This is a one-shot companion to Trapped in Sanity. I think I'm going to do more as well, coz I enjoy writing it.

Usual disclaimed applies, reviews welcomed and cherished.

xXx

Falling face down onto the cold tiles, Greg spluttered and gasped, his breathing heavy and echoing in his ears. Around him he could hear the building groan, stifling pitying laughter at the pathetic figure huddled in the corner of a long abandoned room. He tried to push himself up, but the wet tiles held him captive and he slipped against them, his fingernails grappling for salvation under the grime.

Hearing his name Greg glanced up, eyes darting this way and that. Peering into the darkness he picked out shadows that haunted his heart, making it hammer inside his chest as he crawled over to the doorway. All he could hear was silence surrounding him, suffocating him, and he jumped as his palm fell onto something heavy and cold. He glanced down to find his flashlight trapped beneath his shaking fingers and he picked it up, flicking it on and spinning around to aim the weakened beam all around him. The light picked out the glistening tiles, the harness swinging above him, but instead of comforting him, he found himself imagining horrors in the places where the beam dissolved into black and no matter how fast he moved, he couldn't chase them away.

Remembering a soft voice and a comforting presence, Greg pulled himself up and stumbled out of the room to search for it. He called a name, his own voice making his body crumble against the wall as he waited for the darkness to respond. He waited for the soft lilt of a Texas accent to return to him, but all that met his ears was deathly silence. Swallowing the pounding in his chest, Greg made his way slowly down the corridor and towards the moonlight slanting in through the bars in the windows.

It was an effort to make himself walk as tremors shuddered through his body. He dragged his fingernails along the walls, feeling dust and something damp and tacky smear his palms. He fought his way along that corridor, knowing that he needed to reach the end of it, needed to find the soft voice and the gentle touch. He reached the door of a small room and moved slowly inside, noting the bars on the windows and the delicate light spilling over the floor. He reached for it, grasping the bars, feeling the solid metal against his palms as he gazed out into the still of night. Red and blue cut the air, flashing in Greg's eyes. Figures milled around, hands on hips as they surveyed the scene. Greg recognised them all but focused only on one. The soft comfort he had hoped to find within these walls vanished as he realised that he was really alone, separated from all that he wanted by thick steel and crumbling walls.

It was in desperation that he turned around to find the moonlight a halo in the doorway as it framed the figure standing there, her long hair hanging lank over her shoulders as she reached out to him. Blood dripped down her body to pool onto the floor, staining the tiles with gore. Greg pressed himself against the window, trying to get away as she came closer and closer, unable to utter a word even as her red, icy fingers closed around his neck.

Greg woke with a gasp, sitting bolt up right in bed as his hands came up around his throat, clawing away invisible hands that squeezed and squeezed and wouldn't let go. Beside him a light flicked on, bathing the room in a calming glow as a gentle presence enveloped him, settling his racing heart and releasing the ghostly fingers from their grip.

"Shh baby, it's ok. You're ok."

Greg closed his eyes, willing away the shudders that wanted to encase his body as strong hands smoothed up and down his back and a lilting, Texan accent whispered in his ear.

"It was just a dream, baby."

Feeling his breathing slowly return to normal, Greg allowed himself to be drawn back down onto the bed. He let his eyes fall closed, the gentle rise and fall of his lovers breathing lulling him back into sleeps tender embrace.

The light flicked off, bathing the room in a blanket of darkness that covered the shadows, and the watchful gaze from the corner reached out her pale arms to trap him again.