Page 105 of Somnium

The world around her was suddenly bathed in red. She braked hard. Rubber screeched against asphalt. The back end of her car pitched left, coming to a stop just shy of the intersection.

She looked around. The buildings around her were all the same, the street names jumbled and foreign in the adrenaline-soaked chaos of her mind. She had no idea where she was, or where she was going. All she knew was pain and fear. Her chest felt like it had been ripped open, leaving a gaping hole where her heart had been.

The light turned green. Cadi pulled into the intersection, cranking the wheel hard to the right. Her front tire jumped the curb before she lurched to a stop, and she dug through her purse with quivering hands, looking for her phone.

A raw, agonized sound tore from her throat when the screen illuminated, revealing the lockscreen photo of her and Elias. Fresh agony seared at the glaring reminder that the one person she wanted to run to, the person who was her safety, her home, was the person she was running from. She quickly opened her contacts and typed the only other name she could think of.

Sera answered on the second ring.

“Cadi? It’s three a.m., are you okay?”

Cadi shattered. Uncontrollable tears wracked her body, cutting off every word she tried to get out.

“Cadi, holy fuck, what happened?!”

Her breaths came in ragged bursts. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t talk, couldn’t think. Burning spasms gripped her chest with each failed attempt, but she at last choked out the only three words she could manage. “I need you.”

“Send me your location. I’m on my way.”

The screen blurred. Cadi’s scattered thoughts refused to focus long enough to do what she needed. It felt like a lifetime before she found the app, and her shoulders sagged with the effort it took just to tap Share.

Her phone clattered against the console as she pressed her forehead into the smooth leather of her steering wheel. She wrapped her arms around herself, holding tight against the brutal tremors that continued to course through her until her cries slowly shifted into a numb silence. Her mind slowed, shutting off her ability to feel in an attempt to protect itself from the shredding pain.

Time slipped by, but she had no idea how long. It might have been minutes, could have been hours. She didn’t even move when light flooded her car, barely able to manage the strength needed to turn her head toward the frenzied tap of knuckles against her window. At first she didn’t recognize the face she saw, though her battered mind slowly worked to solidify Sera’s horrified expression as she took in Cadi’s red, swollen eyes.

Sera wrenched the door open and reached in to pull her out. She might have said something, asked a question, but Cadi couldn’t hear it. All she could do was cling to Sera. Her legs refused to move on their own, so her friend bore her weight, gently helping her into the passenger seat of the four by four.

The smell of earth and incense clung to the exposed brick walls in Sera’s loft. Her grip on Cadi never faltered as she guided her across the threshold and straight to the sofa in the middle of the room. Something warm and heavy pressed against Cadi’s thighs the instant she sat down, then hot breath hit her face, followed by a damp tongue lapping at her cheek.

“Cuba! Come on girl, get down. Read the room,” Sera said, grabbing the massive black dog by the shoulders and dragging her from the couch.

Cadi sat in silence, staring at nothing. Feeling nothing. She didn’t even have the strength to wonder what had happened, what had gone wrong, why Elias would have done that. Something cold brushed against her fingers and she flinched, pulling her arm tight against her body.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sera soothed as she crouched down beside her to take her hand and wrap it around a small glass. Cadi looked down at the amber liquid, her arm still refusing to obey any command that wasn’t directly tied to survival. Sera gently cupped her hand beneath Cadi’s to help her to guide the dead limb. “Drink.”

Harsh fumes burned Cadi’s nose, her stomach twisting in a silent threat that made her hesitate. Sera gently pressed her fingers to the bottom of the glass and tipped it back just enough to send the cold liquid down Cadi’s throat. She swallowed hard, coughing around the burn of alcohol that, surprisingly, felt almost welcome. At least this pain she could control, unlike the clawing ache still raging in her chest.

Her body shuddered when a deep smolder settled into her gut while a familiar warm tingle spread to her arms. She angled the glass toward Sera in a silent yet clear demand for a refill. Liquid rang against crystal as Sera poured, and Cadi emptied her second glass with a quick toss of her head.

The cushion beside her dipped when Sera lowered herself down, placing the bottle of whiskey onto the wooden coffee table with a soft thunk. She turned to face Cadi, distress and concern carved into every inch of her face.

“Sweetie, what happened?”

Cadi squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. If only she knew. It still didn’t feel real. “I don’t know. He just … he woke me up and was standing there, staring, and he had …” Her voice shook as fresh tears bit at her eyes. “He had his gun. He grabbed me. Hard. Pulled me out of bed and—fuck.”

Tightness gripped her throat, cutting off her words. She couldn’t say them; saying them made it real. Warmth found her shoulders, Sera’s hand tracing a gentle path across her back. She pulled in a quivering breath and pushed forward.

“He pointed it at me and told me to move,” Cadi continued, “I didn’t know what to do, so I just did what he said. I was so fucking scared.”

She pulled her thumbnail between her teeth and wrapped her other arm tight around her middle, still barely holding herself together.

“Shit,” Sera’s voice cracked, rougher than Cadi had ever heard. “What the actual fuck.”

Cadi shook her head and reached for the bottle. “And the way he just stared at me. I begged him to stop, but he just—” Her breath caught. “His eyes were—why would he do that?”

Sera watched her, pain burning in her stare as she shook her head.

“I don’t know, sweetie. It doesn’t make any sense. Elias would never …”