There was something she could do until Nick arrived. Something which always made Anna feel better. A shower, change of clothes, hair dryer, hair spray, and a fresh makeup application with lots of concealer had rejuvenated Anna. Before, she had been a sweaty mess. Now, her fiery hair was stylishly tousled, green eye shadow made her emerald eyes blaze, skinny jeans accentuated her limited curvy waist, and a low cut shirt amplified her breasts. Around her neck was draped a scarf.
It took Nick almost an hour to arrive. By the time he arrived, Anna had calmed down. In fact, she had already come up with an entirely rational explanation for everything that had happened. Clearly she had a nightmare. And she had heard it was possible to manifest an injury if you really believed it was happening. Or something like that, perhaps it was only with illnesses? In any case, that must have been what happened while she had been asleep.
"Anna, what is going on?" he greeted when she opened the door in response to his pounding on said door with his fists.
"Come in, have a seat," the gruffness in her voice surprised her. It wasn't intentional, and when she talked it hurt. Not a sharp stabbing pain, but a dull throb which reminded her she had been injured. This did not help her anxiety. She wanted to believe she was making a big deal out of nothing. The alternatives weren't appealing. Nick sat and pulled her into his lap. His large hands wrapped around and pulled her close.
"I missed you," he seemed to purr. Which was odd, considering he wasn't a small man. Not obese, but solid. Probably in another life he would have been a warrior wielding a gigantic war hammer. In this life, he was as dangerous as a kitten.
"Me to," and the kissed.
"What happened?" he demanded when the kiss was over.
"I had a dream where Julie and Michael were talking. Something about you and me and how they like us. Then I was attacked and started choking. And then you called so I woke up. But..." she swallowed and let the scarf fall, exposing her bruises.
(Sorry for the late comment, it's been a busy/headache-y couple of days)
ReplyDeleteBoo, I ended up spoiling the "cliffhanger" for myself :P
I think that the two sentences at the end of the 4th paragraph (the one beginning "Come in") could be combined - you've got a cluster of short sentences in that 'graph, a longer one at the end might help break things up.
Nick probably doesn't need to address Anna by name in his first sentence (although that's just personal preference).
Similar to the "longer sentence" thin earlier, I think Anna's explanation might work better as one long, run-on, babbling sentence, showing her anxiety and worry as opposed to telling it.