The Empty Bed by Nina Sadowsky
Author:Nina Sadowsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2020-01-27T16:00:00+00:00
SMACK!
Catherine,
Mexico City, Mexico
I’m deep asleep when I feel her gentle hand on my shoulder, hear her soft whisper in my ear.
“Let’s go, Cathy. Let’s go.”
I know I should wake up, but I can’t. A pull as strong as an undertow keeps my limbs snug in my warm, heavy blankets, my eyes closed. I want to drift away on the tide.
Will we get out in time?
Not if I can’t wake up. But I don’t care, I snuggle my face deeper into my pillow. Maybe if I don’t wake up everything will work out differently this time.
I stretch my limbs and they expand, child-sized arms and legs lengthening and widening, growing a soft down. And then I’m no longer in the flannel of my nursery. I’m wrapped in sheets of impossible silken softness, my body moving liquid and hot under Holly’s. He slides inside of me and I cry out, desperate for him, urging him deeper.
I want release so very badly. I’m on the verge, about to cry out.
A sound snaps me awake.
I’m trembling, from my dream, from my lizard-brain alert system screaming danger. I focus my eyes, pushing the shadows back into their corners. Where am I?
Gabi’s house. Mexico City. I’m positioned on one of the two sofas in the open plan main floor, the first line of defense for the Harris family sleeping (along with Gabi) on the floor above.
SMACK!
I hear it again, the noise that busted my uneasy sleep wide open.
Taking my stun gun from its hiding place underneath a cushion, I slide down off the sofa in front of the fireplace and onto my hands and knees on the bamboo floor. Quick glances left and right reveal nothing out of place. I creep slowly around the edge of the sofa and peer out across the shadowy expanse of the house.
All seems quiet. The stairs to the second floor are empty. I can’t see behind the kitchen island, but there’s a stillness in the air that belies another’s presence.
SMACK!
My head whips around and finds the culprit. The door to the terrace is open, swinging in the wind. I’m certain I secured it before I went to sleep. Did I?
I hesitate a moment. Cover the upstairs first? Or secure the residence? Taking advantage of the darkness, I crawl along the floor toward the stairs, the safety of the Harris family my top priority.
When I reach the stairs, I sprint up them as quietly as I can. Cock my head around the landing.
Clear.
I check Dakota’s room, opening the door with a soft click that doesn’t even register on the sleeping teenager. I close the door just as softly.
Next, Steve, Lisa, and Finn.
The door to their room squeals as I open it. Steve and Finn slumber on, but Lisa startles awake and stares at me with terrified eyes, drawing the coverlet protectively up around her shoulders.
I put a finger to my lips, signaling she should stay quiet. “Stay here,” I mouth more than say. She gives me a jerky nod.
The bathroom in the hallway is similarly quiet with no sign of any intruder or disturbance.
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