[Continuing the journal of Diane McMurphy, a patient in Bad Shepherd mental hospital, “The Asylum”]
“What are your dreams, Diane?” Sugar Odette asks me.
“On most nights, I dream that monsters are chasing me.”
“No, I mean your hopes for the future. When they let you out of here.”
“I hope they don’t catch me.”
“Who?”
“The monsters.”
#
Sugar gives me a hug and a kiss because she’s annoyed that I’m not taking her question seriously. Then she turns over and pretends to sleep.
#
Later, another question, mine this time:
“Do you really want to get out of here?” I ask.
“Yes, I suppose. When I’m Ready.”
“That’s what they tell you, isn’t it?” I say.
“What?”
“That you have to be ‘Ready,’ that you’re not ‘Ready,’ that there’s a Ready-Key and only they have it and you can’t get it.”
“You make it sound so …”
“Mechanical.”
“Yes.”
#
A few moments of silence punctuated by touching.
#
“Stop that,” she says.
“Not ‘Ready’?”
“Not right now.”
#
Silence not punctuated by touching.
Then sleep.
<END>
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See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc.
Terence Kuch’s speculative fiction novels * may be purchased directly from the publishers or via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
Review copies are available from the author at terencekuch /a/t/ ymail.com for:
*The Seventh Effect: a thriller from Melange Publications about a new kind of bioterrorist plot against the USA; praised by Kirkus Reviews.
*See/Saw: a literary adventure from Ink Smith Publications about implanting memories, and a murder.
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