AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ashlyn,” Brandon said. She could hear the concern in his voice, and she wanted to open her eyes again. But she was too afraid of the curtain of blood that she would see falling down.
“Okay,” Ashlyn replied, not quite understanding what was going on around her.
“What happened, Ashlyn?” Brandon asked. When she didn’t respond fast enough, he turned to Katy. “What happened, Katy?”
“She just fell,” Katy explained. “The house was shaking. I think she. . .” Katy let out a shriek. “I think she hit her head there.”
“I can see the skin,” Brandon replied. That made Ashlyn start to panic. She reached her hand up to feel for her forehead. Did she even still have a forehead? Her fingers only touched warm liquid, which she knew was blood.
“Brandon, help me,” Ashlyn said, pulling her hands back. She automatically tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t see anything. She swiped at her eyes to clear them, but it only succeeded in making her hand just as wet as her forehead.
“Katy, is there a towel or something we can use?” Brandon asked.
Ashlyn felt a cold swipe of air pass over her head and the sound of the towel landing in Brandon’s hands. The towel was instantly pressed up against her forehead. Ashlyn felt the tiny little rough ends of each towel fiber, and she squeezed her hands into fists as Brandon dabbed.
“Can you get me another one?” Brandon asked. “I need to stop the bleeding enough that she can move.”
Katy threw another towel over. Brandon commanded Katy to hold the towel in place on Ashlyn’s forehead as Brandon methodically cleaned each of Ashlyn’s hands and her face. Ashlyn’s skin felt sticky, and she knew that some of the blood was already drying.
“Ashlyn, how do you feel?” Brandon asked.
“I’m okay,” Ashlyn said, feeling as if she were telling the biggest lie of her life.
Brandon nodded to Katy. “I think we’re fine. Why don’t you go ahead and get back to the bathroom? I’m going to see if there is space in the coat closet for her to lay down.” The coat closet was one of those under-the-stairs types, and it stretched out far and low.
Katy grabbed up a few essential food items and scurried back to the bathroom.
“Ashlyn, I want you to try sitting up,” Brandon said. Ashlyn squeezed her teeth together and sat up. Brandon was still pressing the towel against her head. The blood flow was slower, and Ashlyn thought that it might have been stopped altogether. She took the towel with her own hand and sat for a few minutes.
She blinked her eyes open and took a deep breath.
“I’m okay,” she announced, finally believing it.
Brandon smiled. “I didn’t know you were so old that you needed a cane to walk around steadily. I thought we didn’t have to deal with falls until you were at least in your 70s.”
Ashlyn shook her head and gave Brandon an amused look. “You followed us out of the bathroom, didn’t you?”
Brandon shrugged. “Guilty. I couldn’t just let you come out here by yourself. I just had this bad feeling about it.”
“What?” Ashlyn asked. “You’re a psycho now.”
Brandon nodded. Then, he slowly leaned down and kissed her lips. Ashlyn leaned into his kiss then pulled back.
“Wasn’t there something said about a safe place? I’m pretty sure that this doesn’t count.”
“Yes, ma’am. Let’s get you to that safer place.”
Ashlyn stood and paused a moment so that her head would stop spinning. The wind outside sounded ferocious. They slowly made their way to the coat closet under the stairs. Brandon opened the door, and eight faces stared back at him like bats who were being disturbed from their sleep.
“I guess there isn’t room in here for two more?” Brandon asked.
The heads all shook in unison.
“Stay safe,” Brandon said, closing the door again. “I guess we can go back to the bathroom. Maybe if you curl your legs up and lay your head on my lap, there will be room. We can make it work.”
They took small, steady steps around the stairs to the bathroom. Just then, a mighty burst of wind assailed the house. The back door, which was made of glass, bowed in before finally bursting. Ashlyn threw her hands up to cover her face as little pieces of glass rained down around her. Now that the wind was free to tour the house, Ashlyn felt a chill sink in over her.
“Brandon,” she said, as soon as the glass had settled. “Brandon!” She didn’t hear an answer.
