Are you ready for another piece of this month’s serial puzzle? You may begin to think that there may never be any answers to the questions, or maybe they are right there in front of our eyes. But either way we seem to be getting deeper into some strange thoughts.

The story tonight is part of a serial story that is going on through the month of October (maybe we will see an end before Halloween). You can find the other parts of the story at these links (in chronological order):
She who Watches
There will be Flood
Will you do the Fandango
Awake in Dreams
A Trip to the Doctors
Night Sweats
Visions of Breakfast
After the Fire
Sweet Dreams are made of These

Night Sweats

Shan rolled over to his side in a heavy sleep. Lisa had hit him to break his snore, but it didn’t wake him. Just as well, no sense in the both of them losing sleep. Her first night without the pills and her eyes wouldn’t stay shut. She had tried some warm milk earlier but that didn’t help.

Instead she lay back in the bed staring at the ceiling. Moon light sliced through the window and danced along the ceiling. She lay back and counted the strange shadows the light created.

That one, from a bedpost, looked like a spiked ball, or maybe an arm with extended fingers from the hand. Well, anything but natural. She pulled the blankets tight to her chin to fight a chill that crossed the center of her body. It was almost a breeze but through the blankets.

She fidgeted and squirmed as she sought that perfect moment of cozy. As she settled back against her pillows she scanned the moon lit shadows again. This one moved, shaped like a person it shifted across the ceiling like it traveled from the doorway into their room to the foot of their bed.

A chill scraped across her skin again. More persistent, even with the blankets she couldn’t shake its effect. The burn of a persons gaze ignited the chill further as her teeth began to chatter. “Who’s there?” she said. She fought the urge to look at the end of the bed, afraid that someone might be there for real.

The soft sounds of the house settling in for the night echoed through the house. But nothing more. She was certain that if someone had broken into the house she would have heard something, anything. But the noises were the same she heard every night since they moved into the house.

She risked it, scannned the end of the bed, but nothing was there. Shadows and moonbeams played havoc on her nerves, the affects of withdrawals from her sleeping pills. That was all. She would see it all clear in the light of day, Lisa was sure of it.

*

She awoke with a start. Another chill shattered the bliss of sleep that had overcome her. Drenched with night sweats, she pushed excess blankets from the bed and fought for air. Shan still slept, soundless deep sleep. He wouldn’t notice her movements.

Lisa scanned the room, the moon had passed away from their window. The clock on Shan’s side of the bed encased the room in a soft red glow. Three A.M. by his clock, she had gotten a couple hours at least.

She put on her slippers and stumbled into the bathroom, did her business then filled a cup with water. As she sipped at the water she noticed something odd in the mirror. She flipped on the light to get a better look.

A dark stain covered her abdomen. She reached her hand under her shirt, then held her fingers into the light, red, wet. The gash cut deep into her belly still oozed blood.

She screamed, screamed into the mirror, screamed at the face that wasn’t hers, screamed for Shan to come help her before she died from blood loss. A banshee’s wail filled the house before she woke again. Drenched with sweat she was still in bed.