Page 12 of I Promise You
Is this sleep paralysis?
Oh, no. If this is sleep paralysis…
Panic courses through my throat, small whimpers being forced through my teeth. It’s like my spirit is banging against walls of a closed room with no door to escape. Fear rises in my chest, and my heart pounds as I grow frantic.
I’ve experienced sleep paralysis multiple nights, and it only started when Paul died…and it’s terrifying. Your mind is awake, but your body feels paralyzed.
Nope, I refuse to let my body stay in this state.
I try to regain consciousness and attempt to move again.
The muscles in my fingers twitch.
Success.
As my fingers twitch, I can feel them moving across something and I’m concentrating so hard, trying to block out the sleep that consumes me. Soft blankets underneath my fingertips.
I’m in a bed?
“Her heart rate is rising. She’s waking up.”
Danny.
I hear him. My brother’s best friend. My heart flutters at the sound of his husky, weary voice. I’m immediately drawn to him.
It’s my Danny.
I’m desperate to wake up immediately.
With each breath I draw in, pain greets me. Something in my lower abdomen is causing me discomfort, and I groan. My high-pitched groan reverberates through my chest, and I realize I’m that much closer to waking up.
Okay…why does my chest feel like it’s broken?
How is that even possible?
Cold hospital air burns through my nostrils as I weakly attempt another breath in through my nose and there it is again.
Pain.
Ouch.
What the hell is that? It shouldn’t feel like someone hit my chest with a sledgehammer, over and over again.
My chest feels incredibly sore with each breath I take.
What the hell happened to me?
The last thing I remember is-is…pain.
Shane’s attack. Nora. A knife plunged into me. My mother on the floor.
Shane’s dark brown eyes looked heavily dilated, staring at me with so much hatred, I could feel his own pain fill me like fire, scorching the light I had in my heart.
My baby.
And then I remember a frigid breath on my neck, whispering sickening words into my ear—theGrim Reaper.
And that gives me just enough fear to break free from the chains my mind has me in.
