Part 268 (1/2)

She couldn't keep her hands still. She poked and pushed at items on the

counter. A wine gla.s.s that hadn't been put away from the night before,

a bowl of fresh frt, the sugar bowl that matched the bovine teapot.

”He used to play tricks. After I'd told him about Darren, everything I

remembered, everything I felt. He would get out of bed after I was

asleep.” It was all rus.h.i.+ng out now, unstoppable. ”He'd put on that

song, the one that was playing the night Darren was killed. Then he'd

call me, whispering my name over and over so that I'd wake in the dark

hearing it. I'd always try to turn on the light, but he would have

pulled out the plug so I would just sit there in bed, begging it to

stop. Once I started screaming, he would come back. He would tell me it

was all a dream. Now when I have the nightmares, I lie there in bed,

frozen, terrified he's going to open the door and tell me it was all a

dream.”

”You had a nightmare tonight?”

”Yes.”

”Can you tell me about it?”

”They're always basically the same. It's the night Darren was killed. I

wake up just as I did. The hallway's dark, the music playing, and I'm

afraid. I can hear him crying. Sometimes I get to the door, and Drew's

there. Sometimes it's someone else, but I don't know who.”

”Do you want to know?”

”Now I do, when I'm awake and I feel safe. But during the dream I

don't. I feel as though I'll die if I do, if he touches me.”

”You feel threatened by this man?”

”Yes.”