Deadly Medicine Part 16 – Shadows
October 16th, 2009 / Author: DSShadows
Jessica sat straight up on the bed catching a scream before it could escape. Her heart was beating wildly and her skin prickled with the fear that someone was watching her. She looked frantically around the room but the bedside lamp cast shadows in every corner, behind the doors and around the bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chin as though the wool would create a shield against all evil. She concentrated on slowing her breathing as she continued to scrutinize the dark shadows, watching for any movement listening for any sound, slight or otherwise. After a few moments had passed and she had begun to calm down she wondered what had scared her; was it real or was it a dream?
Mike stood outside the garage waiting for new instructions. The voices were all whispering at once but they were not talking to him. They were talking to one another, strategizing. He could not move, he knew, until they made a decision and gave him his orders. He waited patiently.
Jessica was going to force herself out of the far side of the bed, the side closest to the switch for the overhead light. The plan was to let one foot hit the floor and then run the three or four more steps to the switch. She pushed one foot out of the blankets but kept it on the bed for a moment. She took a deep breath and slid it down to the floor. The wood floor was cold against her warm foot but she didn’t care. She catapulted off of the bed only to find that her other foot didn’t come with her. . And then she panicked. It has me! Oh God it has me! It doesn’t have you! It has me, I’m going to die!!! Calm down! It’s just the blankets, that’s all. Jessica knew her thoughts were right, it was just the blankets and yet knowing that didn’t quell the fear or panic. Her attempt at forward motion was abruptly stopped when the blankets pulled against her leg causing her to lose the balance she never really had. Her arms swung out to the sides and made wide circles in the air as if to pull her upright. But it was too late. She fell backward hitting her back and side against the solid wood bed rail, bouncing off of it and folding forward. She was now sitting on the floor leaning forward far enough that her chest was also on the floor but her left leg remained tangled in the bedding with her foot stuck somewhere up on the bed itself. She began kicking her untangled foot against the bed. She tried to push her top half off of the floor only to have one hand land on a portion of the sheet and slide out from under her. She twisted onto her side and began flailing her arms in no particular direction or pattern. She hit her elbow onto the bed rail causing acute pain to shoot both up and down her arm. During all of this her tangled foot was jerking to the sides but it was still tangled. She had almost made it to a sitting position when she hit her elbow again. She fell backward slamming her head onto the floor. The pain was intense but it had the effect of someone slapping her across the face. She calmed, slowly sat up and then lifted the blankets with her hand freeing her foot and leg. She stood and walked to the light switch. Once the light is on it will be safe, nothing bad happens when the lights are one.
She pushed the little switch up and turned her back to the wall as the light came on. The she began to giggle, her giggles turned to a snort and then she was full on laughing. This is insane; I am losing my mind!
While Jessica should have taken this last thought as a warning she did not. Her body was now bent almost in half, her hands clutching her belly and tears streaming down her cheeks as the laughter went on and on.
Join me next Friday for the next installment of Deadly Medicine.
Dawnda Schaefer