Jekyll's Wife

Chapter Twelve - Wide Awake

A hand, delicate in touch, traced her spine and snapped her out of her dreams.

Gasping in the cool night air, she tried to shake sleep from her mind. Had a hand just touched her, or had she imagined it.

She rolled onto her back, her head looking over shoulder as she did so. At first she didn't seem him, not in his usual place, he didn't have the moonlight to highlight his frame this time.

Huddled in the shadows in the far corner of the room, her husband stood once more.

She felt more than saw his eyes, intently on her body. She looked down at the bed and realised that the covers had been thrown from her body, exposing her naked flesh to the night air.

Had she done that whilst dreaming of summer and sunshine?

She shivered in the winter's night, her skin puckering in the falling temperature.

Had she removed the sheet, or had he? She watched him with the same intensity that she felt from his gaze.

Her hands slipped to cover her exposed vulnerabilities, telling herself that she was doing it to protect herself from the bitter chill in the air and not from his prying eyes.

Unable to see him, she did not realise he'd moved until he stood beside her, his hand catching hers as they sought to cover her nipples.

She snapped her head up to look at him. This was different to the other times she'd caught him watching her sleep. It hadn't happened since 'the incident', but even still this felt too new.

She felt a trickle of terror slip down her spine, despite the fact that she knew it was him.

The look in his eye was one of predatory intentions rather than unbridled lust. It awakened a fight or flight instinct in her that she didn't know she owned.

Shoving off his hand, she darted forward and grabbed the bed sheet, pulling it tightly up her body until it rested in the crook of her neck.

She scooted away from him on the bed, putting distance between their bodies. "Wh-What are you doing Jonathon? It's late. Shouldn't you be asleep?" She pleaded rather than asked.

His body swayed as though about to move, but he remained still. "Isn't this what he did?" He asked slowly. Maria recoiled and shook her head.

"What do you mean? Who's he?"

"Me." He whispered, his voice racked with a sense of devastation that she couldn't comprehend.

He knelt onto the bed, causing the mattress to dip, sending her tumbling forwards into his chest.

His hands wrapped around her waist and held her. She took a deep breath and tilted her head back, "please." She begged. "Please don't."

She felt his body stiffen beside her. She thought she heard him make a sound, but he didn't speak as he pushed her from his body and stood back up.

Taking one last look at her, he turned and headed for the bedroom door. He opened it, paused, looked back at her, before shaking his head and walking out, closing the door behind him.

Left to kneel alone in the silence, she let out a long breath and slumped into the mattress. Relief spread through her like wild fire, quickly chased out by guilt. She'd never refused her husband before, but something had told her that tonight, it was safer to do so.

Leaning back until she laid on the mattress, she let out a loud sigh and shook her head in a mixture of relief, confusion and sadness.

Closing her eyes she tried to shake the image of his eyes from her mind, but whatever she did, she could feel him watching her. Staring at her as though she was his victim.

She snapped her eyes open, shocked at her own thoughts. Her husband isn't a bad man and yet she considered herself a victim? Of what? His needs and her wifely duty? She shook her head in frustration, she was sure she'd done the right thing.

The fact that he watched her whilst she slept again, unnerved her. Maybe she should consider talking to him and seeing if there was a reason for his behaviour. His words had confused her though. 'Isn't this what he did', she was sure that's what he said.

She suddenly realised that she wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look that sad before. Maybe there was something wrong, maybe that's why this time had felt different.

She sighed deeply again and turned onto her side, trying and failing to find sleep. Deciding in the end, that she would go and speak to him tomorrow to check that he was OK, she finally began to fall back to sleep, her mind preoccupied by the terror it conjured at the very idea of having to return to his laboratory.

This time would be different, she promised herself.

This time, would be different.