Return (Coming Home #1) by Meli Raine Read Free Book Online Page B

touching my arms, my hands, my waist, myself.
    “Who are you?” I can barely speak. A cold dread settles in my lips, my neck, along the outlines of my breasts. The fear is primal. I am about to fight formy life. I do not know what I am fighting.
    Or who.
    “I’m Daddy,” says the voice. It feels like someone is sliding an icicle into my heart.
    That’s not my dad.
    “Where’s my real dad?” I cry out, my voice high with hysteria, my sense of self fading. I become the darkness, my arms and legs disappearing into it. I’m melting and freezing at the same time, when suddenly my mouth is taken by the coldkiss of a violent being who traps me in something close to strong arms, but they feel like ribbons of death.  
    I can’t breathe.
    The lips of this evil entity suck all the air from me. Its fingers shove beneath my waistband and up under my shirt at once, covering my tender flesh with a cold scrape of pain. I try to cry out and I gag. The sound sticks in my throat. The touch is everywhere. I ca n not escape. It violates me. It penetrates me.
    It wants to own me.
    It wants to kill me so no one else can own me.
    The ribbons that bind me begin banging, loud, over and over. The sound is pain, a loud boom that grows until I open my mouth and scream.
    But sound does not come out. I gag.  
    Blood pours forth as I cough up my own heart, still beating—
     
    CRASH!
    The front door of the trailer slamsopen.
    “CARRIE!” Mark shouts as I realize I’m screaming over and over, clawing at my throat. I’m sitting up in my small bed and my eyes take him in. I close my eyes and see darkness. I scream more.
    I can’t breathe.
    “Is someone in here? Is someone hurting you?” he asks, a gun in his hand, pointed down but ready.
    I can’t breathe.
    My heart pumps so hard in my chest. It feels like it’s in mythroat. It was in my throat seconds ago. I vomited it up, right?
    No.
    That was a dream.
    I hang my head and stop screaming. My throat feels like road rash. It’s happening again.
    The dreams.
    A cold sweat covers me as Mark takes five seconds to check the tiny trailer, prodding the bathroom door open. He quickly sees that no one else is here.
    I can’t talk.
    I’m still trapped in darkness. I’mstill bound b y the icy ropes in my dream.
    Mark comes to me and sits on the very edge of the bed, holstering his gun. His eyes are cold and sharp. He’s in rescue mode.
    Reality seeps in slowly. I’m in my trailer. I can see. No more dark tunnel. My skin is free to move. I lift my arms and put a palm over my heart. It’s still there. My blood pounds in my ears. I can see light.
    I’m okay.
    Thedream wasn’t real.
    In the first few weeks after I moved to Oklahoma to follow Dad, the dreams started. The same two dreams. This one, and one where I almost see the face of the being that captures me. Almost.
    I t’s maddening.
    But I’ve spent two years without the dreams. Why are they back?
    As I think, Mark studies me. His eyes change. Concern floods the irises until they’re a dark brown witha golden ring. It’s the color of worry. The color of compassion.  
    The color of love.
    “You were screaming,” he says in a voice hoarse with agony. “I thought someone was attacking you.”
    They were , I think. Just not in the way you imagined .
    I sniff and blink lots of time s . My mind feels split in two. Blood floods my arms and feet. My toes feel numb. My lips feel big. Nothing is normal. I pullthe sheet over my body and just stare at him. The only sound in my little home is our breath.
    We’re both panting hard, but for totally different reasons.
    His brow deepens with worry, the muscles around his jaw tight. His eyes flit around the room as if he’s scanning. Surveying. Still on constant watch for danger.
    Danger.
    “It was a dream,” I finally choke out.
    “Some dream,” he says in a voicefilled with sympathy. “You really screamed like someone was killing you, Carrie.” His concern becomes greater. Mark’s eyes