![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
Into Night (Christine)
Wavering upon the unsaddled back of a horse, Beauty returned from that ruin of a place where she'd been captured and held. Arkham Asylum. The stuff of nightmares now.
The drugs forced on her were still running in her system - barbituates, hallucinogens - but by degrees, the terror was fading. She didn't feel safe. But with her face buried in the mane of the horse who carried her, the abstract fear was diminishing. By the time the asphalt led into a City street, Beauty no longer felt the need to scream.
Nothing was right, through her eyes. Buildings wavered. The shield of night obscured her vision for a distance. But the street lights were flickering on, here and there, illuminating the familiar and the safe. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how to get home. She didn't know if she wanted to be home. Her kidnapper had found her at her bookstore. She wanted nowhere familiar, nowhere unsafe. Was Megan all right? And Errol? It felt to her as if it should be the day, but the night was as deep as midnight. Her mind recalled the long sunset from before her kidnapping... was it related?
Thoughts flickered back and forth, broken in her mind; nothing stayed with her for long. At length, the horse came to a string of restaurants. There, it stopped. Beauty did not have the sense to know to dismount. She simply leaned on the beast's neck and held.
The drugs forced on her were still running in her system - barbituates, hallucinogens - but by degrees, the terror was fading. She didn't feel safe. But with her face buried in the mane of the horse who carried her, the abstract fear was diminishing. By the time the asphalt led into a City street, Beauty no longer felt the need to scream.
Nothing was right, through her eyes. Buildings wavered. The shield of night obscured her vision for a distance. But the street lights were flickering on, here and there, illuminating the familiar and the safe. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how to get home. She didn't know if she wanted to be home. Her kidnapper had found her at her bookstore. She wanted nowhere familiar, nowhere unsafe. Was Megan all right? And Errol? It felt to her as if it should be the day, but the night was as deep as midnight. Her mind recalled the long sunset from before her kidnapping... was it related?
Thoughts flickered back and forth, broken in her mind; nothing stayed with her for long. At length, the horse came to a string of restaurants. There, it stopped. Beauty did not have the sense to know to dismount. She simply leaned on the beast's neck and held.