Excerpt
Dawn had come again to the city of Miriam, to Weeping Willow Lane, and to a shadowy bedroom. Weak, dust-laden beams of sunlight played upon the sleeping face within. That face was pinched in the hollow anger of bitter dreams. The boy to whom it belonged was twisting violently between his blankets as if he were being pelted with burning coals. He was drenched in a spreading wave of sweat and the cotton pajamas he wore had become plastered against his slight frame. Swift, sure footsteps could be heard pounding ever closer as the child’s fevered murmurs turned to the desperate screams children usually reserve for impossibly dire situations. His movements seemed to grow more brutal with each passing second and he began to tear at the air as his screams grew louder still. The door banged open just as the curtains came off their rod in shreds. A silhouette was immediately visible in the light that spilled from the hall. It dived for the bed, tearing away the sheets the child was tangled in. The child struggled fiercely against this apparition until his eyes shot open in blind terror to behold his guardian’s face. “These nightmares have got to stop” she cried softly, and with a great effort, she freed her charge from his blankets