Take a Breath (Take 1) (33 page)

I
make a run for it and I hear Tony shouting my name from the
house.  It spurs me on further as the adrenaline is pumping
through me now.  There’s no turning back. The screams of my name
are getting louder, as I realise he’s looking for me outside the
house.  It’s not long before he will spot me.  I turn round
to see if I can glimpse a view of him at all.  I’m half way there
and Tony can’t be seen as yet.  If I can just get in the trees
without being spotted, he will not know where I am.  I don’t know
what’s out there, but this has to be a much better prospect than Tony
any day.  I get to the entrance of the trees and a loud screaming
voice shouting 'Ana,' makes me jump out of my skin.  I turn round
and Tony is standing by the house, gun in hand.  His face
contorted in anger.  He lets off a shot which I instinctively duck
for.  There’s no time, if he catches me he will kill me.  If
I get shot I get shot, I have to move forward.  Tony then starts
running towards me and I will my jelly legs to move.  I clamber
deep into the trees and trip on a branch, which twists my ankle. 
I start to sob, no this can’t be happening to me.  He’s going to
catch up with me now.  By pure adrenaline I force myself up and I
limp on, trying to gain as much pace as I can so I can hide
somewhere.  In the distance about some 20 yards I see what looks
to be a house.  Maybe someone is in there.  I pick up the
pace grating my teeth together to get through the throbbing pain in my
ankle.  My hands, arms and legs are bleeding still from the cuts
on the thorns from the side of his house.  I get closer and closer
to the little wooden chalet and all is quiet.  I don’t know where
Tony is and I’m not sure if that’s a comforting thought or not.  I
hide behind the tree and look around me.  I still can’t see him,
and I hear nothing but the breeze through the trees and the occasional
crow squawking way above my head. 

 
I
quickly run as fast as I can to the next tree and push my back up
against it.  With each tree I throw myself on to the pain in my
ankle is practically willing me to scream out.  I finally manage
to get to the house panting; the urge to be sick taking over more
violently.  I knock as silently on the door as possible. 
Please let someone be in.  I wait a couple of seconds, but there
is nothing.  I try the handle and the door pushes forward. 
Dust and cobwebs, a sure sign it is unused.  I see a small living
area with a little table in the middle and a couple of chairs.  I
close the door behind me and sneak around the house trying to see if I
can find a phone, anything that can help me out of here.  I get to
one of the bedrooms, where I can’t believe my eyes as I spy a black old
fashioned turn dial phone in the corner.  Please say it works,
please.  I limp over to it and pick it up.  It’s dead. 
Oh god, so am I. 

Tony
stands in the doorway gun in hand.  A face contorted into such
evil I have never seen before in my life.  

   “Ana, why the fuck did
you run away?  What are you trying to do?  I thought you
wanted me.”  

    He comes over and grabs my hair, squeezing and
yanking at me.  I yelp.  He slams me on the bed and the dust
puffs up making me choke.  

   “Bitch.  I thought you were
special, but you’re just like the others aren’t you Ana?  Just a
bunch of fucking slut whores, all of you.”  

    I frantically shake my
head as he straddles himself on top of me.  “No, Tony please
no.  I was afraid.  I’m not used to this.  I can love
you, I will love you.  Please believe me.”  He rears his hand
back and slaps me hard across the face.  

   “Liar, you’re a fucking
whore.  I never should have trusted you.”  

    I’m trying to get
over the sting on my face, as he places the gun on one of the bedside
tables and puts his hands around my neck.  Oh no, this is
it.  This is the day I die and I never get to say goodbye to
Jake.  Oh sweet Jake.  He clasps his hands tightly around my
neck and instinctively I grab at his hands to try and yank them off
me.  My legs begin to move in all directions as I’m choking. 
I look into his eyes pleading but he is beyond any reasoning now. 
He wants me dead.  His eyes are deep black pools of evil as he
strains his grip tighter around my neck.  I can feel my life
flashing before my eyes as the gulping sounds leave my lips. 
Finally my body gives into exhaustion as I start to go limp.  My
last sound is a loud commotion, screaming and shouting, and then my
last thought comes across my mind, as I sink into nothingness.  ‘I
love you Jake.’

