Chapter 20
20
Bright light seemed to pierce right through her eyelids and she moaned. Her head hurt abominably. She reached up to tentatively touch her forehead, and moaned again. The skin felt tight. Tingly. Painful sparks seemed to radiate from where her fingertips had pressed so gently against her skin.
"I know, sweetheart. I know it hurts, just give us a moment."
A woman's soft voice, meant to be soothing, but it was like grating metal to her ears. She whimpered.
Something pressed against her neck and she recognized the hiss of a pressurized shot. Blessed cool relief slid through her and this time her moan was pure gratitude. Opening her eyes, she had to blink several times as her eyes adjusted to the light and the stark white of the ceiling and walls. She was lying on her back in what looked like a med-space.
A gentle-looking older woman with dark brown hair peered down, checking over her. "How are you feeling?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore." Her mouth felt strange, dry. "Water?"
"Of course, here you go."
"Thank you." She lifted the bottle to her mouth and nearly sighed with happiness as the water washed away the strange taste on her tongue. Looking around, she felt a small chill as she lowered the bottle. "Where am I? What happened?"
The woman peered at her again. "Do you remember your name?" she asked, instead of answering either of the questions.
Strangely, it didn't come to her immediately.
"Bella?" she said, but she heard her voice coming out more as though it was asking a question.
The woman smiled, pleased, and nodded her head. "What's the last thing you remember?"
That was harder. The answer didn't just pop into her head. She had to really think, and it kind of hurt, almost as if the answer was awakening the headache that she'd woken with.
"I was on Earth with Ken... and his friends Alex and Lisa..." And now she was in a med unit. Fear flashed through her. "Oh my god, were we in an accident? Where are they?"
"Shhh, shh, calm down," the woman urged, reaching out to take Bella's hands, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of them as she tried to sooth Bella. "There was no accident. You and Alex were kidnapped while you were on Earth, taken by the Wolf. You've just come home."
"Alex and I?" Bella murmured, confused, her brow winkling. But that didn't make sense. They'd gone down as a group of four for safety. Why would she and Alex have separated themselves from their significant others? Something swirled in her head, like a picture that wasn't quite coming together, but then the woman was talking again.
"We've found that being taken by the Wolf, especially for as long a period of time as you and Alex were, is incredibly traumatic," the woman explained, earnest and sincere. The warm kindness in her voice helped to calm Bella much more than her words did. "It's best to administer a drug which makes you forget your time down there, so that you can continue your normal life here. You don't have to worry about any aftereffects. We've been doing this for a while. The government pays for the treatment, at no cost to the Wolf's victims." Her eyes flashed a bit angrily. "One day that monster is going to get what he deserves."
"I... see..." Bella said. Except that she didn't, not entirely. What the woman said made sense, and she was obviously sincere in her emotions, but Bella had the strangest feeling that everything she was saying was wrong.
With a sympathetic look on her face, the woman released Bella's hands, patting them. "I know, it's an adjustment. You've been gone for several months, but it feels like nothing, right? Don't worry, it won't take you too long to adjust. We're releasing you from the hospital today and you'll be able to slide right back into your old life."
"Okay..." Bella rubbed her head. It felt like there was something inside her brain, trying to get out. "Can I see Alex?" For some reason it felt imperative that she find Alex as soon as possible. She wasn't sure why. Maybe just because the woman had told her that they'd been through their ordeal together. They weren't exactly close, although she'd always admired him.
The pressure on her brain seemed to tighten, the more she thought about him.
"Yes, of course," the woman answered, looking somewhat relieved. "Come on, let's get you dressed and I'll take you to him."
It only took a few minutes for Bella to put on her clothes. They felt strange, unnatural, although she didn't know why. Maybe she was still disoriented. It was very odd to know that she'd been on Earth for months and yet she couldn't remember any of it. She recalled seeing the victims of the Wolf being released from the hospital, the blank looks on their faces. This must be why they never answered the media's questions; because they couldn't remember.
Maybe the woman was right and it was a blessing. She shouldn't want to remember.
Right?
They entered a room that looked more like a lobby. Alex was sitting there on a couch, leaning forward and resting his arms on his elbows, speaking to a man seated in front of him. As Bella and the woman came in, Alex looked up and something in his expression cleared, relief showing stark across his face.
"Bella!"
He jumped up and she found herself lurching forward, practically throwing herself into his arms. Her body had moved before she had time to think about it, but once she was pressed against him, his arms tight around her, she immediately relaxed. It felt familiar. Safe. If they'd been captured together then they must have leaned on each other, so that only made sense.
The man and woman had moved together and were talking in low voices, seeming surprised about Alex and Bella's reactions to each other.
"Are you okay?" Alex murmured, keeping his voice low as he pulled away to look down at her.
Even under their current circumstances, she couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. How drawn to him she was. Shouldn't she be feeling guilty about that? After all, Ken was her boyfriend... but surprisingly she didn't feel guilty at all. And when she thought about Ken, all she got was a kind of sick, unhappy feeling. But why?
"I'm okay... just confused. They said we were taken by the Wolf, but I can't remember anything," she whispered, letting some of her consternation show.
"I know... the last thing I remember is being really angry, but I can't remember why." His brow furrowed as he pulled her closer.
