Immaculate

Vandalised

Part Sixty-Nine

I sat up, my heart wildly thumping and my breathing hard. Another nightmare. I had been trapped inside a coffin unable to get out, buried alive and slowly suffocating. I lifted my hands and saw them shaking in the dim light the hallway light gave off. The dreams were always so real and I hated them.

I could hear Dr Green's light snores from my side and I could feel Mr Blackbourne's feet tangled with mine. I didn't want to disturb either of them.

We were in Dr Green's bed, we had eaten the Indian while watching a film and then I must have gone to sleep before the film finished as I don't remember the end.

I lay back down and closed my eyes but the images of being in the coffin came back to me. The complete blackness, the heat, the lack of air. No matter how much I had clawed and kicked...

I had to get out of bed, brush my teeth and maybe call North. I moved carefully down the bed and off the end and waited. Neither of them disturbed and I moved silently from the room and down to bottom level of the house. If I flushed the toilet down here it wouldn't disturb them. Brushing my teeth did help, it helped a lot and I mentally thanked Kota for telling me to do it.

I left the bathroom and went back up to Mr Blackbourne's study. It was still early, only a little after four in the morning according to the digital clock beside the bed, so instead of disturbing North I would write my dream down and give him the paper in the morning. I always used to write my dreams in my journal, it had helped me go back to sleep, maybe it would work tonight. I moved across to his desk intent on finding a pen and a piece of paper. I switched on his desk lamp, the light coming from the hallway not quite enough to see to write by. I wondered if they kept it on at night when I wasn't here, I doubted it somehow.

His desk was as organised as he was. His laptop was closed but just in sleep mode rather than switched off. He had a legal pad that sat beside the laptop, the angle perfectly set to the laptop. There were no pens. I wondered if he would mind me opening up his drawer to look for one and I remembered what he had told me the first time I had been here. I could look anywhere, if I wanted something all I had to do was open cupboards and drawers.

I slid the drawer open and was not surprised to see the same level of organisation in his drawer. It had dividers and in one section there were black ink pens, in another red ink pens, there was a steel ruler with his name in script across it and an eraser that matched and looked hardly used. Paperclips and other assorted stationery items were likewise divided up and it made me wonder if all his drawers were the same. I drew out a silver ballpoint pen and slid the door shut. I opened up the next drawer and saw a set of personalised stationery in embossed gold on a velum paper. I chuckled, it fit him so well. I slid that drawer shut and went to the other side of the desk, the top drawer opened quietly and it was empty except for a slim box of tissues and a packet of sweets. He was a closet sweet tooth and it made me smile. I closed the drawer, he might have a sweet tooth but he didn't hoard.

I opened the last drawer and saw it held several manilla folders. I was tempted to look inside of them but decided that was probably a step too far. I closed the drawer, curled up on his chair, drew the legal pad towards me and began to write my dreams down.

By the time I had it written down I was feeling sleepy again. I set the legal pad back where it was and returned the pen to the correct divider and then closed the drawer again. But I didn't want to move yet, his chair was comfortable. It was a leather office chair that would spin if I set my foot down and spun it around.

I heard a sound coming from outside the window, I slid from the chair and switching off the light I moved towards it quietly. I looked outside, the courtyard where Dr Green's car stood was silent and quiet and I expected it was a cat somewhere. I could see partway into the neighbours courtyards as well, but the walls were so high it was only slightly. I wondered vaguely if you could see more from Dr Green's study above me. I looked out over the top of the entrance gates towards the park that lay beyond. A few street lights were lit, but otherwise it was dark and quiet.