Nightmares
of Caitlin Lockyer
Nightmares
Trilogy
By: Demelza Carlton
Blurb
There are real monsters out there. The worst
part is that they're human.
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I mumbled a protest through the haze of pain and exhaustion that had turned me into little more than a zombie. I'll never be able to watch a zombie movie again without remembering this night, I thought.
"It's all right - we have to move her to take care of her. She's hurt worse than you," I was told. "We need to treat you, too. There's a gunshot wound in your shoulder."
One of the hospital staff looked grim and came over. She started firing questions at me.
"Name?"
"Nathan Miller."
"What happened?"
"I was shot."
"By whom?"
"A homicidal lunatic with a gun and bad aim."
"Her name?"
"Caitlin Lockyer."
"What happened to her?"
"Looks like someone tried to kill her."
Nathan found Caitlin on a beach covered in blood. Saving her life was just the start. Now he's the prime suspect and he has to find out who's really responsible. Both of their lives depend on it.
Who hurt her?
Why was he shot?
What did he promise?
Why doesn't his story add up?
Who was the dead man on the beach?
What will she remember when she wakes up?
Dark, disturbing and definitely scary -
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer is the first book in Demelza Carlton's Nightmares
Trilogy. The second book is Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller.
Buy Links
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer – Excerpt
Red
Mercedes.
They
had a red Mercedes.
Hit
me, pulled me in, drugged me.
Eyes
like saucers. Pervert.
Sorry.
Oh God, so sorry.
Let
me go, you bastard.
Fighting
the drugs.
Clawing
at my throat.
Fighting
the darkness.
The
pain in the darkness.
Fight
them.
Don't
let them win.
I woke in daylight and glanced at my watch.
Early afternoon. My shoulder ached and more besides. It must have been time for
more pain medication. Please, please let there be more pain medication.
A smiling woman set a tray of lunch on the
table next to my bed. She returned to the trolley for Caitlin's lunch, which
she placed hesitantly on the table beside her.
"One of the volunteers should be along
shortly, with the book and magazine trolley. Your roommate's on the front cover
of today's paper – you might want to keep a copy for her."
I thanked the woman.
"When she wakes up, can you tell her
I've given her today's and tomorrow's menu, so she can pick what she wants?
Yours is on your tray, too." She lowered her voice. "The ice cream is
really good."
I smiled and thanked her again as she left,
my eyes straying to Caitlin. I slid out of bed and made my way over to her.
She was tucked tightly in her bed, still
asleep, her face and hair all that showed. She looked as if she hadn't moved
since we were brought here early this morning. With the amount of sedative
she'd been given last night, she wasn't going to be awake for lunch today, nor
dinner – I figured her first hospital meal wouldn't be earlier than breakfast
tomorrow. I had until then to work out what I wanted to say to her when she
woke up.
I headed past her, to the bathroom we
shared, before I went back to sit on my bed to eat lunch for breakfast at
lunchtime. I didn't taste any of it, from the first bite 'til I'd finished the
ice cream.
When did I last eat? I wondered, realising
that I couldn't remember. No wonder I'd been hungry. I'd last had a drink more
than twelve hours ago, a sip on the beach, before I gave the rest of the can to
Caitlin.
Almost without thinking, I pushed myself
off my bed and settled into the visitor's chair beside her, so I could see her
face. For the first time, I felt self-conscious that I was only wearing my
shorts. They were the only item of clothing I had left – I'd handed the rest
over to the police, her blood on everything else. I'd have to call my sister
today and ask her to bring some fresh clothes, before Caitlin woke up. I didn't
want to frighten her any more than she had been already.
"You'd have to be the first pretty
girl I'd rather woke up to me fully clothed than in just my underwear," I
told her. I laughed quietly.
Caitlin neither replied nor moved, she was
so deeply asleep.
"I never wanted to see you hurt. I'm
sorry I didn't help you sooner," I began hesitantly. No, that wasn't the
first thing I wanted her to hear – reminding her of what had happened to her. I
stared into space, my eyes focussing on her untouched meal tray. "Do you
want your ice cream?"
When she didn't respond, I helped myself to
the little cardboard tub, lifting the lid with a slight sucking sound. The ice
cream had already started to melt in the warm room.
In between bites, I voiced the things I
could say to her when she woke.
"Hi, remember me? I was oblivious to
you getting hurt, so you're in hospital now." No. Could I sound more
callous if I tried?
"I'm Nathan, I stole a shirt from a
corpse and stuck it on you." Lovely.
"I wish I'd never seen you and then
neither of us would be here. I wish none of this had ever happened." True,
but still not something I should say to her. If I hadn't seen her, she might be
dead now instead of in hospital.
I scraped the bottom of the cardboard
container for the last melted drops. "I'm sorry – I finished your ice
cream. When you wake up, I'll owe you one." I stood up and took the empty
container to my meal tray.
All that I'd said should have been funny,
given my dark humour, but I had no laughter left. I only felt empty. Not even
my stolen ice cream could help to fill that void. What kind of person stole a
sleeping girl's ice cream?
I made it to our shared bathroom before I
threw up – her ice cream, mine and probably most of the lunch I hadn't tasted.
When I was done, I rinsed my mouth and left the bathroom, closing the door hard
behind me.
I returned to my own bed and stretched out
on top of the covers. I folded my arms behind my head and stared at the ceiling
for a moment, before I spoke again.
"I'm sorry, Caitlin. I'm so
sorry."
My eyes started to water, probably from
staring at the room light, so I closed them.
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Author Info
Demelza Carlton has
always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was
afraid of fish. She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea
cucumbers and stood on spray-drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a
seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below. Sensationalist
spin? No - Demelza tends to take a camera with her so she can capture and share
the moment later; shipwrecks, sharks and all.
Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.
The bestselling Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by the Nightmares trilogy. If you'd like to know more about Demelza or the background behind her books, you can check out her website at demelzacarlton.com or any of the other places she frequents:
Author Links
Website: http://www.demelzacarlton.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DemelzaCarlton
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/DemelzaCarlton
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