She pressed her palms to the surface beneath her to push up, only to freeze.
What was that? It was soft but cold. It almost felt like…a chest? Or maybe a stomach?
Panic curled in her belly. She rolled to her side, but the shadowed world refused to let her see.
Slowly…so slowly that a few seconds passed before she’d fully moved…she touched another area.
Her world tilted and spun.
A face. She was touching a face.
Her lungs seized.
No. This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real.
She scrunched her eyes again, and this time when she opened them there was light. And that’s when she saw them—eyes. Blank, lifeless eyes staring up at her.
A scream wrenched from her chest, but when she tried to sit up, she couldn’t. Her head hit a hard surface.
She was in a box. Just like the toy box she’d been locked inside as a child.
“No. No, please!” She started hitting the wood, hard, panicked thumps. “Help! Please, someone help!”
As the bloodcurdling scream left her lungs, the box began to rock. Or maybe that was just her shaking.
She punched the wood again and again, the surface solid but warm.
“Polly! Wake up.”
Her eyes flashedopen and she shot upright.
Her chest heaved, air still barely making it into her lungs.
She wasn’t in a box. She was in Joel’s bedroom. In his bed. And he was sitting in front of her, shirtless, hair rumpled, wearing just briefs.
She studied his eyes. Worried eyes. “Joel?”
“I’m here, Sunshine.” He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
“It was a dream…”
His frown deepened. “Are you okay?”
“There was a body beneath me. For a moment, I thought I was in the basement, but then I wasn’t. I was in a box. I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t even sit up. I couldn’t…I couldn’t breathe.”
“Hey.” He leaned closer. “You’re not there. You’re here. With me. You’re safe.”
She nodded hesitantly. Then she leaned into him, resting her cool cheek against his warm chest.
For a long minute neither of them spoke, and she just breathed him in, letting the strong beats of his heart thump beneath her cheek. Coax her back to reality.
She closed her eyes.
A dream. It was just a dream.
She repeated the words again and again, needing them to sink in.
But she was still shaking.
