a wry face I swing my legs out of bed and check the clock. It's only just gone six thirty. I remember Heather telling me she was born about this time... Wonder how long she's been awake? I walk out of our room and to the stairs, and freeze in terror. Sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, limbs akimbo, pale morning sunlight slanting across a bleeding gash on her forehead, is Heather. God... My mind goes first into overdrive -what the fuck do I do?! Is she okay? Has she broken anything? Is she dead?!- then into numb shock.
What do I do...? I can't cope with this, I've never even considered something like this could happen... Not to her, not to Heather... My Heather....... Slowly my brain comes back into focus and I stumble down the stairs and drag the curtain back from the window so I can see her properly. Now the sunlight is full on her face she looks dead. Her face is deathly pale, blood marring the 'perfect beauty', her hair haloed around her head. The less panicked part of my brain notices what an amazing picture this would make, then the less rational part of my brain has a panic attack. God.......! Is she dead?! I bite my lip so hard I taste blood, then almost cry in relief as Heather stirs, putting her hand up to her face, touching an area just right of the wound.
"Heather...?" I say, very quietly and gently, almost too afraid to say anything at all in case doing so causes her to pass out on me again. She opens her eyes, and a rush of fear fills me again; they're empty, I can't see anything in them, just blackness, a small sliver of cobalt around the edges, then they focus, and she gives me a weak smile.
"Tim... Hi... I'm sorry, did I wake you...?"
"Are you okay?!" I ask frantically. Fucking hell! How can she worry about such a trivial thing like waking me up?!
"Tim, I'm -ewww, blood...- fine!" Heather sits up, and I kneel down in time to catch her before she loses balance again. I put my hand to her forehead to check her temperature, only remembering the gash as she hisses in pain. I withdraw my hand hastily, looking at the blood across my palm. Not much, and I'm by no means squeamish, but the blood is enough to worry me.
"Heather - you're bleeding..."
"I kinda noticed...!" Heather sounds like she's trying to make a joke out of the situation, which makes me want to shake her. I also want to rush her straight to Emergency and get her checked over.
"What happened?" I conceed to asking as she slips her arm around my waist, perhaps for comfort, or perhaps just to steady herself.
"I just got up too quickly, the world span and I lost my balance. Happy birthday me, huh?" she laughs slightly. Her explanation sounds so clear, so simple, that there's a cynical and suspicious part of me that refuses to believe it.
"Are you still dizzy now?" I ask. "You should go and see a doctor..."
"Tim!" Heather laughs again and shakes her head. "I don't need a doctor, I've had dizzy spells before! This time I just - happened to be at the top of the stairs. It was bound to happen sometime!"
"Hmm." I'm not impressed, nor do I believe that she doesn't need a doctor.
"Tim," Heather shifts slightly, then pulls my head down slightly to kiss me gently. "I'm okay! Trust me on this one! Please.....?" She asks, giving me a wide-eyed, butter-won't-melt-in-my-mouth look. I try to believe her, but I find I can't; when she kissed me she was shivering.
And her lips were cold.
Chapter 5 ; Contents ; Chapter 7
