Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,34

red lips.

I gnawed at my nail, my leg bouncing harder until I was compelled to stand and move around the room.

“Do you think you have it?” Her voice was calm and smooth, encouraging me to open up to her.

Facing out the window, I stared at a few flakes of snow floating down.

I know I do.

“Dinah?”

“Maybe,” I uttered, not able to face her.

“Can you expand on that? Are you seeing manifestations similar to your sister? Like talking penguins and snowmen?”

My head snapped around, my brows furrowing. “How do you know my sister saw those things?” I knew my file would contain a general overview of Alice going into the home, but I didn’t think they could get so specific.

“It’s in her file.”

“You’re able to see my sister’s file? Isn’t that a breach of patient privilege?”

“Not if it helps me better understand you and what is happening in your home life. What could be happening to you.”

I looked back out the window, my stomach sinking. “I’m only stressed. School, work, Scott… It’s just a lot.”

“What happened tonight, Dinah?”

I was bombarded with memories of his arctic-blue eyes, his hands running down my torso. The feel of his fingers still inside me. Everything was so real. But it was impossible.

I had been talking to the basketball guy. How did he become the man in my dreams? Did I actually let asshole, Mr. No Name, touch me? Did my mind get confused and make him someone else? Did I cheat on Scott tonight?

Yes, my mind hissed. And you wanted more. I suddenly felt exhausted, my head heavy.

“Something happened, and I don’t know if it was real or not,” I whispered, my gaze locked on the flakes drifting down, mesmerized by their beauty. It was snowing like I predicted.

“Did you see something?” Her voice felt like a prod poking at my back. “Something that should not exist?”

My head nodded. “But it felt so real.” I gritted my teeth, trying to keep back the tears, fear ripping at my soul. “It all does, and when I return, I have marks making me feel these things really happened.”

“Marks as though you harmed yourself in your sleep?”

“No. I don’t think so.” Was I doing this to myself? Was I creating the wounds on my body?

“Then tell me. What or who is leaving the marks, Dinah?” She prodded again; her tone seemed like she was leading me.

“I-I don’t know.” A lie. I did, but I couldn’t get myself to actually say it out loud. To hear it with my own ears.

She stayed silent for a moment before she spoke. “You claimed you used to sleepwalk as a child, stopping around seven. What happened then? Why did you stop?”

My mind could remember the tiniest detail of a moment, how to solve a problem or break down a mathematical equation, but my long-term memory had always been bad. Alice could recall so many things from our childhood, but I was either blank or could only remember bits and pieces.

Mom and Dad said one day my sleepwalking basically stopped. It was right at Christmastime. They said my obsession with the holiday suddenly ended, and I no longer believed in Santa. That was when my night terrors started.

“I don’t remember, but my nightmares just got worse.”

“Nightmares?”

“A silly child’s monster one, but it still scares me. I’m trying to run from this creature, and I hear someone shouting for me, then I hear blood-curdling screams, and I jump awake. Terrified, crying, and gutted.”

“Monster? What does the monster look like?” The leather chair rustled as Dr. Bell sat up.

“It’s all hazy. It’s more an impression. Claws, horns…the typical childhood nightmare.” I scrubbed my head again, the day catching up with me, making me feel off and dizzy. When did I even last eat?

“I think you are far from typical. You simply haven’t opened your mind yet, and I’m getting impatient.” Her voice was lower and laced with anger, whipping me around. Her lids narrowed on me, her red lips in a thin line.

“What does that mean?” A flurry of chills coated my skin.

“Let it in, Dinah. You are meant for greater things. Even more than your sister.”

“Excuse me?” I stepped back, feeling wobbly and dizzy, making me reach for my head. Was the room spinning?

Movement shot my head to the side. Two elves wearing swim trunks ran across the room.

“Duuuudddee,” the chubbier one called after his friend. “Wait up!”

“Oh, holy snowballs.” I inhaled, my spine slamming back into the window as a girl penguin dressed in