It's Nothing Personal (47 page)

“All right
Mandy.
 
We’re closing.”
 
It’s the same male voice from before.

A sharp instrument
repeatedly stabs my skin, moving in a line from my groin up to my chest.
 
They are sewing me back up.
 
Every time the needle spears a little
higher on my belly, I can feel a wiry thread being pulled behind it.
 
I make it through one stick, only to
know that another is coming.

I am surprised by
moist, warm air touching my left ear, and then I hear her.
 
It’s the woman who said “absolutely” so
long ago.
 
Now her voice is cold,
almost dead, and barely more than a whisper.
 

“This is what you
get for slashing up that girl.”

Her voice sounds
familiar, but I can’t figure out where I’ve heard it before.
 
The needle driving up my belly
continues.
 
My mind starts to drift,
and then blackness takes over.
 
I
slip away into nothingness.

***************

“Wake up,
Marcus.
 
Open your eyes!
 
I can’t take that thing out of your
mouth until you open your eyes.”

Everything is
foggy again, but I can hear voices.

“Marcus, wake up!”

It’s her!
 
The voice.
 
She did this to me.
 
I’ll fucking kill her!

Someone grinds
their knuckles into my chest.
 
It’s
pissing me off.
 
I want to punch
them, but my arms are too floppy and uncoordinated.
 
I’m gagging on something.
 
I open my eyes, just a crack, and I am
instantly blinded by the brightness of the room.
 
My stomach is killing me.

“Marcus!”
 
I hear the woman’s voice.
 
It’s soft and soothing, so different
than before.
 
“You’ve just had
surgery.
 
You need to open your
eyes.
 
Time to wake up.”