Wake someone from a deep, drug-induced sleep and they get pissed. Especially when there isn’t a tangible reason for the waking.

Except for the knife.

That was tangible. An 18-inch blade. From the kitchen.

It clattered to the ground when he woke, as if dropped from midair.

Laura Shell quit her day job in August of 2023 to become a full-time writer. She has been published in numerous literary publications. In February, her first anthology of paranormal stories will be in print. When she isn’t writing and reading short fiction, she watches horror movies with her dog, Groot, and jabs snarky remarks at her husband of 35 years.