The morning sunlight streamed through the blinds of the hospital window. I rolled away from it and tried to close my eyes again, but the image of Addie crying haunted my mind like a ghost and they flew back open. With every blink, she returned. Her tortured face was imprinted on the insides of my eyelids like an afterimage from looking directly at the sun.
I grabbed the remote and adjusted my bed to an upright position. The machines humming in the silence made me shiver. There was only one possible plan at this point. I needed to get home and get to my computer.
We're all dangerous.
Addie's words bounced around inside my head.
We hurt others all the time without meaning to. Even if you did kill him, you were in a dream.
You could never know it would carry over into reality. You'd never hurt someone intentionally.
She could be right. I hadn't believed it possible to hurt a Dreamer, and I still didn't know for sure if I did. It didn't matter, though; I'd never try it again. The question was— could I make that kind of promise? Even if I never hurt anyone, how much control did Darkness have over me? Could he take over and hurt someone even though I didn't want to? I couldn't risk it.
The e-mails were truly the only thing I could think of, the only way to be certain of his power. Someone else could've created that address to frame me for stalking Mia. Or it could be as I feared... I created it—Darkness created it. Cold sweat ran from my pores at the thought. If I could access the account—if it was a password that only made sense to me—then I'd know Darkness was the monster chasing Mia.
And I'd have no choice but to deal with the horror I'd become.
I looked around at my empty hospital room. Usually I enjoyed being alone, but after Addie's dream it was like a unified confirmation from everyone in my life that I didn't deserve visitors. Like they all finally understood what I was and they wanted nothing to do with me. It didn't make sense, and I knew they didn't actually feel that way, but a big part of me was starting to believe they should. I tugged off the heart monitors and blood pressure cuff, everything that tied me to this place.
The machines went wild and the door to my room opened. Patti rushed in and gave an aggravated sigh when she realized I'd unplugged everything again. "You feel all right?" she asked, flipping off the machines beeping around me.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired of being tied down."
My door swung open again and I barely suppressed a groan as Addie stepped through it. Her hair was slightly frizzed on one side, making it obvious she'd rolled out of bed and come straight here. Her eyes were red, puffy, and accusing.
Of course, the one time when it would have come in handy for someone to forget their dream, it was clear she hadn't.
"That's fine," Patti was saying. "You'll probably be going home in an hour or so anyway." She turned to Addie. "Let me know if he has any problems."
I snorted at the nurse's choice of words, and she glared at me. I held up my hands in surrender as she walked out the door.
Silently, Addie pulled a chair next to the bed, but I couldn't meet her eyes. The pain there sent ice shards through my spine and into my heart. For a few agonizing minutes, she didn't say anything. When her voice finally came it was hoarse and hollow.
"Don't ever do that to me again."
"Addie, you don't understand." My words came out more like a groan. I was protecting her, whether she could see it or not.
YOU ARE READING
Insomnia
Mystery / Thriller"It's been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me." Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp spends each night trapped in the dream of the last person he's made eye contact with. Every night he is crushed by other people's fear and pain...
