Nasty Little Cuts by Tina Baker EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Name: Nasty Little Cuts
- Author: Tina Baker
- Language: English
- Genre:
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
4.15 a.m., 24 December
Dolly is singing at the top of her voice, ‘Deck the halls with bras of
holly!’, collapsing into giggles then singing it again. Pat-Pat catches the
giggle, claps his hands and jumps up and down like a baby gibbon (What
are baby gibbons called? Debs wonders) and Marc smiles at the kids and
hugs her closer to him on the sofa.
Debs removes the candy cane from Pat-Pat’s pudgy hand before he
can ram it up the dog’s nose and nestles back into Marc’s arm. He kisses
her head, picks up a large present immaculately wrapped in beautiful
embossed white paper, and hands it to her.
‘Wow! Thanks, love!’
It’s heavy. He probably got the shop assistant to do the elaborate bow
on the top. She strokes the shiny wrapping paper and starts to open her
gift.
‘Best Christmas ever,’ he whispers into her hair.
It is. It’s all they’ve ever wanted. It’s everything she never really
believed she could have.
She’s about to kiss him when something stings her fingers. She looks
down to see there’s red stuff on her hands, on the box.
The pain starts.
She peels back the paper in slow motion to find – razor blades.
She tries to focus on her breathing. In, two, three. Out, two, three,
four. Do not fight for air. It makes it worse. She can’t let herself panic,
although that icy sensation is already crawling up her spine, squeezing
her chest tight.
She catches his sneer. Then the lights extinguish. Sudden darkness all
around her. Inside her. Everything muffled, claustrophobic.
She can’t see the kids. She strains to hear them.
Dolly! Pat-Pat! The words do not escape her mouth.
Dense fog, bruise-grey presses in. Like being wrapped in cotton wool.
The leaden vapour seeps into her brain, clogs her lungs.
She’s shivering. Tremors grip her in waves, shaking something loose
inside. Her thoughts splinter.
Where are her children?
She stumbles forward. No idea where she is, no idea of direction.
Faster and faster now, breaking into a run.
She has to find her kids. She senses they’re close, but—
Something shatters. She jolts, spinning round too late.
Then it’s on her. And she bucks and struggles, lashing out. She
attempts to scream, but her mouth is filled with fog which stuffs words,
pleas back in her throat. Gagging, gasping, she fights for air and tastes
something metallic.
As nightmares go, it’s not the worst.
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