Maggie's Run by Kelly Hunter

Author:Kelly Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781949068627
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2018-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

It was her restlessness that woke him rather than her whimpering. The sudden jerk of her body towards the edge of the bed, hunching forward. The puff of her breath into the pillow beneath her head that shouldn’t have been loud enough for him to hear, but he heard it nonetheless. Maggie remained still for just enough time for him to wonder whether gathering her close would be a good idea, and then her body jerked again.

“Mum.”

He could barely hear her.

“Dad.”

Oh, he heard that one all right. There was a sense of urgency to it that sent a shiver down his spine and he figured he knew exactly where she was in her dreams. He pulled her back against him, his arm around her waist and his body pressing against hers in a long, firm line. “Maggie, time to wake up.”

But touch was no comfort to her, far from it, and she began to struggle in earnest. Against his arms. Locked in her dream.

“No. Oh, no. No. Wake up! Daddy!”

He’d heard those words before, years ago, and nothing good had ever come of them. “Maggie, it’s me.” He didn’t want to go there. Didn’t want to remember. “Maggie, c’mon.”

Maggie you have to get out of the car, c’mon, let’s go!

It was the voice of his younger self and he could hear the fear in it. “Maggie, please.” Bad idea to pin her clawing hands to the bed when she wasn’t awake, because her struggles increased and so did her panicked breathing and it was a mixture of no and let me go, infused with ascending degrees of terror.

“Let me go, let me go, they’re still in there, you have to let me go.”

“Maggie, you’re dreaming.”

“Let me go.” As she fought to break free of his hold. “I hate you. How can you? Let me go!”

And this time he let her go.

He was out of the bed and across the room so fast he was dizzy from it, and he sagged against the door frame and ran his hand through his hair and watched in growing horror as she rode out her nightmare to its inevitable screaming conclusion and then sat bolt upright, eyes wide and gasping for breath and whether she saw him standing there was anyone’s guess, but she scrunched her eyes tight again and began to speak again, even as she reached out for something to the right of the bed and didn’t find it.

“One-one hundred, two-one hundred, it’s okay Maggie, you’re in your bed, three-one hundred …” Fingers curling into the sheet beneath her. “Four-one hundred … You’re right here.” As she opened her eyes and stared straight at him and this time there was recognition there and sick realisation.

“Oh fuck,” she said, and her knees came up and her arms wrapped around her legs. “I’m at your place.”

“Yes.” He was surprised he managed more than a rasp.

“In your bed.”

“Yes.”

“Right.” And if there was an undercurrent of hysteria in there somewhere, well, maybe her nightmare hadn’t quite left her yet.

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.