Chapter 23
245 Words
Chapter 23
I got pummelled on the concrete floor, unable to open my eyes. Something heavy thumped on my chest, a little more and it would break my ribs. I took in sweet, warm air and managed to fill my burning lungs.
Billy fell back relieved and I turned to the side, coughing my lungs out, wheezing in air, coughing, wheezing, and so on.
Prodromos leaned back, crossed her chest in an absent-minded religious gesture and sat near me on a barrel. As soon as I managed to calm myself, I stared at Billy, who was rattled but fine, and at the fallen barrels at my path. The mess was real alright, but what I had seen before, my friend getting choked and ripped apart by the Erinyes, and her tearing of the metal barrels was not real. I had knocked over a barrel or two myself, but nothing more.
I must be going crazy.
Billy didn’t look Prodromos in the eye, though he was clearly addressing him. “What. Is. Happening?”
“I don’t know,” she said quietly, and met my friend’s sudden deadly stare. “I don’t! I swear to God almighty!” She took out a cross from a chain around her neck.
Billy said as-a-matter-of-fact, “That’s what you are trying to figure out.”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Prodromos repeated, a hint of plea in her tone of voice.
My friend turned back to me. “Are you OK?”
I touched my wet lips and said, “Were you kissing me?”
“I was doing CPR!” Billy said apologetically.
“Well, you took my breath away,” I said and enjoyed his blush.
- Writer
