Laura Possessed Read Free Page B

frighteningly unfamiliar. Frantically she struggled awake, half of her trying to delve back into the dream, the other half desperately seeking to escape from it.
    Caroline stood by the bed looking down at her. ‘I heard you call out. You must have been dreaming. In any case I was just coming—it’s almost seven. We usually eat at seven-thirty, but there’s time for a bath first if you’d like one. The bathroom’s next door.’
    She switched the light on as she went out. For a long moment Laura lay still. Then, as the trembling abated, she swung her legs to the floor and reached for her dressing-gown.

CHAPTER TWO
    During the next few days, Laura despairingly tried to stamp down her growing awareness of that strange force which seemed to follow her about the house. Brought up in a rational household, she was convinced that this awareness, obviously peculiar to herself, must be brought about by some malfunction of her brain as a result of the car crash. Far, far better to endure those searing, iron-banded headaches than this delusion. Nor dare she confide her uneasiness to Edward or Caroline, in case they should feel she was not after all well enough to be out of hospital.
    Unfortunately, Caroline’s insistence on plenty of rest meant that she had to spend long hours alone in her bedroom, and after the pleasant normality of lunch, it was with a sense of dread that Laura had to steel herself to go upstairs, knowing that ‘she’ would be waiting. Caroline had brushed aside her timid suggestion that she could rest equally well on the sitting-room sofa by declaring that if she were downstairs, she was sure to be disturbed by the general bustle of the household. Laura found herself wondering a little uncharitably whether part of the reason was that Caroline preferred to have her out of the way for most of the afternoon.
    The dream she had had that first afternoon occupied Laura’s mind continually that week. She recalled it with distaste and embarrassment, and her memory of the man’s face, as clear in her mind as when she had dreamt it, awoke in her a feeling of acute dislike rather than the passion of her dream.
    Over lunch one day, she questioned Caroline about the history of the house, wondering if anything in its past might explain her present discomfort.
    â€˜Funnily enough,’ Caroline told her, ‘it used to belong to the family of a man Edward knows. Apparently he spent his childhood here, before and during the war. I don’t know what happened after that. He became a journalist, which is how Edward met him, and travelled freelance all over the world.’
    â€˜And presumably while he was away his family moved?’
    â€˜I suppose so. But he must feel his roots are here. He came back to this country a few months ago and is now thinking of buying a house in the district.’
    â€˜Have you met him?’
    â€˜Yes.’ Some indefinable note in her voice made Laura glance at her, but she went on quickly, ‘I told him he must come to dinner one evening and see Four Winds as it is today.’
    â€˜I imagine it’ll be very different from how he knew it.’
    â€˜Lord, yes. It had been empty for some time when Edward and I found it—broken panes and flaking brown paint—you know the kind of thing. We had workmen in the house for three solid months—central heating engineers, plumbers, plasterers, electricians—you name them, we had them!’
    None of which, concluded Laura ruefully, threw the least light on what was troubling her.
    She did not really want to go to the cocktail party that Sunday, but Edward would take no refusal.
    â€˜I’ll make sure you don’t get too tired and we shan’t stay long, and it will do you good to see some new faces. We can’t have you turning into a recluse! You do seem to have been rather nervous the last few days. A change of scene will make all the difference. Anyway, I want you