Chapter 27

I
can hear noises, lots of different noises.  I feel like I’m
moving.  Where am I, in heaven?  

   “Ana, listen to me, you have
to breathe for me.  Take a breath, just one breath.  Please
don’t let her die.  Please.”  

    Jake?  Jake is here so I
must be in heaven.  

   “We’re doing all we can to save her sir
please.  You have to let us work on her.  I promise you she
is in the best of hands.”  

    I slip back into a sleep.  What on
earth has happened?  Am I dead?  I hear voices again.

   “Mr
Bennett, she is in a coma and maybe for some time so her body can heal
from the major trauma it’s gone through.  We have checked her
heart and lungs and all seem fine.  She is stable.  Please go
home and get some rest.  We will contact you if there is any
change.”  

   “I’m not leaving her.  I’m staying here until she
wakes up.”  

    Jake, my sweet Jake.  Why can’t I wake up and
talk to him?  My mind is willing, but my body won’t let me. 
I feel shut down but my mind is racing.  I want to wake up, please
wake up.  

   “Ana, yesterday when I told you that you spoke in your
sleep, you told me that you loved me.  I want to hear you say
those words.  Ana please.  I love you, I always have. 
When I heard you say those words it was like hearing the most precious
thing I have ever heard in my life.  I want you to wake up for me
so you can look me in the eyes and say it.  Ana please, I have
never begged for anything in my life before, but I’m begging you
now.  Please wake up and tell me that you love me.”  

    My head
is screaming at me at this point.  He just told me he loved
me.  Those precious three words I have been longing to hear for
what seems like a lifetime, and I’m fucking sleeping.  Wake up
goddammit, just fucking wake up already.  I’m willing my body to
move and my eyes open but soon the blackness takes over me again, my
body giving up.

Light
is hurting my eyes.  I try to open one and realise that I
can.  I look around the room feeling disorientated and
blurry.  I manage to open the other eye and see a fan above my
head moving, and the gentle humming sound as it goes around.  To
the left I see a window, the sun shining brightly through it.  I
move my head and it is then I notice how painful my throat feels. 
My hand goes around my throat as I try to rub it, but that’s sore
also.  It is then I realise I can feel a weight on my chest. 
I look down and find the back of Jake’s head and I realise he must be
asleep.  I stroke his hair and try to speak.  I manage to
whisper.  “I love you too Jake,” when he stirs.  

   “What?”  He’s half asleep.  

   “Jake, I love you too.”  The
pain to talk is excruciating, but I have to get those words out. 
I need him to know that I do love him.  I have always loved
him.  He turns to face me startled and I notice then his unshaven
state.  He looks exhausted but still somehow manages to be as sexy
as hell with it.  It makes me sick.  

   “Ana, oh thank god
you’re awake.  I never thought you would…”  

    He scrambles up
to get a doctor, opening the door he screams at someone to come
in.  A lovely nurse steps in with shiny brown hair and starts to
take my vitals.  

   “I’m Betty, how are you feeling this
morning?”  

    I try to shake my head and I point to my throat. 
“It feels sore,” I manage to whisper.  

   “It will do for a while,
that’s natural.  You made a lot of people scared but you pulled
through.  You’re a fighter Miss Sinclair; we’ll have you up and
running around the ward in no time.”  

    I try a smile but it
hurts.  “Water,” I whisper.  

   “Try not to talk too much Ana,
you need your rest.” 

    She pours me a glass bringing the cup to my mouth,
and I try to sip.  The pain evident in my face once I
swallow.  I motion to the nurse that I want a pen and paper. 
She nods and heads out the door.  Jake sinks down into the chair
next to me and grabs my hand.  

   “I was so scared when I realised
you were gone.  I don’t know what I would have done if we hadn’t
have found you when we did.” 

