Sharp edges. S.A. Partridge

ignore the pathetic sounds he makes when I kick him in the ribs. I need him to die. I lose myself in a red rage.

      The door opens and strong arms grab me from behind.

      “Wat gaan hier aan?” What’s going on here?

      An unearthly roar, like it’s coming from a beast inside me, escape my mouth.

      Nursing staff hurry into the room to tend to James. I kick out at them. “Leave him alone!” I bellow. “He’s a fucking mur­derer.”

      I’m thrown into the passage. My first instinct is to run back inside to finish what I started, but two men in blue cleaners’ uniforms hold me back.

      “You’re going to kill him,” one of them says.

      “I don’t care, let me go!”

      With the help of the nurses, James is lifted back to the bed. He holds his hands to his broken nose and blood streams through his fingers onto the green tiled floor. The pool of blood makes me feel like I’m back in the dream. The pale-green walls shimmer like water around me. Is Demi trying to tell me something?

      James is shaking his head to one of the nurse’s questions. They look at me crossly. What is he telling them?

      “Don’t listen to him. He’s a murderer!” I scream.

      No one listens. The base of my skull has started to throb. Sweat forms a thick layer on my skin.

      James looks at me over his hand. “You think you’re the only one who lost everything, Damian, but you’re wrong.”

      How dare he! I shout until the skin of my throat rips. I don’t even know what I’m shouting. I just want him to know that he’s wrong. He has no right to be upset. Rough hands pull me away.

      MY CAPTORS carry me down the dimly lit passage. My shoes drag behind me, followed by a nurse. I can hear her square-toed shoes clip-clopping on the tiles.

      I’m sweating like crazy and the shimmering hasn’t gone away. The dream is closer now, I can feel it.

      “Where are you taking me?” I ask the man to my left. The badge on his overalls identifies him as Barry.

      “We’re almost there, don’t worry. The nurse will sort you out.”

      I’m led into a small room that smells like mould. The men hold me down on the bare mattress, while the nurse secures my wrists to the metal rails on the side of the bed.

      “What are you doing? Stop it!”

      I kick with my legs, but they’ve all moved out of reach. Sweat from my forehead is dripping into my eyes, making everything blurry.

      The nurse stands over me, her hand on my forehead. The moisture in my eyes and the light shining above my head makes it impossible to see her face. She’s just a dark smudge.

      “We’re going to give you a sedative to calm you down,” she says.

      “Don’t touch me,” I say, trying to wriggle my head out of her grasp.

      She rubs a swab on the inside of my arm and without hesitation inserts a long needle into my skin. It doesn’t hurt, but the sight of it makes me queasy. When she’s done, she drops the needle into a red biohazard bin and starts walking away.

      “Hey, where are you going? You can’t just keep me here. I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the one who should be locked up. Hey!”

      Still, no one listens to me.

      Barry and the other cleaner disappear. The nurse writes something on a clipboard and then leaves as well.

      “Hey!” I shout, but there’s no one left to hear me.

      I try to pull my arms free, but what little strength I had is gone. I grit my teeth and ball my fists, but it’s no use. I move my head left and right, but the room is bare of anything that could help me. There’s not even a sheet on my bed or a pillow under my head. This must be where they keep the crazies.

      It’s not fair that I’m tied down and drugged while James is free to go. I’ve lost everything. Everything! He doesn’t even care. He can walk out of here and carry on with his life. What’s left for me? Nothing!

      I peer at the blood blackening my knuckles. I could have killed him. I should have. The thought brings me little comfort. It doesn’t change anything. She’s still gone, he’s still here. I’m still lost.

      Eventually my body stops fighting. The drug is starting to kick in, mixing with the medication already flooding my system. I watch the peeling ceiling heave in and out, feeling my chest rise and fall slowly. My breathing is shallow. The dream is close now. I can almost smell the sea.

      My eyelids begin to droop. In the distance I can hear the roar of the ocean.

      Demi, if you’re there, I want you to know that I love you.

      Water begins to seep through the gap under the door, spreading to form a darkening pool. I watch as it drips through the keyhole, sweats down the wood in tiny rivulets. Waves tap at the windows, washing away the grime and bird crap that’s encrusted the glass over the years.

      My breath weakens, escaping from my lips in icy gusts. My eyelids close. It takes a lifetime for them to open again. When they do, she’s here, floating in the water in front of me. She’s never been this close. I can see the oceans in her eyes, the universe in her pupils.

      She reaches for my hand. I fight my bonds and this time they give. I rise up and slowly extend my hand. With the other I pull from my pocket the silver charm bracelet which I was supposed to have given her on her birthday. The little heart floats up, the tiny diamond inside twinkling.

      There’s no deluge to separate us this time. In the eternity it takes for me to reach her, I let go of my hatred for James, the pain I’ve been holding onto for days. She’s the only thing that matters.

      Our fingers touch, and with that I sink into oblivion.