Yes, good thought, it came from the hallway. People are always walking about the palace at night. Just another human being, performing their duties.
But, you know, just to be safe, I sink further into my covers.
Everything will be just—
Creak.
Oh dear God! That one was louder, closer.
It was not outside my door. It was in this room.
Maybe it’s a rat.
A giant, menacing rat looking for cheese . . . or fermented cod cakes.
Sorry, dude, we’re all out in this room. Go home.
Creak.
Motherfucker son of a bitch. Fear screams down my spine, and I reach for my light. When this room illuminates, and I don’t see a giant rat, possibly wearing one of my flower crowns, I’m going to scream.
I lean forward, almost there . . .
Please be a rat, please be a rat . . .
Just as my hand connects with the light switch, the bed dips behind me, and a large palm covers my mouth. It’s so quick, so stealthy that it muffles my scream.
What the fuck is happening?
I thrash in bed, kicking and continuing to scream, but my limbs are pinned down to the bed, my stomach to the mattress by a large body, making me immobile.
Oh God . . .
OH GOD!
Panic rises up inside me.
Fear bursts through my mind, and as my hands are being tied together, I try to scream again, but this time, a cloth is placed over my nose, and that’s all I remember before everything goes black.
* * *
The distant soundof a crashing wave startles me from my slumber, the sun nearly blinding me, making it impossible to open my eyes.
It feels like there’s a jackhammer going off in my head, pounding uncontrollably. My stomach twists from the pain.
“Fuck,” I mutter as I go to block the sunlight with my hand...but realize I can’t. “What the hell?” I tug a few times, but my hands are strapped above me.
Concern pulses through me as my memory floods back to me.
The intruder.
Being pinned to the bed.
Everything going black.
I peel my eyes open, one millimeter at a time, the light so bright that it’s hurting my head even more, and as my blurry vision evens out, I notice I’m in someone’s bedroom.
Oh my God.
