The House in the Clouds by Connelly Victoria

Author:Connelly, Victoria
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Abi didn’t often have nightmares or, if she did, she didn’t remember them. But, sometimes, they would creep up on her in the middle of the night, twisting their tormenting visions through her mind until she woke up in a cold sweat. And she wasn’t a bit surprised that she had one the night after she’d seen Bethanne and Rosie.

She hated that she’d been so mean to her nieces and regretted the drive back to their home in silence. Rosie seemed to have forgotten all about Abi’s awkwardness and had fallen asleep on the backseat, but Bethanne had looked pale and anxious as if she’d known something was wrong with Abi. But how could she even begin to explain to them?

Still hung over from the disorientating feeling of having been lost inside her own head, Abi switched her bedside lamp on and took a long, cool drink from her glass of water and then got out of bed. She was wearing a long T-shirt and felt uncomfortably warm so she padded downstairs and opened the French doors, letting the cool night air circle around her bare limbs, caressing her gently and making her feel calmer.

Why was she still having nightmares after all this time? Abi had hoped that leaving London behind and all the memories of her old home would mean an escape from her nightmares too, but you couldn’t outrun your fears, could you? Even hiding away somewhere as beautiful as Winfield couldn’t guarantee banishing one’s past. Because the past had a way of creeping up on you when you weren’t looking, catching you at your most vulnerable and assaulting you with its memories.

Abi took a few deep breaths, contemplating going out into the garden and sitting in the cool darkness or maybe even walking up onto the downs and cooling off under the stars, but she’d always been a little afraid of the dark and so she closed the doors instead and made herself a cup of herbal tea, sitting down at the table a moment later. It was still littered with the papers and paints left behind by Bethanne and Rosie. She hadn’t had the heart to tidy them away when she’d got back from dropping them home. She’d felt bruised by her ugly behaviour towards them and keeping their friendly mess out had seemed a kind of apology to them, making her feel as though they were still with her. She wished they were here now so that she could hug them closely to her and kiss their warm cheeks and tell them how much she loved them and how sorry she was for the way she’d reacted.

Looking down at the beautiful dots that Bethanne had painted, Abi wondered what had gone through her nieces’ heads when she’d suddenly bundled them up and taken them home without giving them any sort of reason. She suspected that Rosie wouldn’t have made that much out of it. But what of Bethanne? How much had she read into

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