Ignition: Day 8

Word Count: 48,187

Summary of Events:

Keiller was preparing breakfast when he heard a strange sound from the basement; when he went to investigate, he found Rebekka to be vomiting and was troubled. He became more troubled when she picked at not just her breakfast, but the lunch and supper he brought her, and so called Dr. Carrigan the following morning. Dr. Carrigan informed Keiller privately afterward that he was very certain Rebekka was pregnant, and recommended that Rebekka be released into his care for the duration. Rebekka was devastated by the news, as she was certain she knew who had made her pregnant, and she was disgusted to think she was carrying such a hideous and monstrous man's child. Keiller didn't altogether want to let Rebekka into Dr. Carrigan's care, but did eventually agree, on the condition that she was kept under constant surveillance, and handcuffed to the biggest piece of furniture in the room if she wasn't, which Dr. Carrigan felt was unnecessary, but agreed to, while his wife brought Rebekka a clean dress with sleeves to wear, and left Rebekka's old one to be destroyed by Keiller.

Excerpt of the Day:

Fresh images loomed in his mind that dared him to try and return to sleep. Another nightmare. He’d thought now that he’d sent the prisoner to stay with the Carrigans, his nightmares would reduce in frequency and severity, but this was the second time he’d woken up tonight alone because of a terrifying nightmare.

Keiller dropped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. What was it going to take to sleep for more than what felt like a few minutes or seconds before another horrifying nightmare tormented him?

His mind called up an image of the folded dress Mrs. Carrigan had given him that morning. He’d placed it up in the sitting room just for storage and considered the idea of washing it — as heaven knew Mrs. Wharton wouldn’t, even if she’d been rather quiet about the prisoner lately — and giving it to the prisoner, just to spite her, seeing how she’d told Mrs. Carrigan her name, but not him.

Thanks to Mrs. Carrigan, however, he was quite certain he knew what the name was, even though Mrs. Carrigan had only said about the first four letters.

To his knowledge, there was only one name that began with Rebe, and that name, was Rebecca*, meaning that Rebecca was the name of his prisoner. Helpful though that was, he did need her surname too, and he had a feeling that getting that out of Rebecca would be about as easy as digging to the centre of a mountain with a shovel.

Considering his nightmares, however, he wasn’t really sure that he could follow through with that. Additionally, he’d been instructed by Mrs. Carrigan that the dress was to be destroyed — which he suspected was Rebecca’s wish — and his nightmares seemed to be centring around the fact that he’d not done as he’d been instructed, even though he’d had all afternoon to do so.

Couldn’t his dreams realise that he’d gotten the message and intended to deal with the matter in the morning? Or did he have to go deal with it now in order to rest?

He was awake, and there was a likelihood the dress would emit a different-coloured smoke than usual, meaning that it might be a good idea to burn it now, when people weren’t awake — nor was the sky light enough — to notice or ask questions.

Sighing, Keiller climbed out of bed and found the lantern, which he took out of the room before lighting, allowing him to see the sitting room, and the folded dress laying where he’d set it.

It rather puzzled Keiller why he’d even been given it to destroy, as Dr. and Mrs. Carrigan had a fireplace and a stove they could use to burn it too, but he hadn’t asked them when it was given to him — having been too annoyed to have learned that Mrs. Carrigan had known Rebecca’s name all along — and he wasn’t going to wake them up to get the answer now. It was bad enough he was awake.

*as this is the most common spelling, Keiller is presuming that Rebekka’s name is spelled this way, even though it isn’t.