Slumber (Slumber Duology #1) Read online

  Slumber

  Book one of the Slumber Duology

  Christy Sloat

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, LLC.

  Novi, Michigan 48374

  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Slumber

  Copyright © 2017 by Christy Sloat

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, LLC.

  Cover Photography: Georgia Skies Photography

  Cover Model: Kirsten Ledford

  Cover Artist: Aurelia Fray of Pretty AF Designs

  Edited by Melanie Williams

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

  Dedication

  For my little princess, Kendyl. I know it’s not easy being the youngest, but you’ll be alright. I know that you may act like a princess, but deep down you’re tough as nails and as brave as a warrior.

  Prologue

  “They say if you dream a thing more than once, it’s sure to come true …” Sleeping Beauty

  “I had a dream last night,” she said as she peered out of the window. The day was dark and dreary like most days. The doctor sighed and pulled out a journal. He seemed particularly annoyed today.

  “Was it the same as the others?” he asked her as he started to jot down notes. She pulled her tangled hair back from her face. It tickles and irritates her most of the time. It desperately needed to be cut and a brush through wouldn’t hurt either, but those are luxuries that she can’t have in here.

  “Yes, like always. I dreamt of the same thing, again.”

  The doctor started writing faster, not meeting her eyes.

  “Tell me about it, Rory.”

  It’s always the same dream. The dream she has again and again, except this time was different. This dream had a different ending.

  “I dreamt I was a princess, and I lived in a beautiful kingdom.” She paused a moment, scared to go on. The dream can be frightening. It’s also scary to tell her doctor when she has them for fear he’ll think she’s getting worse.

  “I was a baby. It was my first birthday, and people came to visit me for my party. The crowd celebrated my birthday as if it was more than just a party, as though it was a triumph. Like turning one was a miracle.” She stopped, but the doctor urged her to go on.

  “Then a black cloud appeared; everyone was frightened. Some hid and some ran. My parents shielded me from a being unlike any I have ever seen. She was awful and evil looking. She was angry,” Rory said to the doctor with fear in her voice.

  “Why was she angry?” he asked. It’s always the same questions from him. She desperately hoped that one day he would dare to ask something different.

  “She wasn’t invited to the party. She was mostly angry at my father, the king. She said that he loved her once and that she thought he would at least send her an invitation to the event. My mother, the queen, told her to leave at once, but the woman stood her ground and told the queen to mind her own business.”

  “How did that make you feel?” the doctor asked. Rory pondered for a moment. How did this make her feel?

  “Confused?” She couldn’t think of any other feeling except for that. It’s always confusion that filled her while she was here.

  “Go on.”

  Rory bit her lip.

  “This dream is different,” she said. “Instead of leaving, the evil woman casts a spell; one that changes the course of history. It affects the whole village. She told my parents that I will not see my sixteenth birthday because she will see to it that I suffer greatly. ‘This is not a threat,’ she said, ‘but a promise.’ Not hiding her anger, she also warned that the whole Kingdom of Ancora will suffer and fall. It will become hers and she will do with it as she pleases. She will rule, locking me away as her prisoner.” Rory stopped. The thought of the dream hurt. It felt real, but she knew it wasn’t. The doctor assures her of that every time she feels this way. She can’t help but find a correlation between the dream and her real life. She is locked away as a prisoner now, isn’t she?

  The doctor still not looking up from his notes, he still couldn’t meet her eyes after all this time.

  “I’m scared because she seemed so genuine. The dreams, they feel like memories,” Rory confided.

  “Rory, it was just a dream. I wouldn’t worry about it. The woman can’t hurt you,” he said.

  There was something different in the doctor’s voice this time. She couldn’t quite discern what it was.

  She sat back and stared outside into the gardens below hoping for a glimpse. It was the only good part of being in this awful office talking to a man who couldn’t care less. The fog had settled in now and the only chance of seeing the grounds outside was over. The fog ruins everything.

  Chapter 1

  Rory

  I got here in the middle of the night. It was raining like crazy and the first person to meet me was Nurse Mary. She is a short and stout older lady who couldn’t control biting her lip—she still can’t. Rushing me inside, she pulled me into a bright white room. Rain dripped from my head and onto the floor making a small puddle at my feet. I stood there for a while shivering while she filled out the necessary paperwork. When she was done, Nurse Mary stripped off my clothes, but found it hard to do so with my shackles fastened.

  “Please,” she begged. “Can’t we take off her chains so I can get her dressed?”

  The man who shackled me nodded and got to work unlocking my hands then moving to my feet. It felt freeing to not hobble when she asked me to walk to the scale so she could weigh me in.

