Talia's Torment

Chapter 8: Re-balance and Recover

Talia woke screaming.  She didn’t know how long she had been screaming but her throat was on fire.  She felt like she had shredded her vocal cords with the effort and a sheet of sweat was pouring from her skin to pool in the thin sheet that was covering her body on the small bed that she had passed out in.  Panic seized her as soon as she realized that there were hands on her body, holding onto her upper arms in a vice grip, her brain immediately jumping to the conclusion that she was once again within his grasp.  She must have passed out and Laurent had been forced to wake her up for his games again.

                She fought and struggled with her captor until she heard the deep timbre of the voice they belonged to.  These were not the hands of her cruel jailer of her nightmares, but rather Tanner.  He must have heard her screams and come to wake her.  At the same time relief filled her for not being in her past and surfacing to the reality of the room she was now in she was also filled with something else.  She was thankful that Tanner had come to her rescue to break her from the dream but ashamed that he had seen her this way.  There was definite fear still coursing through her veins in the adrenaline that now pumped her heart and shame that tinged her cheeks with a pink hue at being so vulnerable certainly, yet in the background she was also grateful and touched that he had cared enough to break down her door and stop the demons that had been plaguing her night.  Then she saw the actual door and realized that Tanner had actually broke the door down.  She turned wide eyed to him and as his eyes softened with some emotion she was determined not to identify Talia spoke.

                “I am not paying for that door.”

                Tanner chuckled at her response to the situation as he let her arms go slowly, almost as if he didn’t want to let her go.  Talia shifted slightly away from him making the situation less intimate between the two of them.  “I’m sorry I woke you up, I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep and then it was just happening.”  Tanner looked at her with a look of understanding in his eyes and Talia bristled slightly, she didn’t want to see pity in the man’s eyes.  Shaking her head to remove the last cob webs of terror from her mind she slowly looked around the room, confirming that she was no longer in the past but was firmly in the here and now.  She needed to remind herself that she was safe again and was working to ensure that no one would feel what she had been through again if she could help it.

                Tanner cleared his throat and stood up rubbing his hands on his legs as he spoke.  “I wasn’t sleeping don’t worry about it.”  Talia looked at him appraising the way he looked as if to verify the words Tanner spoke.  Taking in the rumpled shirt and jeans that he had been wearing from dinner earlier in the night she saw that he had spoken the truth in the most part, his bare feet showed that he had at least attempted to maybe cat nap tonight.  She gave him a half smile and nod as she got herself out of the now tangled sheet of her bed and straightened her tank and shorts.  She was on the way to start the coffee pot, the one machine in the kitchen she seemed to have made a friendly truce with, when she heard Tanner inhale sharply.

                Talia swore inwardly as she realized that the spaghetti straps of her tank reveiled the crisscross pattern of scars across her back.  It hadn’t dawned on her until that moment that the only scars he had seen as of yet were the ones on her arms that traced her muscles from her wrists to just below her shoulder blades.  It may seem like something that would have been seen with all of their endless training sessions, but no matter how much he commented about the heat Talia had always insisted on a short sleeve T-shirt for their sparring sessions.  She had never even worn a tank top around the man without a cover shirt before now.

                Realizing just how much of her damaged skin was on display with her spaghetti tank and short pajama shorts she subtly grabbed a button up thin flannel and stuffed her arms into the sleeves as she cleared her throat. “Want some coffee?  I don’t think I am going to be going back to sleep anytime soon.”  To his credit Tanner didn’t say anything about the road map of torture that her body clearly pointed to having happened.  Instead he just walked over to the small table and sat.  “Are you sure you can work that machine, or are we going to have to swallow some kind of weird caffeinated sludge mix?”  He actually had the nerve to smile sheepishly as she threw the dish towel at him.

                “I’ll have you know that this machine and I are best friends now.  Yes we did have a rocky start, but after some persistence on my part and a whole lot of understanding on its part we have reached an agreement.”   Talia looked at Tanner as she slowly brushed her had across the top of the coffee pot as if it was a small pet and she was giving it praise.  “Really, what would that understanding be now?”  Tanner looked as if he was trying hard not to burst as he stared at her expectantly.  Talia merely stated matter-of-factly, “Well if you must know, it understands that I will need coffee and it will provide it or I will be heading yet again to the online shopping portal to order yet another coffee pot.”  Tanner sputtered as he stated “Another coffee pot?”

                Now it was Talia’s turn to smile sheepishly as she replied to him, “Yes, this would be the fifth machine.  I had some disagreements with the others that ended with them being unable to work any longer.”  Now Tanner was truly laughing in earnest, his head tilted back and his shoulders rolling in full motion as his body shook.  Talia threw her last dish towel at him before glaring playfully in his direction, thankful for the change in the atmosphere that pushed the last remnants of her fear out of her system.