Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Autumn nodded and allowed Genie to lead her back to her room. “Genie,” Autumn asked when she could manage a few words. “Do you know why they let Salma go?”
Genie shot her a glance, pressing her lips together for a moment. Autumn could see that she was considering whether to say something. But Autumn knew Genie enjoyed gossiping, and if she knew something, she’d say so. “Well,” she started, glancing around. “I heard she got caught stealing from the hospital.”
“Stealing?” That didn’t sound like Salma. Autumn didn’t believe it. “Stealing what?”
“I don’t know. Medication maybe. But that’s all I heard. Now, lie down for a while, and don’t let me catch you on those stairs again,” Genie scolded, though there was affection in her voice.
Autumn sat on the window seat in her room, tracing a raindrop down the glass and gazing out at the woods beyond. She pulled out her journal and drew a large, round circle in the middle of a blank page, her lips curving into a smile. Tomorrow night, she’d take the sleep medication they gave her. She had to recreate the circumstances that had caused her to dream of him. Nerves skittered along her spine as she gazed at the moon just coming into sight in a darkening sky, a mere slip away from being full.
Chapter Five
A moan rose around her as her eyelids slowly opened. Groggy. Hazy. The groan had come from her own lips. She blinked, trying desperately to bring the world into focus. The dream. I’m in the dream. Despite the jolt of excitement, her limbs felt so heavy, and she didn’t want to move. But she heard rustling in the trees around her, and her skin prickled, her heart picking up speed. Run. Hide.
She cried out softly as she pulled herself to her knees, head swimming, world tilting. Oh God, she hated this feeling. She felt sick again as the drugs swirled in her system, weighing her down, making her feel bleary and foggy and weak.
You wanted to be here, didn’t you?
Yes. No. Not like this.
In only a short time, she’d become used to feeling in control of her body, and suddenly she was not. She felt scared and frustrated, completely and utterly out of sorts. And she was sitting in a bed of pine needles in the middle of the woods. I want to be back in my bed.
She had a flash of memory, or what she thought was memory. Movement. The squeak of wheels. Was I in a wheelchair?
She reached behind her back, feeling the lump of her soft-covered journal. She’d put on a tight pair of shorts beneath her nightgown and stuck it in the waistband before bed. If she had been moved by wheelchair, whoever had done the moving hadn’t felt it. It remained where she’d hidden it just before she’d slipped under. She could hardly remember why she’d done it now. To sketch your surroundings. To write things down you might not remember when you wake. Yes, right. It’d seemed a good idea at the time. She squinted, trying to focus her foggy mind, but before she could attempt to dredge up anything else about possibly being dumped out here in these woods, she heard something large coming through the foliage. Something that was making no effort to disguise the noise of its arrival.
The sudden gallop of her heart spurred Autumn to her feet, and then she leaned on the trunk of a tree for a moment as the world stopped spinning and she got her bearings.
This is the part where you run. Where you hide.
She pulled in a breath and turned her head as she searched her surroundings. She was still groggy, and it took her a minute to take stock. A few skinny trees, a small rock. Nothing. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and brought her more clearly into the present. She was still drugged, but she didn’t feel like she’d always felt in this dream before.
This dream that is no dream.
The sound of movement drew closer, a branch snapping, feet hitting the ground.
With a small huff of breath, Autumn sank back to her knees, picking up a nearby stick and using it to dig in the soft, damp earth. Her breath came harshly, sweat breaking out on her skin as she dug as long as she dared before coming to her knees and pulling a pile of leaves and pine needles into her hole.
The thing approaching drew closer, louder. That was no animal.
Was it him?
Who else could it possibly be?
With a quick sweep of her arm to make the ground look as undisturbed as possible, Autumn came to her feet. Her breath sawed in and out of her chest as she waited…waited, until the person appeared through the trees. Tall. Muscular. Moonlight hair.
Both fear and excitement tumbled through her, and with a small squeal born of the intoxicating mix of emotions, Autumn turned and ran, sprinting like she never had before.