I had been walking for at least an hour when I had finally started recognizing the buildings I was passing in the city. I was at most another hour away from my home, but I could walk for several more if it meant I could finally be home where it was safe… Relatively safe, at least. I had no doubt that Eric knew where I lived and how to get in without much trouble. Tomorrow, I would go out and buy a good alarm system, but I would simply live with it tonight. If Eric wanted in, I doubted that an alarm would deter him for very long.
I sat on a bench for the bus stop to rest and to think. I kind of felt bad for leaving without saying anything, but that really made no sense. Eric had kidnapped me and had refused to let me go or tell me why he had taken me away from my home in the first place. Why should I feel sorry for escaping that? I heaved a sigh and put my hand to my wounded side carefully. It still hurt, but it reminded me that Eric had done nothing aside from try to keep me as safe as possible while I was there… I cursed before I stood up again and continued to walk.
I had to put Eric out of my mind. He was a convict! There was no reason for me to feel sorry for him or to feel bad over nothing. His worried face flashed into my mind…
“Je ne peux pas m'empêcher l'inquiétude de vous.” I can't help but worry about you. I shook my head back and forth, pushing my white bangs back behind my ears afterward. I wouldn’t think about that…
“Parce que je me soucie de vous.” Because I care about you.
“I’m not going to think about it!” I hadn’t even realized I had shouted out loud until I heard laughing behind me. I spun on my heel and instantly felt my throat close. Three burly men dressed in biker leathers were walking toward me… The first one was smoking a cigarette and, if I hadn’t already been having trouble breathing, the smell would have set off another attack. As it was, I couldn’t even breathe, so the cigarette was the least of my worries.
“Look, Boys, we’ve got some entertainment!” My hands were already moving toward my throat…
“Eric…” Of all the people’s names I could have been muttering, why was Eric’s the first to my mind? Nothing could help me now… No one could help me now…
My lungs were starting to burn as I inched back and away from the oncoming thugs. I could try to run… I wouldn’t get very far, but I could try… By the time I thought about it, the three men had circled me. The one behind me tried to step forward, but, out of reflex, I brought my elbow back as hard as I was able. I heard a crack, but I couldn’t tell whether or not it was from my arm or his ribs… I had the strangest feeling that I wouldn’t be able to feel any pain outside of my burning lungs even if I had broken my arm… The man behind me grunted and backed off while the other two laughed.
“She’s got some spark in her!” I couldn’t get any air into my lungs… I sank to my knees and held my hands to my throat as if trying to stop some invisible assailant.
“What’s wrong with this one? Did you pick out another crazy?” The third man laughed as the second grumbled and groaned, though it was probably from my assault rather than the comment.
“The crazies are the fun ones, man. No one ever believes them.” What could I do? I was getting no more air, but I had to see if I could play on their conscience! Maybe I would get really lucky…
“As…ma… at… ck....!” They all stopped. Oh gods, please let me get out of this alive…
“Is she talking now?” One of them grabbed my hair and pulled hard to get me back on my feet… It was the one with the cigarette. At such a close distance, the smoke was slithering its way down my throat and into my lungs… The pain was becoming unbearable, but I had to keep trying to stay awake! Then again, maybe I didn’t want to be awake for what would happen to me… I couldn’t think about that. I just had to keep trying to make them understand! Then, if they did, start hoping they would get me to a hospital.
“Asthma…. At…ck!” If they didn’t understand, I was lost… If they did and didn’t care, I was screwed… I couldn’t halt the thought of Eric finding me in a back alley, bleeding and dead if I were lucky.
Tears were welling in my eyes from the pain of lost oxygen. I was starting to think it was about time to begin my begging and pleading for my life when I heard someone shout a curse that would make a sailor blush, but I couldn’t focus… Even the thug with the cigarette was blurred to me… His panic rose off of his body like a fog after a few seconds of grunting and cursing.
He dropped me quickly enough and I heard him run, though by the footsteps he didn’t get very far before his pursuer took him down. I couldn’t stand up anymore. I collapsed to the asphalt, struggling to breathe with my hands clasped at my throat. My lungs were screaming for air, but I couldn’t give them any without my inhaler! I wasn’t even thinking about the person who had rescued me. My vision was gone, my strength was dissipating faster with every moment, and I was starting to truly believe I would die there in the road…
“Restez en ligne, l'Amour. Je vous ai.” I tried to force myself to focus so that I could understand the French words being spoken to me… To open my eyes at least just to know I wasn’t imaging things… “Je ne peux pas trouver son inhalateur! Où est son inhalateur?” The voice sounded panicked…
“What about her inhaler? I don’t speak French!” The voices were distorted… I only barely felt the Frenchman pick me up and cradle my limp body in his arms. Was he running now? It was hard to tell…
I felt myself being pulled under where there was no oxygen… It was like I was floating above my body and watching but all the faces except mine were distorted. There were two men… Two men I knew? I couldn’t tell... Their faces were blurred too much for me to see. This poor girl was dying. That was quite sad. I shouldn’t have come to see this movie… It wasn’t very happy. I hoped it ended happily…
I heard shouting all around me, mostly in French from the man carrying me. I thought I could hear him get cut off by the second man. “She’s asthmatic! She’s having an attack and we can’t find her inhaler!” The voices certainly sounded familiar… Maybe I had seen them in another movie I couldn’t recall… This girl sounded an awful lot like me, though… Maybe I shouldn’t have come to this movie… It would probably give me nightmares for days…
I felt something cold and solid beneath my back… I was being moved quickly and there was an odd smell in the air… I thought I recognized it, too… There was more screaming over my head… When would they stop screaming and shouting? It really was quite distracting… Didn’t they know I was trying to sleep? I was grateful when I finally blacked out and was left with nothing other than a comforting silence.