Page 107 of The Keeper and I

When she turned to go, she saw the housekeeper with her mouth agape, and the blood drained from both their faces.

“M-my lady,” Mrs. Hughes began. “What have you done?”

The darkness of present day returned to Laci when she fell on her bum. Her back slammed against the locked door, making it clatter again. She panted like she’d run a marathon. Or seven. What on earth had she seen? It was a scene straight out of a historical romance novel, but she was looking through the eyes of the heroine. No, shewasthe heroine. And worse, it had filled her with the worst sense of dread she had ever experienced. Almost as bad as the day she went shooting with her father and brothers. A tear rolled down her cheek.

“Fuck,” she whimpered, pressing her hands against her eyes to wipe away the wetness and prevent more tears from escaping.

Her heart was beating so fast, she felt like it would detach from her any minute. She tried to draw breath but found it stopping in her throat. Her fingers tingled like they were going numb. More tears escaped down her face, but she didn’t stop them. It was all she could do to not curl up on the ground and scream.

“Laci?”

Tessa’s voice made her look, but it sounded far away, like she was calling through a tunnel. She appeared, kneeling in front of Laci with her brow knitted over her eyes. Laci blinked to try and force Tessa’s face into focus, but there were two Tessas swaying in front of her.

“I…” she barely managed to say. “I can’t breathe.”

“I’m gonna check your pulse, is that alright?”

Laci nodded. Right away, she felt Tessa’s fingers against her throat. She wasn’t sure if her skin was hot or if Tessa had cold hands.

“Jesus, it’s like a machine gun,” Tessa said, half to herself. “Laci, I need you to tell me three things you can hear.”

“What?”

“Three things you can hear, just say them.”

“Uh, you, first of all. Where’s your accent from?”

“Derry. Now, two more.”

“The wind.”

“Grand. One more.”

“My heart.”

Tessa shook her head. “Nope, something outside of yourself.”

Laci squeezed her eyes shut and listened. After a moment, she said, “An owl, somewhere in the distance.”

Tessa led her through two more similar exercises by naming three things she could feel and five things she could see. By the time she got through it, her heart rate was almost back to normal. Her skin was clammy and cold, but nothing a shower wouldn’t fix.

“How’d you know what to do?” she asked, looking sidelong at Tessa, who had taken a seat next to her.

“My ex, the one I told you about, she used to have panic attacks like that a lot. I learned what to do so I could help her.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a panic attack before.”

“Are you feeling any extra stress?”

Laci paused, wondering how much to reveal. She decided to skip the vision part so she wouldn’t sound like she was going mad. “I’ve got a stalker.”

“Fucking hell, really?”

“Yeah. I saw the bushes move and thought maybe it was him. But it was the wind.”

“That’d normally be enough, but judging by the exhaustion in your voice, it sounds like you’ve been dealing with him for a while.”

“I have. It isn’t likely he knows how to find me here.”

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