One Little Nightmare by Dawn Darling EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author:Dawn Darling
- Language: English
- Genre: Greek & Roman Myth & Legend
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
BROOKS
BROOKS STARED AT THE ancient drop ceiling centered above his
metal framed bed. The tiles were plagued with brown spots that
ranged in color from sand to wet coffee grounds. If he stared hard enough,
sometimes the stains molded themselves into identifiable shapes. Other
days, they were just as abstract as his life.
Every morning as he laid underneath those shit-stained tiles, he cataloged
the atmosphere of his prison. Once-white walls had yellowed and peeled
over the years, and a single barred window in the center of the back wall
was his only source of light. He braced his ears against the ever present
buzz that filtered through the walls and the smell of mold.
His bed, under the window, held a sagging mattress, fitted sheet, one
hospital blanket and a pillow that the Void himself had slept on.
He was one of the lucky ones, he supposed. Most of the patients in St.
Dymphna’s Hospital for the Mentally Disturbed were only allowed a cot on
the floor because of the risk metal objects imposed–whether to themselves
or others depended on the day. It was the same reason the limp mattresses
didn’t have metal springs.
The worn cotton of the hospital-issued scrubs irritated his skin, the
sensation like centipedes crawling across his sensitive flesh. Brooks
focused on his breathing, tapping the fingers of his right hand against his
thumb.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four…
He muttered a prayer to the goddess of peace and relaxation, Pasithe,
knowing godsdamned well it would do nothing but try his patience. The
gods had never answered him. Once, he’d prayed to any deity who would
listen— the Christian God, Allah, Shiva, The Dagda, Odin, and Zeus
himself. Their only answer had been a vast eternity of silence.
“Fuck them.” He gritted his teeth and sprang from the bed.
“They’ve never done us any good anyway,“ a feminine voice brushed his
mind.
Brooks paced the small space, his fingers working at his side searching
for an outlet. He’d never been one to punch things, but the wall to his left
was asking for it.
Rather than earn himself a trip to the infirmary, he knelt by the bed and
lifted the flaccid mattress from the frame. In one swift motion, he swiped a
worn leather wristwatch from a tear in the mattress. It sat heavily in his
palm. The clear face was scratched and whatever color had painted the
edges was long gone. Both analog arms sat frozen at twelve along with the
slim arm that ticked away seconds.
“That old thing again?“ she sighed.
“How did you know?” he said aloud.
“You think out loud when you’re stressed. You practically screamed it at
me.”
Brooks had found the watch in his scrub pocket the night he woke in this
frozen hell hole. It quickly became clear that his possession of the watch
was a misstep on someone’s part, so he kept it hidden. His one act of
defiance.
“How was your night? Did you sleep well?”
A vivid nightmare tinged with crawling black veins and blazing blue eyes
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