The Shower
Gretchen awoke from her nightmare with a sharp gasp, sitting up quickly and richocheting her eyes across her bedroom. Her rapid breaths subsided slowly with the knowledge of her waking. She fell back onto her mattress, hand over her heart. The dream was already trickling away from her consiousness. She remembered feeling trapped, or falling, or a bit of both. Worst was the vivid memory of a voice before waking. The low, hissing tone felt like it had whispered directly into her ear, “You’ll do wonderfully”, followed by deafening laughter from all sides. She shook the voices from her groggy mind, swishing her medium-length blond hair. Calmed, she leapt out of bed, throwing off her nightie and hopping directly into the nearby bathroom shower. ...