  Once I was weighed, she led me to the showers, where she scrubbed my naked body with a stinging antiseptic soap. I cried not because the soap burned my skin but because the act was humiliating. No one likes to be naked in front of strangers. I would have rather stood all day in shackles than be scrubbed down like a dog.

  After my shower, she towel-dried me and dressed me in a fresh pair of underwear and my white nightgown. Watching my old clothes being thrown into an incinerator, I got one last look at the blue dress I wore into the asylum. It didn’t strike me as odd until months later that I wore a fancy dress on the day of my arrival. Many questions went through my head on the first day, but what I was wearing was not one of them. Now I wonder what I was doing in that fancy dress.

  After I was clothed, Nurse Mary led me to another room. This room was not as bright as the first, instead it was dark and dank.

  I sat alone in the room, in a single chair waiting for someone to come inside. Fighting sleep, I sat in the dark, but it was coming and there was no stopping it. I fell asleep with my head against the wall. Finally, the door opened in a rush. I awoke and found myself drooling onto my knees. Dropping them down, I stood facing the woman who I would regard as the most terrifying woman I had ever met.

  She exuded confidence, holding her hea
d high as she stood in front of me. In her large hand she held a tiny cup as she smiled wickedly at me showing me that she was in charge. I got all of that in one evil smile and trembled at the sight of her as a light came out of nowhere and shone on her face. She had hair as black as coal and her eyes were just as dark. She looked exactly as a woman should if she worked in an asylum; she fit in here nicely.

  “Rory, do you know why you’re here?” she asked coldly. I nodded as I stared at her dark plum lips. They were almost as dark as blood. I couldn’t help but picture her eating hearts just before she came into the room.

  “Rory, focus!” she snapped.

  I nodded. I knew why I was here. My escort to the hospital informed me—although I don’t remember where or when he told me. He advised me to stop my sniffling that I deserved my punishment when he banged on the front door.

  “Yes. I think … I think I killed someone,” I answered.

  I still couldn’t believe it was possible. How could I kill someone? I didn’t remember my life before, so I wasn’t sure of the circumstances. I didn’t know the why’s, how’s, or who’s just yet. How did a girl who was popular and happy murder someone? I had hoped that I would find that out soon.

  I hoped the fog in my head would clear and I would get answers.

  “Killed someone,” she laughed. “You murdered your own boyfriend! You stabbed him brutally twenty times. Afterwards you claimed insanity, and that’s why you are here. If you asked me my opinion, I would tell you that you had murderous tendencies all throughout your life. It’s just a shame no one caught it before that poor boy was killed.”

  “I didn’t ask you,” I whispered as the tears streamed down my face.

  She leaned forward, placing her face so very close to mine. “What did you just say?”

  I looked up and swallowed. She was intimidating, but how much worse could my life get? I was already in an asylum. What did I have to lose?

  “You heard me. I didn’t ask you if I was crazy.”

  The slap that came after struck me so hard it knocked me off of my chair. I lay on the ground with the woman standing over me. “Next time you mouth off, it will be worse than that,” she said. “Now get up and sit down.”

  Standing on wobbly legs, I sat in the chair like a well-trained dog. I learned my lesson; back talking this woman was not to be tolerated. My sudden bravery was wiped out of existence with one slap.

  “You’re sentenced to life in Spindle Ridge Asylum. You will be here for the remainder of your pitiful existence. So my suggestion to you is to do as you’re told. Got it?”

  My head throbbed from the slap, but I managed a nod.

  “Can I go to my room?” I asked, not looking her in the eyes.

  “Of course you can. But first, your medication.”

  She handed me the small plastic cup that contained three red pills and a small glass of water that sat on the table next to me. I took the cups and stared at them in wonder.

  Would they help me get better? Or hinder my memories further?

  “Look, we don’t have all damn day. Take the pills or we will force you to take them,” she warned.

  I took the pills, chasing them with water. They went down slowly, dragging down my throat on the way.

  “More water, please?” I begged.

  “They’ll work their way down. Stick out your tongue,” she instructed. I did so, and she checked to make sure I swallowed the pills like a good little girl.

  “All right, now let me formally introduce myself,” she began. “I’m the head doctor here at Spindle Ridge. My name is Dr. Malisa Fenwick, but you may call me Dr. M. I don’t expect that you and I should see too much of each other because if that were the case then it would mean you’re causing trouble. And trouble, Miss Rosenblum, would be most unfortunate. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.”

  She looked at me and placed her slender and extremely long finger along my cheek.

  “Yes, ma’am. I understand,” I mumbled.

  I could feel the effects of the medication taking a toll on me already. Either that or I was getting very drowsy from the pure torture of my day.

  “I just don’t understand what I’m doing here, Dr. M. Why did I kill my boyfriend? Why don’t I remember that?” I asked her as confusion swirled around in my head.

