Title: Slumber
Author: Christy Sloat
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Not all princesses get their happily ever after...
They tell me I killed my boyfriend Phillip in cold blood. I stabbed him twenty one times. I’m only seventeen years old, and I am serving life in Spindle Ridge Asylum for the Criminally Insane.
I don’t remember killing him, so it’s really hard to believe I’m capable of murder. In fact I don’t remember anything before I came to Spindle Ridge, not even my boyfriend.
I can only grasp onto my realistic dreams while the madness of the asylum threatens to pull me under. I dream I’m a beautiful princess and there is an evil faerie named Maleficent who is bent on my destruction. The dreams are the closest thing I have to memories of my life, except they aren’t real.
I’m crazy. I’m not a princess.
They’re the mad illusions of an irrational teenage girl, right?
They’ve assigned me a new doctor, and she says I can trust her, and that she’ll help me see the truth of who I really am.
When she arrived she brought a new patient, Sawyer, who is everything Spindle Ridge isn’t: exciting, mysterious and beautiful. He promises he’s here to rescue me. Trusting either of them frightens me.
Could it be possible that my dreams are more than just the imaginings of a delusional girl? Could they be truth?
I woke in the
middle of the night hearing screams fill the air. This was not uncommon at all,
but tonight I wasn’t expecting it. Normally when Adele’s meds are changed, she
wakes screaming that she can’t sleep. Adele’s room is across from mine. She is roughly
in her twenties and I never learned how she ended up here. I try not to talk to
the other patients. I don’t know why it is, but I don’t fit in with these
people. To them I’m the murderer and they tend to think less of me. That’s
fine. I am what they say I am. That’s why I’m here, right?
They told me I stabbed my boyfriend, Phillip,
but I don’t remember doing it. I actually don’t remember Phillip at all. No
recollection of having been in a relationship either. I must have killed him or
else I wouldn’t be in Spindle Ridge.
Dr. Altman
says that I have to believe that I did it or we will never get anywhere. I’ll
admit it’s hard to believe that these hands could stab a person twenty times.
No matter how I imagined it, it is always hard to believe.
I sat up
listening hard for the screams. When they came again I noticed they were not
female, they were male. The screams were deeper and reached a longer distance
than Adele’s cries ever could. I wondered if the whole building could hear him.
I pulled my
covers up over my neck and covered my face. I just wanted to sleep and fall
back into the dream I was having. It was beautiful, and if I had my way, I
would stay there forever.
Wait!
I sat up fast. Closing my eyes, I tried to
remember the dream to the last second. It wasn’t the same dream as the one’s
prior. This dream was different! This dream was me and a boy.
I never
dreamt of anyone but my parents and the evil woman. The dream’s soft lullaby
came back to me as I remembered where I was.
The smell of
fresh grass came across my senses.
The sky so
blue as I lay on a blanket. I rolled over and saw the face of a boy. He was
everything that Spindle Ridge wasn’t; he was beautiful. He had long, shaggy,
but not unruly, hair that touched his collar. When he smiled at me, he looked
like a boy in love. In love with me.
“Get up you
lazy sack!”
I opened my
eyes and was pulled back into the now. I was forced to leave the dream behind
as I was being pulled out of bed by two nurses.
Christy Sloat is a SoCal born girl who resides in New Jersey currently with her husband, two daughters and Sophie her Chihuahua. Christy has embraced the love of reading and writing since her youth and was inspired by her grandmother's loving support. Christy passes that love of reading, writing, and creativity to her daughters, family, and friends. When you do not find Christy within the pages of a book you can find her being mommy, wife, crafter, and dear friend. She loves adventurous journeys with her friends and can be known to get lost inside a bookstore. Be sure to venture into her Past Lives Series, The Visitor's Series, and watch for many more exciting things to come.
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