     The
nurse comes back in and I free my hand to grab the pen, eager to write
down the words I have been longing to tell him.  ‘I Love you Jake
‘Caveman’ Bennett.’  I turn the paper over so Jake can see, he
smiles and lets out a chuckle.  He strokes my cheek.

   “I love you
too Ana ‘insubordinate’ Sinclair.”  

    A tear falls down my cheek and
the nurse looks on with glassy-eyed endearment.  

   “I’m going to
leave you two for a few minutes.  I will let the doctor know now
that you’re awake, but I think I can safely say that you’re well on the
way to the road to recovery.”  

    Jake thanks her and she
leaves.  I grab my pen and write.  ‘What happened?  How
did you find me?’  Jake lets out a deep breath and looks to my
watch and starts playing with it.  

   “This watch is what saved your
life.  I know you’ll be angry with me Ana, the watch means more I
swear, but I didn’t want you to know.”  He closes his eyes briefly
like he’s trying hard to think what he can say.  “I bought the
watch for you that Sunday when I saw that poor woman and what that
bastard Tony had done to her.”  

    Tony, I suddenly wondered where he
was and what happened to him.  

   “I took the watch into work where I
got a tracking device installed.  I’m sorry I did that Ana, but
I’m not sorry.  It was how we found you, otherwise I dread to
think how long it would have been if we hadn’t.  Anyway when I
quickly realised that the call to the FBI was a false alarm, I went
fucking wild with worry.  I tried to call you a bunch of times but
you didn’t answer, and then I called the house but Matthew told me he
saw you leave in a car with Tony.  That’s when I knew something
wasn’t right.  I called a team with me and we tracked you to this
little location in Chesterfield.  We got to the house and we knew
you were very close.  We had a quick sweep and then made our way
into the forest.  We saw the little house up ahead and decided to
check in there.  When we got to that bedroom and I saw him, what
he was doing.”  

    He stopped, anger rising through his body as he
went rigid.  I stroked his hair to try and calm him and he relaxes
a little.  

   “We shout at him to move, but he is fixed on you. 
He’s like a wild animal.  I’ve never seen that side to Tony. 
I was so frightened I was going to lose you.  I took a shot at him
and it hits him in the neck.  He comes running over to me like a
wild animal ready to attack, and I manage to get another shot to the
chest.  He’s gone now Ana.  You never have to worry about him
again.  It’s all over now.  You’re safe.” 

    I
lift my hand to stroke his cheek and he presses his face into it. 
I should have been angry about the watch, but how could I when it saved
my life?  I could read too much into it and believe he didn’t buy
me it because he loved me, but only just so he could keep tabs on me,
but he has declared his love through his actions, and that’s all I need
from him.  I don’t need the watch to know that he loves me. 
I just need him.  My Jake.  I grab the pen again remembering
poor Joe. ‘What happened to Joe?’  

    He smiles at the paper, “He’s
fine Ana.  When Tony arrived at the house he told him there had
been an intruder and wanted to look around outside.  Joe said he
thought it strange as he had nothing on the radio, but Tony told him
that you had managed to phone him to let him know.  Joe obviously
believed him and he followed the asshole round the side of the
house.  It was there Tony got him to look up front at something he
saw, and then thumped the back of his head.  Joe was found by the
side of the house, unconscious, but fine.  It’s funny really; Tony
murdered all those women, but couldn’t come to hurt one of his
own.  I wonder if he drew a line there, or just did it so he could
get to you quicker.  No one will ever know now.  He’s gone
for good and I’m glad.  I killed him and I’d do it all over again
if it meant you were safe.”  

    I smiled weakly feeling tired
already, but a more urgent need takes over.  I took the pen and
began writing on the paper, ‘I need to pee.’  Jake nods and gets
up.  

   “Let me get the nurse as I think you have a catheter
fitted.  You’ve been here for three days now.”  

    Three fucking
days, jeez.  What have I missed since then? 

The
doctor comes through the door with Betty the nurse.  The doctor,
in his 60’s, very tall with glasses’ hanging down towards his noise,
see’s me trying to get up.