Free As I Fade (One Breath at a Time: Book 1) by Leilani Bennett Page A

words will potentially backfire. Case in point, the last memory I’d retained was being with my ex, and as it turned out I was the one near death or dead!
    So, I am in Paris!
    I held onto that thought, it would be the one memory I was certain of— if ...and when I woke up.
     
     
     
    -5-
    In the Wake
     
    A bright light darted back and forth between my closed eyes. I could hear voices. Some of them spoke in French, while others spoke in English, and some used a pretentious fake French accent. Not cute.
    “Open your eyes!” The words were in singsong, as if spoken to a child. “Wake up, Mademoiselle.” Cold fingertips on my eyelids. Someone was peeling them back. How disturbing. I struggled to keep them closed.
    Where would the dark prison of my mind take me next? One thing I knew was that the crippling pain had mostly subsided. No, two things...I was in Paris! Paris! And, I was not dead. Okay, maybe there were three things I knew for sure.
    When my eyes slowly opened, my head pounded with pain. My entire body felt as if it had been dragged by a team of horses and then trampled on for good measure. My limbs felt lethargic and weighted down. From beneath my lashes, through half-opened eyes, I was startled to see bandages wrapped around various parts of my body.
    My usual perfectly manicured nails looked messy and unkempt. The red fingernail polish gathered like pools of blood beneath my over-grown cuticles. The nails themselves were scuffed, ragged, and broken down to the quick. I mean way down. Not a pretty sight.
    I ran the pads of my fingertips across old scabs that rested on the peaks of my knuckles. They looked as if I had just gone a few rounds with the Brad Pitt in Fight Club .
    Apparently, I had lost.
    I heard a breath that was not my own and turned toward the quiet movement of air. My eyes raked over the blurry image of a man. I could not see the details of his features, at least not in the moment, considering my light-headedness.
    Straining my eyes, I laboriously focused on him. His movements dispersed like water and oil; however, his white shirt with five metal buttons trailing down the center of his chest stood out like shiny pennies in the bottom of a sparkling pool.
    I rubbed my eyelids, detecting a thick layer of a gooey Vaseline substance. It certainly was not an expensive spa cream. I blinked several times hoping it would remove the sticky residue. To my chagrin this added no relief; it had seeped into my eyes, only making matters worse.
    His dark hair with gray streaks weaved in and out of my sight. I continued to blink rapidly, causing my eyes to water. My vision began to clear. Within a few minutes, his entire image manifested. He stood just a few feet away from my bedside.
    I considered him rather attractive. He was fairly tall, lean, and distinguished looking. I would have guessed him to be in his early forties, but his eyes were shrewd, making him look much older: Wiser, keen, and highly intelligent.
    In one hand, he held a clipboard and in the other a pen. He flipped indolently through attached pages, absorbed and unaware of my observation. When he noticed me intently staring at him, he lowered the metal clipboard to his side
    “You are awake, finally,” he said, leaning into the path of my eyes. I scanned his face. There was something vaguely familiar about him. Perhaps, I had seen him before. I summed it up as just one of those familiar faces.
    “ Hello,” I managed to say in a raspy whisper. My esophagus constricted, which caused a coughing spell.
    “ Would you like some water?”
    “ Yes, please,” I answered automatically, lifting my head, holding waves of nausea at bay.
    What happened to me?
    “I’ve been really worried about you.”
    “ You have?”
    “ Yes, very much.”
    “ I’m confused. Who are you?”
    “ Your physician. Don’t you remember me?”
    Remember? Physician?
    Startled further, I had not even remembered being taken to the hospital or why; aside from the pain