Double Dare by Murray Peterson

Author:Murray Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2019-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The problem with reality was when you took yourself away from it, even for a short time, the accumulation of unreal occurrences combined to make what could only be described as unreality.

And unreality was a world that didn’t follow the usual rules and allowed personal thoughts, the very essence of oneself to change, to evolve or deteriorate, to be that person or become another without reason because unreality was not real.

After several days of distant thoughts, tired emotions and fragmented memories, Helena was unable to process the sudden appearance of her workbag containing her clothes, phone, books and iPad. She had not brought it with her when she had arrived at her parents’ home; all she had brought were the clothes she had been wearing and a sheet of tablets the site doctor had given. Her mother, seeing her empty stare, had brought her in, run her a bath and had said very little. She had given her warm pyjamas and made up the sofa bed before letting her rest. And rest Helena had. Days it had been. Wake, eat, and fall back asleep. The pills helped keep thoughts and memories from becoming real, instead allowing her a drowsy stupor, not letting her know what day it was or even how or why she had come to her childhood home, all she knew was that this was better than the alternative.

Now her workbag sat at the end of the bed, its mysterious arrival causing Helena to sit up slowly. She methodically began checking its contents. The sight of her work clothes had brought her close to panic, the idea of checking her phone felt hazardous, even her iPad might hold some hidden danger and drag her down to a depth from which she couldn’t resurface. So, she left her bag and rested her head back on the cushions and closed her eyes searching for the peace of unreality. What was so dangerous about the work clothes? Why didn’t she want to check her phone—who was she afraid of? Jim? She bit her lip when his name entered her thoughts. Was she scared of him or angry with him or was it something else? Helena didn’t know. All she knew was that if she wrapped the soft blankets around her body as tight as she could, she would be safe. And so she did.

*****

Waking to the dark of night, Helena’s mind battled to make out her surrounds. The ceiling fan hung above her, its three blades highlighted in the moonlight and reminded her she was back at her parents’ home, in the spare room, her once bedroom. Two long frames of family photos hung on the wall with Helena’s old dusty dressing table in between. And then she noticed something strange. A large silhouette sat at the end of her bed. She looked sharply at the shape and startled when the figure moved ever so slightly. Helena could make out a man’s back, square shoulders, his body sitting over the side of the fold-out bed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.