Sonia went to bed before me last night. After locking the doors, closing the shades, and undressing for bed, i knelt before her quietly sleeping body. She was sprawled luxuriously on the bed with the white cat curled up on her legs and together they formed a vision of tranquility that I looked forward to joining. I slowly lowered my face toward hers to give a gentle goodnight kiss, careful not to wiggle the mattress and disturb her. It was dark in the bedroom and my glasses were on the nightstand, so her face, resting on a nest of curly black hair, was an incoherent blur, the only distinguishable features being the two large black circles in the place of her eyes. I was about 4 inches away when all at once her eyes opened wide within the surrounding dark pits, her lips curled back, revealing two rows of clenched teeth, and she emitted a loud demonic hissing sound from deep inside her throat. This was a vision from a nightmare that would have jolted me awake, sweating and screaming, but I was already awake--there was no escape. I jumped back, shrieking like a frightened child and she erupted in hysterical laughter.
Neither of us could sleep for a half-hour; myself, for the unshakable fear, and Sonia because she couldn't stop laughing. She wavered between restrained giggling and all-out guffawing, with brief periods of silence and apology before slipping back into indulgent cackling.
The first sound I heard when I awoke this morning was Sonia chuckling to herself in the other room, getting ready for work.
No comments:
Post a Comment