Read Online Breakdown by Katherine Amt Hanna - Free Book Online Page B

last.”
    “Does everywhere else have electricity?”
    “Only the cities, usually. Some bigger towns.” He took another bite. “This is delicious, thank you.”
    “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it. I thought the eggs would be good for you.”
    “I haven’t had eggs or ham in a long time.” He paused to cough.
    She fished in her pocket, held out more aspirin. “Here, have these.”
    “No—”
    “I can hear you in here coughing. I know it hurts. Please, just take them.”
    He did, and she handed him the cider. “Gosh, that’s good, too.” He took another drink.
    “A man in the village makes it. I thought the alcohol might help you sleep.” She sat down gently on the end of the bed. “Why didn’t Michael come with you?”
    “He wasn’t released.” Chris tried to make it sound casual, so she wouldn’t be worried. “He has a few more weeks.”
    “Is he going to come when he is released?”
    “I don’t know. We didn’t really talk about it. He said once that he kinda thought he’d worn out his welcome.” He took another bite.
    “That’s not true.” She shook her head with a distressed frown. “Could I send a letter? To the Distribution Center?”
    “I suppose so. He’ll get it, I think, if he’s still there.”
    “He didn’t say where he was planning to go?”
    Chris shook his head, chewed a bite quickly. “He said he had some prospects, but wouldn’t say what. He said he’d write to you again.”
    She took a deep breath, let it out. “I won’t count on it. You didn’t know him long enough to really know him.”
    “He seemed a good chap.”
    “He is a good chap,” she agreed. “He’s just not, well, for the long term, you could say. I don’t know that he’s ever finished anything in his life.”
    Chris didn’t know what to say to that. Pauline roused herself, stood up.
    “Well, I’ll be back in a bit for the plate.” She went out.
    Chris ate every scrap of the food, using the bread to mop up the egg yolk and any grease left from the ham. He felt full for the first time since London. He left the plate on his lap, leaned his head back against the pillow, and closed his eyes, occasionally lifting the mug for a drink of the cider. He considered what Pauline had said about Cooper. He could see how her assessment would fit. Cooper had talked a lot about Pauline. He had made it clear they had been occasional lovers for years, but it was also clear that Cooper had never made any firm commitment to her. Chris was nearly certain he never would, and he was glad Pauline seemed to understand that, even if she did still care for Cooper to some extent. When he finished the cider, he heaved himself painfully out of the bed and used the loo.
    Pauline came back for the plate and mug. “Do you want me to leave the lamp lit?”
    “No, don’t waste the oil. I have the torch.”
    “Right, then. You needn’t get up in the morning if you don’t feel up to it. I’ll bring you up some breakfast.”
    “I might be ready to get up by then.”
    “Let’s just see how you get on. Good night.” She turned down the lamp until it was out and pulled the door closed, leaving him alone in the dark.
    Something was coming for him, something dark and vile and formless, snaking through the house, slipping along the floors, trying the doors, full of pain and grief and loss. He tried to block its way, but it split around him, two foul, seething masses, one of them flowing up the stairs, relentless, unstoppable. The other surrounded him, beckoning with desolate blackness. He couldn’t get away from it, his legs wouldn’t work, and it crawled up his body, dark and anguished and heavy, dragging on him, pulling at him, until he screamed, and it filled his mouth, gagging him...
     
    Chris jerked awake, sat up in the bed in the dark and groaned at the pain in his ribs, gasping for breath, not knowing where he was. The door opened, letting in light from a candle, and someone stood there. Pauline, he