Play with Fire

Chapter 9

"This is Doctor Delilah Smith speaking. The date is the tenth of November 2016. I am situated in lab 306 with patient 826. The patient has shown signs of muscle movement in the facial area. His heartbeat is getting stronger every day. No concerns have arisen as of yet, I'm happy with his progress." She pressed the record button again and put the recorder down. "Well, last night's dream was...interesting was it not, Jerome?"

No reply.

"You know I think I prefer you when I'm awake. Nice and peaceful," she laughed. "Right," she said and picked up her torch, "Seeing how you moved your mouth yesterday I wonder if you can move your eyes. Wanna try it?" she lifted his eyelid with a gentle finger and shone the light into it.

Jerome's pupil shrank as the light came into view.

"I'm sure you can do it." She glanced over to the heart rate monitor and saw his heart rate had increased ever so slightly. She looked back at him. His eye was looking straight at her. She flinched a little, then laughed at her reaction. "See! I told you! Try again." She moved the light in front of his eye again. "Try to follow it."

The light moved from left to right above Jerome's eye.

Delilah watched as his eye moved slowly, following the light. She let go of his eyelid and allowed his eyes to close. "Freaking awesome!" she smiled to herself and began to take notes. Her writing was interrupted by the sound of her phone again. She brought it out and wasn't surprised to see her ex was the caller once again. She answered it and held it to her mouth. "Leave me, the fuck alone." she made sure to speak with a venomous tone and ended the call before she heard him speak. Sighing, she threw the phone on the table.

A small chuckle came from behind her.

She looked up to face Jerome. "Okay, Mr. Matricide, I get it. You think I should kill him. But let me remind you of something." She opened both of his eyelids and looked into his eyes. "I'm not a killer like you."

Delilah lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

She couldn't sleep.

She had been tossing and turning for almost two hours now. She couldn't stop thinking about her ex, not in that way of course, but she was trying to ignore the memories she fought so hard to block out all those years ago. She was moderately glad with the knowledge that when she finally did sleep, Jerome would be the one controlling her dreams. Hopefully, that meant Rhys wouldn't create a nightmare for her to endure. She wondered if Jerome slept at night, or if there was no need as he didn't need to replenish his energy. She couldn't imagine being stuck in his state, not being able to move around, and having to rely on someone else. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and attempted to sleep again.

Delilah ran as fast as she could down the street. She turned into an alleyway to her left, panting hard and forcing one foot in front of another as fast as she could. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her ex running after her, knife in hand.

He was gaining fast.

Her leg hit a metal trash can which had been left lying in the middle of the alleyway. She fell to the ground with a thud. Her hand moved up to her head and she felt blood trickling down her forehead. Cursing, she moved her head up to see her ex walking towards her. She scurried back, throwing whatever she felt with her hands. Trash, stone... anything. If she was going to go down, she was going to make a valiant effort before dying.

Finally, she was backed against a wall. There was nowhere else to run, nothing to use as a weapon. Nothing.

He took one last step and was now standing over her, glaring down with piercing eyes.

She glared right back at him, waiting to see what he'd do. Would he really kill her?

Before she could know for sure, a loud bang interrupted her train of thought.

She peeked through her fingers to see Rhys standing still, a shocked expression on his face. She rolled out of the way as he fell forward onto the ground. Delilah looked up to find a pale Jerome before her, holding a smoking gun.

He held out his hand. She took it and he helped her up.

"Almost time, doll." He smiled. "Wake up!"