Her shifted position rattled the loose glass and gave her away. A huge clawed hand burst through the broken windshield and sank into her left shoulder, deep as a butcher’s hook. Isabelle screamed in agony.
The claws bit into sinew and muscle, popping her shoulder socket.
She screamed again, and everything faded. Massive oily waves of pain engulfed her, choked her, stole all the air from her lungs. There was howling again, distant and hollow. She was dragged inch by inch through the shattered windshield. Her skin was hot with blood and urine; her heart lurched sluggishly in her chest. She was sobbing, she was fading away, dying. Dragged out onto the cold snow, the stones and brushwood rough against her skin, the pillow scratchy against her cheek, damp with sweat and tears. Isabelle opened her mouth and screamed and screamed and—
“Hey. Hey.” Cool hands stilled hers as she madly clawed the air.
“It’s okay.” The same hands caressed her face and pushed damp hair back off her forehead. “Isabelle? Isabelle? It’s okay. Can you hear me?” A voice whispered near her ear, smooth and deep, and totally reassuring.
Tears blurred her vision. There was a soft glow from a nearby lamp. That voice. How did she know that voice? She blinked several times to clear her tears. They rolled round and plump down her face and onto the cool pillow. Someone hovered over her. Long, black hair brushed against her cheek; dark eyes stared intently, filled with calm concern.
“Hush, Isabelle. It was just a dream.”
“A dream,” she whispered. She tried to move and winced as pain shot through her shoulder, making her cry out. Warm hands soothed her, held her, made her still.
“Shush. Keep still, now. You’ll pull your stitches. It was only a dream.”
“A dream?” She blinked again, slowly returning to the real world, but bringing all the pain and fear of her dream with her. A damp cloth was pressed against her brow. She looked up into the shadowed face.
Lamplight played across it, playing tricks with golden planes and dark angles. One moment she gazed at the face of an angel; in another, a demon. She blinked again, trying to focus. It was a darkly handsome face…what she could make out of it. A woman’s face. She smacked her dry lips and swallowed. Her throat felt raw, as if she’d been screaming all night. Again she focused on the face above. Eyes as black as pitch stared back and noted her discomfort.
“I’ll get you some water.” She moved to go but Isabelle reached out, her chilled fingers leaching heat from a warm forearm. The woman sat and waited.
Isabelle licked her cracked lips and finally asked, “Who are you?”
About the Author
Gill McKnight moves between Ireland, England, and Greece in an eclectic mix of work, relaxation, and downright laziness. When not scribbling in a notepad or pecking away at her laptop, Gill likes sailing, DIY, puttering about the garden, and running away from wasps.
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