He
didn’t want to think of the consequences otherwise.
"Right,"
he said wearily, pushing his glasses back up his nose again. It was almost two
in the morning. "Let's take it from the top again. Is there anyone you
need to contact? To let them know what’s happened?”
Kerrie.
She’ll be worried sick.
Caitlin
got out her phone and dialed Kerrie’s number.
Around
forty minutes later, when the police officer had taken Caitlin's statement, he
offered to drive her home. But not before she had demanded to see the man who
had saved her. The nurse acceded to her request, since the man was now
stable and resting.
"No
more than five minutes," she warned, glaring at Caitlin.
He
lay on the bed in the teal colored hospital room. His eyes were closed but he started
to shift when he heard Caitlin's footsteps. She stood by his side, looking down
at him. His face looked even more battered and bruised than hers. Both of his
eyes sported bruises and his entire face and nose were swollen. Even his
breathing was slow and labored.
"Thank you,"
she whispered. At the sound of her voice he opened his eyes, slowly and
painfully. She saw that they were bright blue but heavily bloodshot. His
blond hair was still matted with smidgens of blood but his wounds had been
cleaned and the deep cut above his left eye had been stitched. Even with all
his injuries, he had a strikingly handsome face.
"No
need to thank me," he said slowly, trying to focus on her face.
Caitlin
persisted, “I feel awful that this happened to you on account of me.”
“You
shouldn’t.”
“You
saved my life.”
“Glad
I was there.”
“I
owe you.”
“No,
you don’t,” he said in a soft voice. “I would have done that for anyone.
Animals like that ought to be locked up and kept off the streets. For good.” He
grimaced and his face turned dark as he suffered a sharp sting of pain that surged
through his ribs.
“I
hope they catch him before he does this to someone else.”
“I
hope so too.” His words were slowing down and he was having trouble
keeping his eyes open.
With
a badly beaten and bruised face herself, Caitlin stood by the stranger’s
bedside and watched him lying silently, with his eyes closed. He had a calming,
soft and gentle way about him and yet he hadn’t hesitated at all to get
involved and save her from a thug. It was the opposite of what she had been
used to.
She
liked this feeling that someone out there had saved her. She wanted to stay
there with him. Even though she hardly knew him, she felt as though she had
some sort of bond with him.
She
felt she knew him better because of the violent attack they had both suffered,
than if they had just randomly met anyplace else. Not that she was having any
romantic illusions about him. Yet even so, she found it hard to tear herself
away.
“I
don’t even know your name,” she said, gently.
For
a moment he lay still, then without opening his eyes he said, “Daniel.”
“Goodnight
Daniel.”
“Goodnight.”
Chapter Three
A
weary Caitlin arrived back at the flat in the early hours of the morning. She
collapsed into the arms of her best friend Kerrie and burst into tears. Kerrie
held her tight until the sobs slowly subsided. She had stayed awake the whole
night worried about her friend. The worry had been replaced with a slow,
simmering anger which had bubbled to the surface as soon as Caitlin had walked
through the door. Kerrie had taken one look at the battered face of her friend,
seen her ripped tights and shattered soul and held her tightly until she had
calmed down enough to talk. In a wavering voice Caitlin repeated more or less
what she had told the police officers.
With
the right side of her face black and blue and her lips all swollen, Caitlin
held onto the hot cup of Green & Black’s hot chocolate that Kerrie had made
for her. She held it more for warmth and comfort. “If it hadn’t been for him,
Daniel….” Her voice disappeared and she sat there,