Daniel's Dream Read Online Free

ever.
     
    ‘I’m down here!’
     
    Lisanne closed her eyes, steadied herself against the door jarnb and took a deep breath, He would be the death of her. She bit her bottom lip; her toe was agonising. She looked down; no blood, but the beginnings of a bruise for sure. What was he playing at? He never got up before her, never; at least, not during the last six months. And where were those blasted tablets?
     
    It wasn’t that she thought Daniel would ever do anything as silly as... well, she did not actively think about it. lt was just that Dr Fischer had told her she had to keep an eye on him; she had to be alert. His behaviour would be unpredictable, the doctor had told her; all manner of things were possible, He had had a traumatic experience; he was suffering from terrible fears, even worse guilt, misplaced or otherwise. It was all real to him, and there was always the chance that he might take it into his head to... 
     
    Oh God, thought Lisanne. Why had Fischer said that to her? Why hadn’t he kept it to himself? Life was difficult enough as it was, living with a clinically depressed husband, without having to contend with the possibility that at any moment, for any reason, he might top himself. Fischer was a good man, and had been her family doctor ever since she was a little girl. She had no doubt that, even though he was getting on a bit now, he was a first-class doctor.
     
    But why had he mentioned suicide? It had made her life hell; absolute hell.
     
    ‘Daniel!’ she called out again. ‘What are you doing?’
     
    She heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs and waited patiently until he appeared. She could see the top of his head as he plodded relentlessly from one step to the next, his head bowed as if in penitence. As he rounded the top of the staircase he looked up and saw her standing there, naked, leaning against the door. He smiled weakly.
     
    ‘Very tempting. Is this a new ploy?’
     
    ‘What?’
     
    Daniel made a brave attempt to look her up and down approvingly, but Lisanne wasn”t interested in playing this particular game. Apart from anything else, it wasn’t funny any more. They hadn’t made love since the accident, had barely touched each other. Initially this had been perfectly understandable; Daniel’s injuries had precluded any activities that might aggravate his neck condition. There were certain exercises that his osteopath had recommended, but none of them involved the sort of movements normally associated with making love.
     
    For the first three months Lisanne had been understanding about this, but recently she had come to the conclusion that there was more to Daniel’s lack of interest in sex than met the eye. He had, for the most part, studiously avoided any physical contact with her save for the occasional kiss, and even then the kisses had been singularly lacking in passion. The doctor had suggested that sex was no longer proscribed, but Daniel had not taken this particular piece of advice to heart.
     
    Lisanne avoided thinking too much about the possible reasons why Daniel was avoiding her, as the prospect of having to contemplate rejection on top of everything else was too much to bear. She had entered a little pact with herself, which involved avoiding the subject rather than confronting Daniel with it. In time, she was sure, things would revert to normal. Of course they would. They had to.
     
    ‘What are you doing up? I woke up and you weren’t there.’
     
    Daniel was clearly nonplussed. ‘Oh. Sorry,’ he muttered, his brow creasing, bemusement contorting his expression into a question mark.
     
    Lisanne was not to be appeased so easily. ‘You never get up before me,’ she said, rather more petulantly than she intended. Her toe was still sore, and she considered it Daniel’s fault.
     
    Daniel frowed. ‘What can I tell you? I woke up, I felt like getting out of bed. I haven’t broken any