She hoped to avoid the obvious walk of shame as much as she could. At least she should have some time to compose herself a little. One was promised to arrive in about 15 minutes. She located the house number on the mailbox and called a cab company. She got dressed in the living room and crept silently from the house locking the doorknob behind her. A thanks to the gods of technology, she thought, relieved that she wouldn’t have to wake Levi for his address. Luckily, she was just down the road from a major intersection and shopping center so she shouldn’t have any problems getting a cab to locate her. She retrieved her cell from her purse that was still lying in the foyer and used Google Maps to figure out which street she was on. Smiling and shaking her head as she struggled to disentangle their shirts. She followed the trail of clothing out the bedroom door and into the hall. Thick curtains blocked most of the light so she had to feel around the floor to find her clothes. She hoped to avoid the awkward Hey, we had sex last night.

But she also wanted to leave before he woke up. She wanted to run her hands over the ink and study it in detail. It was beautiful and must have taken many, many sessions. Flames, devilish creatures, swords, eyes and all sorts of weird symbols were drawn among the tribal lines. There were many intricate lines and details.

The tattoo that she had seen last night was etched from his elbow, up to his shoulder and down most of his back and side. She could see Levi asleep with his back to her and she was glad that she hadn’t woken him up. She blinked, rubbed her face and rolled onto her back. She had lost countless hours of sleep during the last episode and it had taken therapy to finally rid her of them. She really hoped she wasn’t going to start having the reoccurring nightmares of fire again. She hadn’t had this nightmare in a long time and was dismayed to have had it again. Rather, she came wide awake instantly due to the surge of adrenaline her dream caused. She immediately remembered where she was-there wasn’t any lingering confusion. It was a brief, but intense dream and she woke up on the verge of a cough, gasping for air. She could smell the acrid smoke and it filled her lungs painfully. An incredible burning sensation surrounded her. She didn’t know how long she slept-but it was a dream about fire that woke her up.

Devil Inside by Brandy Isaacs