Blind Date A Book 2020 – Book #27
The material (chapter) in this post is copyrighted by the author and may not be used or copied in any way without the author’s permission.
Chapter 1
The scream that echoed through the apartment was ripe with terror. It tore violently from Kyndra Thornton’s throat as she bolted upright in bed. Her eyes shot open, but she didn’t see the familiarity surrounding her. Her mind told her she was in mortal danger and her emotions believed it – they convinced her that her cause to be frightened was real. Her jaw throbbed from an old wound, one that brought horrors with it, horrors of a zombie and a crazy woman from her past.
“It’s okay, honey,” John Daniels said, awakened by her scream. He reached out to comfort her from his side of the bed.
The hand that came toward Kyndra wasn’t human; the skin was hanging off and puss and blood dripped from the claws that tipped of each finger. She screamed again and lashed out at the hand, punching it.
“Ouch, damn it,” John growled, sitting up and rubbing his bruised hand. “What did you do that for?”
Kyndra whimpered and shrank away from him as he moved, violently thrashing to free her legs of the covers. She fell to the floor with her legs still tangled in the sheet and cried out.
“Ky, what’s wrong?” John asked, trying to reach for her again to help her.
A grotesque zombie face peered at Kyndra from above, growling unintelligible sounds at her, reaching for her trapped legs. She fought harder.
“No!” she screamed and clawed at the floor, trying desperately to drag herself away from danger.
In the faint illumination of the street lights shining through the blinds, Kyndra spied a weapon she could use to protect herself a couple feet away. The possible weapon was a baseball bat that stood in the corner, and it was the only thing she could focus on. She didn’t have any time to waste since a bloodthirsty zombie was attacking her.
“Calm down,” John said, trying to untangle her legs from the sheets so she wouldn’t hurt herself. Once she was free, he saw what she was heading for. “Ky, stop, damn it!”
He shoved back his own covers, jumped out of bed, and darted around it, gripping the baseball bat moments before she could reach it.
In desperation, and still in the depths of her terrifying illusion, she started sobbing and shrank away from the zombie that had foiled her plan to protect herself. She scooted backwards on her butt, shaking her head, trying to think of a new defense. Her hopes died when her back came up against the wall.
“Please don’t kill me,” she sobbed, crossing her arms and curling them up around her head.
John knelt where he was, six feet from her, and took deep breaths. They’d been through this before, but it had been months since her last hallucination. This was a full blown illusion, and they were rare. They’d thought they were past them. This one was completely unexpected and the worst one yet. He knew he had to be patient and wait out her panic; it was hard for him, since all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and tell her everything was all right, he would protect her.
Ky sobbed and sobbed. Tears ran down her face and neck to saturate the thin, soft fabric of her night shirt. Her body shook with fear. For what seemed like forever, she waited for the piercing pain brought by broken teeth tearing into her flesh. When nothing happened, she chanced a peek through the small gap between her elbows.
She frowned when she saw John kneeling on the floor across the room, holding the baseball bat they kept in the corner at his side, half-resting it on the floor. He was watching her intensely. What had happened dawned on her and she slowly lowered her arms and wiped her face with her hands.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“You tried to kill my hand,” John said with a half-smirk, holding up the hand she’d punched. “But thankfully it survived.”
Ky giggled and sniffled. “What’s with the bat?”
“You were serious this time,” John said, lifting the bat slightly and looking at it. “I think you were planning to bash my head in.”
“Oh, gawd,” Ky sighed, and covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m glad you stopped me.”
“Yeah,” John said, looking back over at her, “me too. I really didn’t want to lose what little brains I have up there.”
Ky grinned. “I love you. I’m so sorry about all this. I thought it was over.”
John stood, put the bat back in its place, and walked over to where she sat. He reached down, took one of her hands in his, and pulled her up – she stood willingly. Once she was on her feet, John pulled her into his arms.
“I love you more,” he whispered in her ear.
Ky wrapped her arms up around his back and gripped his shoulders, squeezing him tight. She started crying again for an entirely different reason. She hated when she was like this. She hated what she’d tried to do to John. But instead of getting angry with her, he was always patient and calm. She loved him more than she could ever tell him and was thankful he understood. After all, he’d survived the same nightmare, so he knew exactly what she was going through.
“Thank you for loving me . . . and for putting up with all this,” she said, before kissing the side of his neck multiple times.
John smiled. “You’re a handful, but you keep me entertained.”
She laughed. “Oh, is that what I am, entertaining?”
John pulled back and looked into her dark eyes. “Well, yeah! I’m not into boring women. You should know that by now.” He winked at her.
Ky sniffled, released him, and wiped tears from her face with her hands again. “I have to blow my nose.” She pulled her wet shirt away from the skin of her chest, frowning down at the fabric. “How long was I crying?”
John shrugged and took a step back, looking at her shirt as well.
“Long enough you could enter a wet T-shirt contest,” he teased, and waggled his eyebrows.
Ky laughed again and shook her head. She tucked her long dark curls behind her ears when they fell across her face. She sniffled again.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said, stepping over to the dresser in the small bedroom to retrieve a clean shirt. “I think it will make me feel better.”
“Okay,” John said. “I’ll fix the bed.”
He switched on the lamp on her bedside table and light flooded the space, nearly blinding Ky in its unexpectedness. Once her pupils adjusted and she was able to stop blinking, she noticed the bed was a disaster.
“Holy cow,” she groaned. “What did I do?”
John grinned broadly and said, “I think you were trying to entice me into new sexual position, half-in/half-out of the bed.”
“Would you stop!” Ky exclaimed, blushing slightly. She didn’t wear anything under her nightshirt and she knew the position he’d just suggested had given him one hell of an interesting view. But, even though she was slightly embarrassed, she was glad he was able to put an amusing spin on the situation; it always made her feel better.
John shrugged. “Okay, just don’t be shocked when I try to take you up on the offer later.”
Ky shook her head, left the room, went down the short hall, and entered the bathroom. She was still grinning from what John had said as she shed her wet shirt and stepped into the shower. But the glow from John’s humor washed away with the sluice of the hot water from the shower that rained down on her body. The memories of that night so long ago when she’d lost her best friend returned to haunt her again; not nearly as drastically as they just had in her dreams, converting into a living nightmare, but strong enough to make her shiver even bathed in the almost scalding shower spray.
Her jaw began to ache with the memories. She reached up and ran her finger along the almost invisible scar that ran just under her check from her chin to her ear. When John’s aunt had struck her with a board, the crazy woman had shattered the bone of her jaw. Surgery had been needed to rebuild her face. During rainy and cold weather it ached, but right now the past injury practically throbbed with a life of its own; it reminded her of all she’d suffered. The past still haunted her . . . and John, and there was nothing she could do about it. The hallucination had just proven that. She was glad John had stopped her before she’d hurt him. She didn’t know if she could live with herself if she hurt the man she loved.
Thinking about what a terrible fiancé she was for trying to off her man, Ky climbed out of the shower, toweled dry, slid into her clean nightshirt, and headed back to the bedroom.
She found John asleep in their corrected bed, snoring softly. She wanted to lie down beside him, but at the same time, she didn’t want to. She was afraid if she fell asleep again, she’d wake up screaming again, and then she might hurt John before he could stop her.
With a weary sigh, Ky decided she’d stay up and study – she had finals to prepare for. Going to college was harder than she’d expected, but at least she didn’t have to work and go to school. She’d offered, but John insisted school was enough and he wanted her to get the education she desired. He’d promised to take care of them, and he had.
She hoped she didn’t end everything for both of them with her illusions. She didn’t want to let her fear rip their world apart.
Click here to Blind Date this book!
