Out of nowhere, a massive beast of an animal swoops in from behind me and jumps on my chest, knocking me off balance. I stumble back, flailing my arms. He’s so massive, he blocks my view. I take one too many steps back, and my heel teases the edge of a subway staircase. I windmill my arms backward, fighting the urge to fall, but it’s no use. I tumble, taking the beast with me. I wail out in pain as my back twists in an unnatural way, and my head pounds against each concrete stair ledge over and over. One, two, three steps, and I finally stop rolling, but I drop down a fourth step from the sheer weight of this creature on top of me.
This is undoubtedly a premeditated attack.
Someone is trying to kill me.
As I plop down yet another stair, my cheek is met with a warm, velvety tongue and slobber. Cringing, I open my eyes. “Stop!” I wail out, and stretch my neck, trying to free my face from hiswashing, but the beast must think we’re playing. “Get off me!” I yell, finding my lungs again. “I can barely breathe.” Surprise. He doesn’t listen. I find my bearings enough to shove him off me as I totter to a standing position. Dizzy, and not at all feeling the way standing should, I’ve developed a bit of a hunch from the spasms in my lower back that won’t stop rocketing all the way down through my leg. I brace one palm on my back while grasping the stair rail with my free hand and hiss, “Go home, doggie.”
He sits his massive furry bottom on the top stairs, taking watch over me, not moving. I don’t waste time talking to him again, but there’s a niggling in my brain wondering where he came from. Something could have happened to his owner. A shrill voice meets my ear, “Not that man, Oliver!” Portia’s standing at the top of the stairwell, her jaw hanging low.
“I’m so sorry.” She hobbles down the top two stairs, grabbing the beast by the collar with one hand and securing the end of the leash in her other. “He’s trained to run after hunks—I mean,men. I had no idea you were even here.” Her gaze skirts to the side. “Are you okay?”
Straightening my back as much as I can with my new hunch, I mutter, “Yeah. I’m totally fine.”
She opens her mouth to speak. Nothing comes out. Then she tries again. “You don’t look well?” Her cadence sounds more like a question.
I pivot, wincing as my back spasms, and I suck in a loud gasp.
“Wait a second.” Stepping forward, her brows lower. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m f-fine,” I squeak, my voice a tad high. Clearing my throat, I try again as I readjust my hand position lower on my back. “Just a little back pain. Nothing a little rest won’t solve.” The world is spinning, as I clearly hit my head harder than I thought. I slide my foot up a step, gluing a plastic smirk on my face. Allthe while, I’m crying for my momma in heaven on the inside, with pain imploding in my back.
“Are you sure?” She moves down another step closer, the dog still on the leash, but he’s sitting quite well for her. I turn my face, desperate to hide the beads of sweat I can feel forming on my forehead. “Did you break something?”
“Nope. Everything’s good as new.” I slide another foot up, faster this time to prove my point. “Nothing I can’t shake off. Bye now. Have a nice life.” With a death grip on the rail, I suck in air, and snake my foot up another step, all the while trying not to howl out in agony. There’s no way I can let her—of all people— see me cry. I wobble as the world continues to spiral around my head.
“I don’t mean to pry, but you look broken.” This time her hand meets my shoulder, and a lightning bolt splices through my arm. If I hadn’t been malfunctioning before, this completes the job. I immobilize, resigning myself to the fact that I’ll be stuck on this stair forever. “You took a good tumble down these stairs. Maybe you should get checked out by someone?”
Her hand moves down my arm, meeting my hand that’s braced on my back. Even though her hand is tender and warm, her touch pricks my skin, sending tingles back through my arm. “I’m f-fine.” I shake off her hand. “It’s not like you’re a nurse.”
“No, I’m not a nurse, but I can tell when someone is injured. You are hunched over, and you never used to stand like that.”
I slip a toe on the top stair and straighten my back as much as I can, but my back spasms from the tiniest movement. I push through it. I need to get out of here before I do—or say—something stupid. I certainly don’t need her touching me again.
“You look unstable. You need to lie down. Let me help you back to the store—”
“You can’t come back to my store!” I blurt out. El will be curious about Portia and concerned about me. She doesn’t needto be either. That can never happen. There’s no way I can ever let Portia into my store again. There’s a reason I had to let her go because she’s—
My mind goes blank. Portia’s hand is on my arm again as she takes the rest of the steps, closing the gap between us. “You have the most soured expression on your face. You’re either in massive pain, or something else is bothering you. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s bothering me.” I shake my head, but that throws off the last little balance I have, and I’m back in orbit, spinning around. So dizzy.
Run! But I can’t run. I can’t even hobble, but I desperately want to leave, and she won’t leave me alone.
“Wait a second.” Her head does that tilting thing it does when she’s thinking. I don’t like it. “You don’t look well.”
“Nope. Sure don’t.” I inhale deeply, my stomach dropping a full inch as the stairwell continues orbiting. “Uh.” I need to sit down. Everything is whirling around my head. I grip the rail harder, focusing on my inhalations. Even though I’m sure she’s holding her hand steady, my vision is so off kilter, her hand appears to wave in front of me like a white flag.
I need a white flag.
I also need to get out of here. “Whatever,” I mutter as I fumble forward. I must get out of here before I pass out from pain. I take more steps.
I kept waiting for the world to go dark, but somehow I pace the twelve steps back to my store safely-one painful step at a time.
Then everything goes dark.
twelve
Portia
