I barely sl ept that night, and for once it wasn’t down to Nick’s snuffling, piggy snores. Instead it was
Amber, stalking my personal darkness. Invading every crack and crevice of my life, past and future. I
was back in a PTA meeting, but now no one would listen to a word I said, even when I banged the table.
Deborah’s upturned face melted horribly into Amber’s. I was trapped with that smug policewoman, in a
cell this time, and before I knew it, her mask of judgement and condescension had also transformed into
Amber’s face. That dinner with Rachel – my precious, beautiful girl – suddenly became dinner with
Amber, her searching blue eyes staring at me across the white tablecloth.
I would never be free of her – that’s what the dream was telling me. No tiny sliver of my life would be
safe from that penetrating gaze. I’d never been more grateful to see the dawn.