FISHER HOME
"Is it really
you?" Paula's
voice sounds hollow in her ears.
"You wouldn't
know, would you?"
"I ... I might.
I'm trying. But it's been so long ..."
"Whose fault
is that, huh?" Angry eyes, so dark, burn right into her. She can feel them
searing into her thoughts, taking command of feelings and words she hardly
even knew she possessed.
"It wasn't
an easy decision," she hears herself plead. It sounds pathetic.
"Oh, well,
that makes it much better." The sarcasm rolls right off of his tongue
and tears at Paula's heart. That pain, that resentment -- it's all because
of her.
"Please. Please,"
she argues feebly.
"Too little,
too late, lady!"
"I'm not some
lady -- I'm--"
"Don't!" he
roars. "Don't say it. I don't want to hear it."
"But--"
"You don't
deserve to call yourself that!"
You don't deserve ... you don't
deserve ...
The echo rumbles cruelly in her ears
as she snaps back to consciousness.
She feels her breath caught in her
chest as she jerks to a sitting position. She releases it and tries to
get her breathing back to normal. As she lifts a hand, she sees that it
is quivering.
It was just a nightmare, she
whispers mentally.
"Paula?"
The voice startles her, but after
the initial shock, the familiarity sinks in and begins to soothe her tattered
nerves.
"Honey,"
Bill says, reaching over.
His hand on her shoulder brings a flood of relief. "What's wrong?" he asks.
It takes Paula several seconds to
gather herself enough to answer. "Oh -- nothing. Nothing."
But Bill is studying her intently.
"You had a nightmare?"
"Oh, um, yes." She rests her head
back on the pillow, staring up at the beams of light thrown across the
dark ceiling by the moon. "Yes, that's all. It was just a nightmare."
"Paula," Bill says again, his hand
still trying to calm her. "Calm down. Breathe. It's all right."
"I'm fine, Bill," she assures him
a little too hurriedly. "You don't know--"
"I do know. I know what you were
dreaming about."
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