“Miss, I’m going to need to know what happened.”
One question battered me after another, but none of it really registered. I was numb but still shivering, and I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t cold out; there was even a blanket curled around my shoulders.
Wait… a blanket?
Why do I have a blanket?
“Cali girl!” Reid called, the worry in his tone pulling me from whatever semi-comatose state I’d been in.
“Reid?” I croaked, realizing I was sitting on the edge of a large truck, cold metal flooring pressing into the back of my legs.
“Oh my gosh.” Stella’s voice filled my senses. “Emma honey, your hand.”
“What?” I questioned, looking down.
Which was the worst possible thing I could have done. Everything returned. At first, it was just flashes of what had just happened, but then they grew smoother, connecting together like puzzle pieces. The numbness that had seemed to engulf my entire body pulled away, and a searing ache filled my hand and radiated up my arm. Jagged crisscross cuts covered my palm and fingers, the keys having dug in when I hit the man.
“Ow,” I whimpered, and the EMT dabbing the antiseptic grimaced, flashing me an apologetic smile. Glancing around me, I saw flashing lights from two police cars, and I finally noticed that I was seated in an ambulance and not a regular truck as the EMTs cleaned my hand and checked my blood pressure. There was a lot going on outside of the truck, my eyes darting around to take it all in. Lyla and Rick stood nearby, both looking worried as hell as they talked to a police officer. Kaleb and Stella stood next to the ambulance with Reid, Kingston, and Jesse. “My mom?”
“We weren’t sure if you wanted to call her or not,” Kaleb explained. “Do you want us to?”
“Uh…” I trailed off, looking at my boys. “Not yet, I don’t want to have to deal with an argument because you guys are here.” A burning sensation filled my eyes, the five of them blurring in a watery wall of tears. As soon as the blood pressure cuff was taken off my arm, I reached out, needing to feel one of them… all of them… something to help feel grounded.
“Are you okay?” Jesse questioned, kneeling in front of me, Kingston and Reid stepping up to my side.
“Would it be all right if an officer comes over?” I asked the EMT as she finished wrapping up my hand in gauze. “I don’t really want to tell the story more than once.”
“Of course, Miss Clark, I’ll go get one.”
After packing up her equipment, she walked over, speaking quietly to the officer who had been talking to Lyla and Rick. Everyone surrounding me didn’t say anything, letting me process, but when the officer came over, a new sense of panic took hold. I don’t want to talk about this with everyone nearby… just my boys.
“You don’t have to, Emma. We’ll be right over here where you can still see us. Okay?” Kaleb told me, hitching a thumb over his shoulder to where Lyla and Rick waited. In my dazed anxiety, I must have said my thought out loud. I nodded and tried to give them a smile but based on their saddened expressions I hadn’t made it look convincing.
“Miss Clark, I’m Officer Conner Bennick,” the young man said. His uniform was a deep blue, the lights from the emergency vehicles reflecting on the shiny surface of his badge. In an attempt to stay grounded amidst the shock, I took in everything tiny thing about him. Blond hair, dark blue eyes, tanned skin, and a bunch of freckles sprinkled his face. His steps were self-assured, and while he frowned, his expression wasn’t harsh. Focusing on those insignificant details, I felt my heart stop rattling in my chest, slowing to a more normal pace. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Taking a deep breath, I readied myself to try and remember anything and everything I possibly could. “I had just gotten off work and was checking my phone as I walked to the car. I realized I had walked down the wrong aisle because I never really remember where I park, though you think I probably would,” I rambled.
Focus, Emma, you can do this.
“But I put my phone away into my bag and was getting my keys when I reached my car. I was getting them out of my bag when… a guy grabbed my upper arms and tried to pull me back from the car. I got a hit in on his shin or knee I think because his grip loosened. Gave me a chance to yank an arm loose and turn around. I luckily still had the keys in my hand so I got him in the head, which apparently cut up my hand pretty bad. He was wearing a ski mask… oh, and black kind of shiny gloves,” I realized, remembering how there hadn’t been a single portion of him I could see other than his eyes. “He was taller than me, bulkier too, but I’m not really sure by how much. Uh… I screamed really loud which I think got Rick and Lyla’s attention but I kind of zoned at that point because he was running away.”
“Do you know what color his eyes were?” the officer asked me. I focused, running through the memory again.
“Uh… darker color, I think a brown. Maybe a deep brown? I don’t think he was wearing any kind of contacts or anything, but I don’t know. His skin around his eyes was painted too, kept me from being able to see any skin. I know it isn’t much—”
“It’s a lot of helpful information, Miss Clark, I know it’s hard to remember things like that during everything. You did a great job,” Officer Conner assured me with a tiny smile. It didn’t do much to make me feel better, but I appreciated the attempt. “If you remember anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll get you my card real quick.”
Nodding, I watched him walk over to his cruiser, leaning in before reappearing a few moments later. I took the plain white cardstock, his name, badge number, and contact information printed neatly on the face. With one final task of getting the quickly forming bruises on my upper arms photographed, I waited to be able to go home.
“We’re going to take some pictures of anything around your car and the parking lot if there is any, then you should be good to head home, but I highly recommend someone taking you home. Driving after such an adrenaline dump can be unsafe,” the officer explained as the EMT cleaned and bandaged a small cut on my right bicep.
“Okay, I’ll be sure to do that. I can get my car at another time,” I told him quietly.
“So, any ideas who this could be?” Reid asked when the EMT started to neaten the inside of their truck, giving me time to talk with the guys, Stella, and Kaleb a bit more. “Assuming it wasn’t something random.”
“My first reaction would be to say Brad, but he’s still in jail,” Kaleb murmured, a harsh scowl curling his face.
“Yeah, but you heard his parents the day he was arrested. About how she’d be ruined by the end of this, so maybe it was one of them?” Kingston offered.
“That’s definitely something to consider. I’ll talk to some of my contacts on the force, see if anyone might know anything but until then, the best we can do is try to stay safe.”
“I’ll go to more self-defense classes with Lyla. We’d talked about it and have gone a couple of times, but I think I’d rather go weekly now. Or at least most weeks. I don’t typically work Monday’s anyway,” I reasoned, that plan helping me stay sane, knowing there was things I could do to try and be prepared.