Chapter 2 Nightmare (One)

• The nightmare is the same as always. In it, I’m in a dark room, unable to move, talk, or do anything, even breathe. The breathing tubes attached to my body do the job of breathing for me. All I can do is lay there immobile in terror as a mentally deranged Charlotte advances on me with a poison-filled syringe. As always, I wake up screaming before she plunges the needle into me in the dream.
• The room I’m in is dark, but I know where I am. I’m in a bed in a room at Sebastian’s house. I hadn’t wanted to be alone after the ceremony earlier in the day, and his wife, Carol had understood. In fact, she was the one who had urged me to at least, stay over for the night. Thankfully, my screaming did not wake anyone in the house, but I know that sleep won’t come again, at least, not for a while, so I get out of bed and pad silently out of the room.
• The house feels very familiar to me, which is not a surprise, because once upon a time, I had been a joint owner of this house and had lived with Sebastian, to whom I was engaged in it, but that time seems so distant now. The house is now in Carol’s name because Sebastian had bought it for her in a desperate bid to get me out of their lives. I can’t blame him though. I had been constituting such a nuisance to them that it is even a wonder that they forgave me at all. Surprisingly, I don’t feel any jealousy toward them any longer, which is such a huge relief. All I want is to be normal again, but it seems that that is too much to ask for. Sebastian and I have a lot of history, but I want to remain friends with him, despite everything that has happened.
• The house is silent as I step out into the cool night breeze, and although everything in me kicks against it, I head over to the garden, which I had once loved, but now, didn’t even like anymore. I wrap my robe more tightly around me, looking around me at the deserted and partially lit garden instinctively. I would never forget that God-awful day for as long as I live.
• I remember the party that had been held in the house that night all too well. It had been held at my insistence for Mr. James, Sebastian’s uncle, who had once loved me as though I were his own daughter but had suddenly begun to be very hostile towards me. I organized the whole thing as a way to mend fences between us and try to get him to like me back because I knew how much Sebastian loved his uncle.
• I can remember putting some makeup back on my face after the crying bout that I had had because of my fight with Mr. James, who was totally unimpressed with his party. I remember the unnerving feeling that I had of being watched … a shadow approaching in the dimly lit garden and someone placing a piece of cloth over my face before I can even draw a breath to scream. I can also remember my futile struggles as whoever it was, held me tightly and pressed the cloth firmly over my nose for minutes while communicating with someone else who was working with him. I remember feeling fainter and fainter as the minutes passed, and my struggles lessen.
• Willing the awful memories back, I glance around again, but it is a futile effort. Being in the garden where it had all happened brought the memories back, whether I want to remember them or not. I had blacked out that day, and woken up Charlotte’s captive, remaining so for a long time, and almost dying at the end, if not for Carol’s intervention.