Page 146 of Sweet Nightmare
This is Stephen’s side.
I stop in front of the doors as another anguished shout echoes from within. The tortured sounds are coming from Stephen.
For several seconds, I stand frozen, listening. The sounds are fragmented, broken apart by long stretches of silence. I can’t really make out the words, but I don’t need to.
Fear and heartbreak don’t require translation.
And neither does tragedy.
Part of me knows I should leave. The polite part my mother raised, the one that understands I barely know this man and that Stephen would probably hate anyone witnessing his pain.
Unfortunately, my body doesn’t seem to think the same way my brain does. Damn it.
So, instead of walking away, I sink to the floor and sit right outside his doors.
I’ve finally lost my mind and whatever control I had left over my emotions. The rare ones I still had.
The floor is cold and so are the double doors behind my back as I lean on them but I find them comforting. I pull the book I took from the library earlier this morning— Frankenstein— from beneath my arm, and open it.
I read the dedication.
For the ones who aren’t afraid of loving the monster and of healing wounds.
I bite my lip as I look away from the book and look back at the door behind me.
It stopped.
The sounds.
His agony.
Has he woken up? I tense for a second just imagining the ordeal of him finding me here but nothing moves behind his door. Just complete silence.
That… makes me feel warm inside but I’m too tired to decipher why so instead I let it sit there but that was a mistake. Because that tiny warmth would later on bite me in the ass.
I turn the next page quietly beneath my fingers and take my time reading so my brain gets used to the words.
All the while at the back of my mind I wonder what could have possibly happened to make him sound like a wounded animal in his sleep.
Time passes without me noticing.
The book pulls me in, as books always do, but so do the little notes Stephen added to every chapter. I find myself reading quickly just to find the next one. It’s fascinating to see the story through someone else’s point of view but its more interesting to be inside of Stephen’s brain while he read the story.
Time moves quickly after that and sometime before dawn, I found myself still sitting on a hallway floor, reading the book the man spoiled for me beneath the moonlight while quietly keeping watch over said man who would probably cuss me out if he ever discovered I was there.
Thankfully, he never has to know.
happily ever after… maybe?
From: [email protected]
Heart Mom!
The moment South Korea reopens its airports, I’m flying there.
Officially, I’m going to check on Artemis and make sure she hasn’t committed a felony while being trapped in a storm with a man she doesn’t know.
