25: Why guilt?

Elaine’s POV

In the dead of night, I jolted awake, my body drenched in a cold sweat, heart hammering against my chest like a caged bird desperate for escape. Just that it wouldn’t escape even though I wanted it to at that moment.

The remnants of the nightmare clung to my consciousness like a shroud of darkness, leaving me trembling and disoriented in the dimly lit room. I was all alone. Imprisoned.

I lay there, my breath coming in ragged gasps, I struggled to shake off the tendrils of fear that still gripped me tightly in their icy embrace. The echoes of the nightmare lingered in the recesses of my mind, twisting and contorting into grotesque shapes that danced just beyond the edges of my vision.

With trembling hands, I reached out to clutch the sheets, seeking solace in the familiar embrace of the bed that had once been a sanctuary but now felt like a prison. Because I shouldn’t have made it a sanctuary from the beginning. It is a prison as intended.

Every creak of the floorboard