Page 20 of Set In Stone

“Krystina, what happened? Who did this toyou?”

She stares back at me, her deathlike gaze cold and vacant when she finallyspeaks.

“Youdid.”

Ijolted awake,shock reverberating through my system. It took me a minute to collect my bearings. I glanced over at Krystina and saw she was sleeping peacefully. Breathing andunharmed.

Just adream.

My heart pounded in my chest, but I was careful to keep still in the bed. I didn’t want another one of my nightmares to be the reason she woke. Not again. I tried to shake off the nausea, feeling repulsed by the haunting images that plaguedme.

Rolling onto my side, I watched my sleeping beauty. Her peaceful and angelic face helped to calm the roaring pulse of blood in my ears. Her lips were slightly parted, and her steady breathing created the gentle rise and fall of her breasts. I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in her, but I knew she needed sleep. The fitful dreams that inundated me most of the night had woken Krystina more often thannot.

My nightmares were the same as usual. They always began with the child version of myself reliving the moments before I discovered my father’s dead body, evolving into the adult version of myself chasing after my mother. However, the dreams had changed recently. Krystina’s face and voice was now intertwined in the web of images, causing me to wake up feeling fearful that she wouldn’t be there. I was afraid she wouldn’t be beside me in our bed. Or worse – that I had physically harmed her in some way. While every dream ended differently, there was one constant theme. Krystina was hurt, and I had been the one to causeit.

I rolled onto my back and tried to fall back asleep. Visions from the night flashed before my eyes. I could still see my mother running, her black hair flapping behind her in the wind as she ran. I could hear Krystina calling to me as I chased shadows into the unknown. I could almost smell the blood that dripped from her body. I turned my head to look at her once more, needing assurance that she was okay. That it was only adream.

She’s here. Beautiful as ever, and present. Justrelax.

But I still couldn’t shake off the unease. I glanced at the clock. It wasn’t quite five in the morning yet. I felt anxious, and my skin was covered with the sheen of a nervoussweat.

Giving up any thoughts of falling back to sleep, I rolled over and climbed out of bed. I had office work to do, but it wasn’t the distraction I needed. An intense physical work out was the only thing that would clear my head after such a disturbing night. If it weren’t for the fact that it was barely dawn, I would have called my trainer for a cathartic sparingsession.

I quickly threw on a pair of gym shorts, left Krystina alone in her peaceful slumber, and headed toward my home gym in the penthouse. Once I was there, I went to the stereo system with the hope that music would drown out the sound of Krystina’s scared voice from my nightmare. I turned it on and Bastille blared through the speakers. Startled by the loud volume, I quickly lowered it to a reasonablelevel.

I pressed my lips together in annoyance. I rarely played music that loud. That meant Krystina must have used the gymrecently.

I’ll have to remind her to turn it back down after herworkouts.

How she found the time for a workout over the past week was astonishing. It was no wonder she looked so tired. I made a mental note to monitor her gym time going forward. While I appreciated her desire to stay physically fit, she was pushing herself entirely too much and everyday my concern about her healthgrew.

After selecting a series of songs to accompany my workout, I stepped up to the treadmill. I began my warm up to the instantly identifiable voice of Sia, her raspy voice holding just enough dark qualities to match my mood. As the belt began to pick up speed, I thought about everything that transpired over the past fewweeks.

Years of study allowed me to take a step back and analyze everything rationally. I knew why I had nightmares. They were brought on by fear and childhood trauma. As to why Krystina was now manifesting in those nightmares was most likely due to fear and trauma as well. I had almost lost her in a near fatal car crash. The images of her being found in the trunk, her lifeless body and blood-matted hair, would forever be singed into mybrain.

While she was now alive and well, I was still very much afraid. I was afraid of losing her, but in a different sense. I was afraid to lose her because of something I fucked up and was subconsciously terrified that my temper would get the best of me again. If that happened, I would be no better than my father. Krystina deserved so muchmore.

I didn’t need a shrink to tell me thesethings.

As my feet pounded through the last mile on the treadmill, sweat began to drip down the side of my face. I grabbed a towel from the handrail, wiped away the perspiration, and slowed the treadmill to a cooldown.

Satisfied that my muscles were warmed up enough to go a round with the punching bag, I climbed off the treadmill and headed to the far corner of the room. As I made my way there, the ping from a cell phone notification sounded through the room. I picked up my cell that I had left sitting on the bench press and saw that it was a text fromHale.

Today

5:43 AM, Hale:A reporter got in to see Charlieyesterday.

I felt all the blood drain from my face, before it came roaring back with a vengeance. It went from ninety-eight degrees to two hundred twelve in less than asecond.

Fuck!

Without hesitation, Idialed Hales number. He picked up on the firstring.

“I thought you had this handled!” Ibarked.

“It was handled, Mr. Stone. However, there was a new guard on duty yesterday. He just transferred in from another prison. I wasn’t made aware of him until the Correction Commissioner called me this morning to let me know that Charlie had avisitor.”

I slammed my fist down on the seat of the benchpress.

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