  I could hear myself slurring the words like a drunkard.

  “Well, that will be visited in your sessions with your doctor; you can visit with him first thing in the morning. For now I ask that you follow Nurse Raven here to your room. Goodnight, Rory,” she said as a tall, slender girl entered the room and took me by the arm. She had jet black hair that was cut very short and her make-up was worn excessively thick. Her eyes were rimmed in black, and when she smiled at me, it made her look like an animal.

  “Good night,” I returned.

  “Sleep well, my pet.”

  I stumbled through the room following Nurse Raven, but before I left completely, I looked back at Dr. M who had just referred to me as her pet. She waved to me with her long fingers and her red nails. And just before the door to the room closed, I saw her laughing. The sound it made was not happy laughter, but completely diabolical.

  Chapter 2

  Dr. Altman

  “The patient seems to be developing more symptoms. Her dreams are showing no improvement. May need to look into her medication and alter it slightly—”

  “Dr. Altman?”

  Dr. Altman hit stop on his recorder as a nurse walked into his office.

  “Ah, Nurse Mary, how can I help you?” he asked the nervous nurse standing in his doorway. She bit her lip as she opened the door further.

  “I’m just checking on Rory’s progress. I was sent by the director,” she informed him.

  He swiveled his chair around, looking out onto the grounds below. He had been working for the Spindle Ridge Asylum for one year now, and he was constantly asked about certain patients by the director. It’s a part of his job he was used to, yet normal routine would be the director waiting until he was done with his reports. He would then hand deliver them to the director and wait for her to schedule a meeting. This director had more say, an annoying approach. After each session with a patient, either Nurse Mary or one of the other many nurses came to his office and interrupted his recording sessions.

  “Doctor, did I come at a bad time again?” Mary asked. She knew how impatient he could be. She stood there waiting for his reply.

  Finally he turned his chair and stood up. He walked to Mary and patted her on the shoulder. “No. I’ll go to the director myself, Mary. Save you a trip.” Accordingly, he walked out the door and up the flight of stairs leading to the director’s office, leaving a confused Mary in his wake.

  He reached the door of the director of the asylum. Her office sat on the top floor overlooking the ocean view that sits just outside the asylum walls. She, by far, had the best view of the place; even better than his view of the gardens. He knew she was unprepared for his arrival, but he knocked anyway.

  “Come in, Mary, you idiot—” She stopped short seeing Dr. Altman at the door. “Oh, I am terribly sorry, Dr. Altman. Do come in.”

  Dr. Malisa Fenwick, or Dr. M for short, was a tall woman with raven black hair that she kept pulled so tight that he feared for the safety of her eyes. She smiled at him. It was always a disturbing smile, never quite reaching her eyes.

  “I came about my session with Rory; you wanted to know about it. So instead of sending nurses to my office, I will come to you,” he said matter-of-factly. “I feel it’s better this way.”

  Her smile faded fast, and she nodded her head motioning for him to take a seat. He did but kept his eyes steady with hers. Dr. Altman was not scared of Dr. M, not for a second. The staff may flitter around her like scared little children, but he was a man of
science and would not be intimidated by her.

  “Well?” she said impatiently.

  “Rory’s progress is slow. I can tell you that much right now. I was in the middle of my recordings when I was interrupted by Mary. I was going to give you the full report after lunch,” he explained.

  “Peter, let’s be frank, shall we?” she asked even though she really didn’t want an answer. “Just tell me what your suggestion is.”

  She sat back into her plush, white leather chair. It matched all the other pure white furniture in her office.

  “Okay then, I think you have an unhealthy obsession with my patient,” he blurted. “You can’t wait for my official report, ever. It’s not fair to me as a doctor and it’s unfair to the patient.”

  Dr. M stood fast, her chair flying out from behind her. She was mad and that anger had no problem reaching her eyes. They flared with hatred for him as he sat in front of her.

  “How dare you come in here and diagnose me! You know what that girl did! I am merely keeping track of her progress. Progress that she is apparently not making, according to you.” Dr. M stopped, took a deep breath and continued. “I’m afraid that if you can’t make some sort of progress with that girl within two weeks’ time, I will be asking you to step down as her doctor. Do you understand?”

  She said this as calmly as she could.

  Dr. Altman’s face turned red with fury.

  “You’d take her away from me after all this time? Do you know what that would do to her? What that would do to me? She trusts me!” he shouted.

  “Dr. Altman, I’m not worried about her missing you when you’re no longer her doctor. I am, however, worried about whether or not she starts remembering why she is here in Spindle Ridge. It’s detrimental that the girl gets better and understands what she did to land herself here.”