Thirty-seven: Ordinary

I shivered and waited so long that I drifted off into a shallow sleep until I heard voices grow closer. I could only huddle closer into my corner, hoping they weren't out to kill or capture me. Lights swept past me and around the room and then shone in my direction.

"There's a bit of glass here," said Mr Cooper's voice. The light in my face made me wince and footsteps quickened toward me. "Jean, thank goodness we found you."

"Thank God you're alive," said Mr Raring's very relieved sounding voice.

"Where on earth did you go?" asked Mr Cooper's disgruntled sounding voice. "Didn't we tell you to stay in the room?"

A twinge of bitterness shot through me. They had used me as bait, nearly gotten me killed and now they were asking me where I had gone? Had they seen the room I had been in? Hadn't it obviously been shot and blown up? Who knew what might have happened if I had stayed there? At the least, I knew I would definitely have wet my pants had I stayed there.

I wondered how successful their trap had been. Had they caught any Boskies? Had the Boskies caught them? But those weren't questions I was meant to be asking. If I did, they probably wouldn't answer me honestly.

Glass splinters prickled in my face and I kept my eyes shut.

"What's wrong with your face?" Mr Cooper asked.

"Glass," I said, standing up carefully with someone's hand at my elbow. I heard shards of glass fall to the ground and felt someone brushing more glass off, picking some shards out my hair.

"In your eyes?" I nodded in reply to his question. "We'd better get you to the hospital," Mr Raring said, his voice concerned. Mr Cooper took one arm and Mr Raring the other, guiding me back to the car. Between the two of them, they managed to correct for my inability to see as well as my current poor sense of balance. At least my hearing was coming back. "We should be safe now. Those Boskies should be long gone."

"Why are you walking funny?" Mr Cooper asked.

"The room you put me in got shot up and blown up," I said with some scorn, "in case you didn't notice. I almost died."

"We didn't clear the room after the fighting finished," Mr Raring explained. "Our colleagues didn't tell us, so we didn't know."

"Sorry," Mr Cooper said in a subdued voice.

"We should have looked for you in there ourselves," Mr Raring said, sounding gloomy.

"They only told us that they found some blood, two sets of footprints that weren't yours and that you weren't there. We noticed the trail of broken glass and thought we'd follow it, just in case."

"I see," I murmured.

At the car, they helped me in and put on my seatbelt. During the drive, they had me recount what had happened to me after they had locked me in the room. I gave them all the details I could think of but left out the part where the Bosky soldier had helped me on the toilet. Just thinking about that made my head feel like it was going to explode again. I could still feel him beneath my hand and his hand on me. Instead, I told them about how the Bosky soldier had scolded them and taken good care of me, carrying me away from danger and helping me pick glass splinters out of my face.

Although interested that my Bosky soldier had been present, they gave no explanation as to why we had been there, or what the result had been and I didn't ask. I doubted they would have told me, and anyway, speaking with glass splinters stuck in your lips that you can't get out was uncomfortable.

Normally in stories, stuff would happen for the main character to find out what was happening and explain things so that you can understand. Then with the background information, you'd learn the bigger picture. Unfortunately, this was real life. I doubted I'd learn anything from either the agents or the Bosky soldier. I was on my own. Lost and stuck in a dark web of connections I could barely begin to puzzle out.

"Do you think that Bosky is in love with her?" Mr Cooper asked. Mr Raring didn't reply. "Can't be, right?" Mr Cooper continued. "There's nothing very special about her. I mean she's short and kinda cute because she's so small but that's about it. She doesn't have any characteristics or features that really stick out. She's so… ordinary. So if he does like her, what does he see in her?"

My thoughts exactly, Mr Cooper. That was exactly what I was thinking, even if it hurt to hear a stranger speak your thoughts out loud and confirm your insecurities.

Mr Raring coughed and cleared his throat. I supposed that was when Mr Cooper remembered that I was still in the car and still very much awake.