Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 94964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
* * *
Leticia’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I love those,” she exclaimed as she took the plate.
* * *
“I know you do.” Janice smiled affectionately at her aunt.
* * *
“Good morning.” Anne came skipping into the rooms. She glanced at Janice, then did a double take, looking at her again. “Ooh, what’s…?” she gestured towards Janice. “What’s happened?”
* * *
Janice raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
* * *
“You look…” she suddenly looked uncertain. “Different?”
* * *
Janice’s lip twisted sardonically. “Perhaps I am. How observant of you to notice.”
* * *
Anne gave her a concerned look. “Is it…good?” she asked tentatively.
* * *
Janice nodded. “I think so.”
* * *
Anne reached out and patted Janice’s hand. “Good.”
CHAPTER 23
Arthur was freezing by the time he got home. Perhaps going swimming in the lake had not been the best idea, especially since he’d brought no change of clothes and so had to ride back in wet breeches. The tiredness of a sleepless night, a drunken morning and the conversation he’d had all came crashing down upon him and all he wanted was to be unconscious for a while.
* * *
His valet hovered anxiously as he struggled to get his breeches off, before finally coming forward to help him. Arthur let him, only because the faster he could get his clothes off, the faster he would be able to lay down. The valet insisted on wiping him down thoroughly first, much to Arthur’s exasperation, but he was grateful for it when he was able to lay in comfort, cocooned by his blankets. He sunk into sleep at once, much to his relief.
* * *
Screaming.
* * *
He could hear it but he could not see who was screaming. He couldn’t see anything. Everything was darkness.
* * *
Am I blind or is there no light?
* * *
He blinked a few times if only to ensure that his eyes were open. He reached out his hand, trying to find something, a clue as to where he was. The screaming was getting louder and he realized that whoever was doing it, was screaming his name, over and over.
* * *
Mama?
* * *
He began to move about, shuffling his feet so as not to trip over anything on the ground. He opened his mouth, tried to shout but no sound came out. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t call out to the screaming person. What if it was his mother? What if she needed him and she was also lost in the dark? He opened his mouth, straining to speak, but nothing came out.
* * *
He lurched forward and realized there was nothing there. Before he knew it he was falling.
* * *
“Arthur!” he looked up and realized he could see. Janice was standing at the edge of the cliff, her hands and feet tied to a cross, her face slashed open. He opened his mouth and screamed as he fell.
* * *
Arthur sat up, still fighting the bedclothes, still caught up in the loosening threads of his dream. His heart was racing and he looked around orienting himself in reality.
* * *
“Oh God, oh God, oh God, what…?” sweat poured down his brow and his hands trembled, his head throbbing with a familiar headache. He leaped out of bed, barely getting to the chamber pot in time as he cast up his accounts. When he felt as if he’d left all of his insides in the bowl, he sat back on the floor, breathing hard, his eyes closed.
* * *
He had no need of an explanation of his nightmare. He knew well and good that it was guilt that wracked him. He’d hoped and prayed that Janice was alright. That she suffered no effects from what they had done but the conversation he’d overheard had proved to him that he was wrong.
* * *
What should I do? He thought with despair.
* * *
He could hardly bear to think of the other side of that guilt. His mother, insensible and unknowing, locked in a room in a lunatic asylum. She didn’t recognize him when he went to visit and the doctors said it’d be better if he left her there. Now he wasn’t so convinced it was the best option.
* * *
He had no clue what was.
* * *
His whirling thoughts made him want to reach for the bottle of rum on his dresser. To drown out all the voices clamoring in his head. He rinsed out his mouth with the jug of water before grabbing the bottle of rum. At least it would help cure his headache.
* * *
He took a large sip.
* * *
It burned all the way down and his stomach lurched. For a moment, he was afraid it would all come right back up. His stomach contracted and he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since last night.