Chapter 19

Eliza didn’t need to open her eyes to know where she was.  She shivered from the cool pre-dawn dew that settled thick on her bare flesh as she slowly sat up.  Although not as horrendous as the month before, sledgehammers steadily banged against the interior of her skull as her surroundings slowly came into focus.  Her mouth was so parched that it felt like it was lined with sandpaper. She struggled to produce sufficient saliva to moisten it enough for her tongue to move freely.

“Not again,” she moaned as she slowly got to her feet.

There were bits of dried blood on her chest.  She could feel it on her neck as well.  She quickly inspected her body for injuries.  To her relief, she found none. The blood wasn’t hers. Or, was it? Remembering how well the Epsom salts bath had healed her the month before, she wondered if she showed no signs of hurt because she’d bathed in an Epsom salts bath just before going to bed