Bella liked the way it felt.
"Angry? When we were on Earth?"
"Yeah... I think it had something to do with Lisa, but I just can't remember what." His frustration was clear in his voice, but his words were doing something to her. Stirring some kind of emotional response that seemed to be attached to a memory.
"I think... I remember being mad too... at Ken..." she said slowly, trying to sort through her feelings and the memories that seemed to be little more than wisps floating through her head. "Mad and sad."
"I don't know what happened to us, but I'm going to take care of you, Bella, okay?" Alex pulled her in again, tucking her head beneath his chin and she nestled in like it was the most natural thing in the world. It felt right.
"Okay."
"Get your hands off her!" The door slammed open and Bella jumped, instinctively clutching at Alex as he practically shoved her behind him, already moving into a defensive stance, ready to protect her from whatever was after them.
The man and woman in the room with them both jumped as Ken's father came barreling in. Bella had always been intimidated by him, but she'd grown to like him too. Now, looking at him, something in the pit of her stomach roiled and she felt like throwing up. Her instincts jibbered and shrieked, telling her to flee. Since she couldn't, she just clutched at Alex's back, holding him in place, while simultaneously clinging to him for comfort.
"What the hell?" Alex asked harshly, one hand in front of him to help fend off Ken's father, the other behind him as if to herd Bella. "What are you doing here?"
"Keep my son's girlfriend safe, apparently," Ken's father said, glaring and stabbing an accusing finger at Alex. "He's been kidnapped, taken by the Wolf, just days ago and you're already trying to steal her away from him?"
The way that Ken Sr. was looking at her made Bella's skin crawl. She shuddered, not knowing why. It was an unusual reaction. He looked angry, which wasn't a surprise considering that Ken had apparently been recently taken, but...
Why didn't she feel upset about that? If anything, she felt a strange sense of... what? Vindication? Justice?
An image formed in her mind of Ken... begging. Naked. With a woman, also naked, by his side, also begging... Alex. Ken and Lisa, begging her and Alex not to be upset. Bella moaned as she pressed her fingers to her temples as the images became clearer, her emotions rioting and bringing them back. Strong emotions.
Anger. Betrayal. Hurt. Pain. Loss.
She shook her head to clear her mind, only now noticing that Alex was holding her again, his voice filled with worry as he said her name.
"I'm okay," she said, shakily.
Ken Sr. stepped forward and she cringed back as Alex snarled at him. The man that Alex had been talking with reached out and pulled Ken Sr. back.
"But I'm not Ken's girlfriend. He cheated on me with Lisa. We broke up. That's how we—Alex and I—got captured. We left them in the hotel where they'd been... Anyway, we left, and they took us from taxi."
Tension filled Alex's arms. "That's right," he said, his voice going hard. "I remember now."
* * *
If Alex hadn't been looking directly at Ken Sr., he would have missed the consternation and something that looked a lot like fear flitting across his face. Bella nuzzled into Alex's chest, and he tightened his arms around her. Since he'd woken up he'd been confused, agitated, and a bit angry. Now, with Bella in his arms, some of that was soothed.
Whatever had happened down on Earth, he instinctively knew that no matter what, he had to take care of Bella. It wasn't logical, he didn't know—or at least didn't remember why—but that was what he felt.
It was like a sensory memory, something that he just instinctively knew.
Ken Sr. turned to the doctor, the man that Alex had been talking to. He could only assume the woman who had come in the room with Bella was another doctor. Their furious, whispered conversation wasn't entirely audible to him, but he realized that he was picking up much more of it than he would have thought possible. Almost as if he was used to listening in to conversations like this.
"...how can they be remembering? That shouldn't be..."
"... close to the initial event that we aimed for.... no other explanation.... shouldn't remember any more...."
"Give them more of the drug."
".... too dangerous. They've already had the maximum.... possible he did something..."
Bella murmured something against Alex's chest. Distracted, he looked down at her, stroking her brown hair as he held her tenderly. He remembered Lisa cheating on him. His rage at the betrayal, both by her and his best friend. Practically dragging Bella out of the hotel, convincing her that she deserved better than a cheating ass like Ken.
Something else though, too. Holding her protectively... while they were naked, on a bed. Feeling... tenderness... protectiveness... love... joy. All very strongly. The emotions seemed to be key. They came first, followed by images. Impressions. Memories that slowly became clearer, stronger.
"Come on, Bella, I'll take you to your family." Ken Sr. had stepped away from the doctors again.
Alex didn't like the glint in his eye. Something else stirred in the back of his mind, farther away, attached to anger. Maybe it was just residual, leftover from his anger over Ken Jr.
"No!" Bella's voice came out panicked as she turned slightly, holding onto Alex even tighter. "I want to stay with Alex."
"Sir, it's best if you not distress them," the male doctor said.
Alex realized that the man had never given Alex his name.
"We'll take them to their families."
Bella made a small noise of distress and the doctor looked over, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Both of you together, of course."
Ken Sr. looked as if he wanted to countermand the doctor's orders, but the woman gave him a sharp look and he subsided, allowing them to be led away. Something close to hatred stirred in Alex's chest, and he felt like he could almost remember why... and then they were leaving the room and it faded just as quickly as it had come.