Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
First I tried tapping out, but he didn’t stop. I struggled against him with everything I had, realizing it just wasn’t good enough. He was too damn strong, too single-minded, and too intent on killing me. I lashed out anyway, calling on every muscle in my body to not let this happen. My consciousness wavered, and the room got darker than dark. I tore at his hair, slapped at his head, clawed at his face. That’s when I felt the wetness. Tears on his face. He was crying while he choked me.
I don’t know why, but that one small detail made hope swell inside me, and I called on every ounce of vocal power I had left to call out to him. “Kage, let me go!”
Black spots still dominated my vision, and I was shaky as hell, but I was able to roll over and look at him where he’d collapsed onto the bed. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes as he stared unseeing up at the ceiling, his chest heaving under a pale wash of moonlight. Something about him was not right, even aside from the fact that he’d just tried to kill me.
“Kage…” I whispered.
“Evan?” he whispered back.
My heart lodged in my throat. “Jamie,” I said. “Kage, I’m Jamie.”
He didn’t say anything. He was so still and quiet, with only the tears trickling out of his eyes and running down his temples proof that he was even alive. I shook him but he didn’t move.
“Kage, are you okay? I know you were dreaming. Right?” He had been dreaming, hadn’t he?
I couldn’t get him to respond at all, and that scared me even worse than being choked to the threshold of death. I jumped from the bed, naked and frantic, running around his room to find his cell phone. I knew it was there, and yet somehow I couldn’t get my brain to slow down long enough to focus on what I needed to do. “Phone,” I said aloud to myself. “Gotta find the phone.”
I finally located it on his bedside table and scrolled through his contacts, terrified that maybe in the phone switch he hadn’t added Dr. Tanner’s number to his contacts. But he had, and I called her, my hand shaking, my head telling me this could possibly be a huge mistake I was making. I didn’t trust Dr. Tanner at all, and yet she was the only person I felt I could call. She was his therapist. She’d know what to do.
“Michael, what’s wrong?” Her voice was alarmed, and that put me at ease. She wouldn’t be alarmed if she didn’t care, right?
“Dr. Tanner, this is Jamie.”
“What is it, Jamie? Is Michael okay?”
“Not really. I need you at his place right now.”
“I’m getting dressed right now, Jamie. It will take me twenty minutes to get there. Talk to me. Tell me what’s happened.”
“Well…” I glanced over at Kage, who was still catatonic on the bed. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell her. I was afraid for him, and he couldn’t tell me what he wanted me to do. “Kage was having a dream, I think. When I woke up, he was… uh… choking me.”
“What?” Her alarm ratcheted even higher. “Do you mean like really choking you?”
I cleared my throat and looked at him again, wishing he’d wake up and tell me what to do. “He almost killed me.”
I heard Dr. Tanner take a slow, deep breath. Then she did it again.
“What is he doing now? Is he still violent?”
“He’s just lying still on the bed. Crying.” The last word made me start crying. “He’s just staring up at the ceiling. He won’t talk to me. He called me Evan. That’s all he said.”
“His brother…” Dr. Tanner breathed.
“Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t mind telling you I’m terrified. He almost killed me, Dr. Tanner. I was seconds away from going out, and if that had happened… he never would have let go.”
“I’m driving now, Jamie. Try to stay calm. And whatever you do, stay away from him. I don’t know if he’ll try it again. Keep an eye on him, but keep your distance, too. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes. Please hurry, Dr. Tanner.”
She stayed on the phone during the drive, just in case anything happened. Most of the time we just sat in silence while she drove and I watched over Kage. He finally moved a little, but only enough to curl onto his side. The tears had stopped, and I wondered if it was because he didn’t have any left.
When Dr. Tanner knocked on the door, I ran to let her in.
“You look like hell,” she said.
“I think I just almost went there.”
She moved to Kage’s bedside and pulled out her medical bag. Then she began to inspect him.