aterovis_bleedinghearts.pm6 by Arlene Chance Read Free Book Online

stomach, and the air rushed out of me with an audible
    ‘oof’. Almost instantly, searing pain spread through my entire body as I felt my own warm blood gush out.
    I’d been stabbed.
    The person let go of me with the other arm and yanked the knife out. I fell back onto the ground as my attacker sat up over me. I tried to get a look at my as-sailant, but the pain had blinded me. I couldn’t make out any facial features. The arm raised again, but then stopped. I lay there looking helplessly up at the faceless monster above me, but I couldn’t do anything but whimper.
    “Shit,” the person hissed, then lurched up and took off running.
    I didn’t move for a few seconds. The pain was all I could think about, and I seemed to be having difficulty breathing. Each breath felt like a whole new stab. I 44

    Bleeding Hearts
    struggled to sit up, but the pain flashed through my body again, and I felt myself blacking out. “I don’t want to die,” I thought, as the darkness surrounded me. I fought back and managed to get myself onto my hands and knees. I put pressure on the stab wound with one hand and tried to stand up, but my head was spinning too much.
    I wanted to scream, but still couldn’t seem to get enough air. I was also afraid that the person with the knife would come back and finish me if he realized I was still alive. I looked around for help, but I couldn’t see over the weeds. I could see the lights of nearby houses faintly through the trees, but I knew my chances of getting through the underbrush in my condition were next to none. I had better chances of getting found here on the trail. Sometimes, people walked their dogs out here. Then I saw the figure lying on the ground again. I realized it was a person. Maybe I had interrupted a mugging and the victim was just unconscious. Maybe I could wake the person up to get help.
    I painfully crawled over to the still figure, every movement bringing a wave of intense agony. I felt like I was going to get sick. As long as I didn’t pass out, I didn’t care. My shirt was soaked with my blood by this time. I knew I was losing a lot and that was why I was getting so light headed.
    Finally, I reached the figure’s side; it was lying on its side facing away from me, so I grabbed its shoulder and rolled it towards me. As soon as the body fell flat on its back, I knew I wouldn’t be waking it up. Its throat had been slashed open, the gash angry and raw. Its amazing the little things you notice in a moment like that. I saw the leaves and small pebbles stuck in the drying blood around the wound, and I wanted to brush them off. It looked unspeakably obscene, as if the gaping slit wasn’t obscene enough.
    45

    JOSH ATEROVIS
    I felt the blackness swirling around me again and I didn’t think I’d fight it this time. In the last second before I allowed the darkness to overwhelm me I looked at the face. My last thought before succumbing to the void was, Oh God, not Seth.
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    Bleeding Hearts

CHAPTER FOUR
    It felt as if I were floating. That’s the first thing I remember. Then I became aware of a bright white light that I could see through my closed eyelids. The events leading up to my blackout flooded back into my consciousness and I found myself wishing for the bliss of the darkness again. Then I realized I wasn’t in pain. Was I in heaven? I forced my eyes open, but shut them again quickly. The light was blinding. I tried again, a little more cautiously this time.
    Well, I wasn’t in heaven, not unless they hooked you up to machines and painted their rooms a nasty puke green. When would hospitals ever learn?
    Just then, a nurse walked into my field of vision. She was wearing the typical nurses uniform of a brightly colored top over white pants and white shoes. She looked like she was maybe in her 60s, with close-cropped gray hair and a don’t-mess-with-me look in her eyes.
    “Ah, I see you’re back with us again,” she said, “How do you feel?”
    “I’m not sure yet. How long was I out? Was I in