Page 21 of Somno Slave

Don’t be stupid.The thought comes too quickly.Old building. Pipes. Wood shifting in the walls.

I reach for my drink, fingers steadier than I feel, and take a slow sip—

Tap. Tap.

Smaller this time, precise, like pebbles. Too light to be force, too deliberate to be random.

For one horrible second, I expect to see him standing there. The thought hits hard enough to make my stomach twist. Then the wind rises sharply outside and a tree branch scrapes against the pane with a long dragging sigh before knocking lightly against the glass once more.

I exhale too fast.

A branch.

Of course.

Embarrassment burns hot behind my ribs, but it doesn’t settle the feeling properly. Because something still feels wrong.

The water should still be running.

I frown.

I don’t remember turning the tap off.

I reach for it slowly. The metal groans beneath my hand before water bursts from it again, hotter now, almost unbearable against my skin. Steam thickens rapidly around me, blurring the room until everything softens at the edges.

I lean my head back against the porcelain and close my eyes for just a second.

The heat presses heavily against my body. My limbs loosen.

Just a few more minutes.

Just until the quiet settles properly again.

Just until sleep takes me faster this time.

Chapter Eight

Rheda

I’m awake.

I know I’m awake because I can feel the weight of my body but I just can’t move it.

My bedroom lies around me in perfect stillness. The small crease in the curtain where the fabric never hangs properly no matter how often I straighten it, the outline of my slippers by the door. Even the faint silver shine of the handle where the streetlight catches.

Everything is where it should be.

But the air is wrong. It presses cold against my face even though the rest of the room feels muffled and warm. My body lies heavy beneath the duvet as if sleep has packed me down into the mattress and left me there.

For a while, nothing happens.

I stare at the ceiling and listen to the flat hum softly around me, pipes ticking, fridge murmuring. I let my breath leave slowly.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.