Effie

It was getting worse, not better. John was nervous during the day and he had changed his routine so that he never went past that alley, never went to anywhere threatening. He'd found ways around all the obstacles, going well out of hi way to keep himself 'safe'. But he thought of Lindsey and the man's words, how he'd learned that even the most friendly looking people could be monsters. John lost his trust for the world bit by bit.

But at night- at night things had progressed in a different way. No longer did he dream of being passively disemboweled. No, now he was fighting. Now he was going out in his dreams seeking out danger and fighting head on. He flailed in his sleep, jerking and twitching and it only grew more violent with every passing night.

He was't safe from himself and Effie even less so. Tonight he'd fought valiantly in his sleep, but there was a pain in his arm that was bad enough to rouse him. He blinked and looked and surely enough he had finally loosed his fury on the woman he loved and she lay bleeding from a stray elbow.

"Oh my god," he said, immediately springing to care for her.