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    Jekyll: A Peculiar Tale
    Jekyll: A Peculiar Tale
    Jekyll: A Peculiar Tale
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    Jekyll: A Peculiar Tale

    By JC Duarte

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    About this ebook

    A woman's nightmares turn her world inside and out when she discovers that she may be possessed with her dead twin brother's spirit. Voodoo and black magic test the bond between her and her best friend. (Contains adult content)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJC Duarte
    Release dateOct 1, 2016
    ISBN9780992121211
    Jekyll: A Peculiar Tale
    Author

    JC Duarte

    With more than 30 years of experience as a journalist, JC Duarte has written about pretty much all there is - from covering general interest news stories to court proceedings and political meetings, from the arts and entertainment to sports and the automotive sector. As is the case with most writers, he has long thought about writing the next great novel and has started down that path many times ... only to stall somewhere along the way. That sixth chapter is a momentum killer. He is continuously working on new material... so many stories, so little time. He lives near Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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      Book preview

      Jekyll - JC Duarte

      JEKYLL is a work of fiction. Any references to any events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      Copyright © 2016 by JC Duarte/Chappuccino Books

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

      Cover Design by JC Duarte

      ISBN: 978-0-9921212-1-1

      ChapBooksLogo

      For all of those who believe

      and those yet to believe.

      JC Duarte

      JEKYLL

      A Peculiar Tale

      Inspired by Characters Created by

      Robert Louis Stevenson

      PROLOGUE

      Teresa Jekyll sat up in bed. Her breathing was fast and ragged. Her heart pounded so loudly that it sounded like tribal drums in her ears. She was sweating. So much so, in fact, that the oversize T-shirt she slept in was clinging to her body as if she had just stepped out of a shower. Even the sheets on the bed were damp. Tessa was in a full-blown panic.

      Her wide eyes scanned the room, searching for something—anything—in the pitch darkness. There was nothing nor no one there—that she could see. Tessa reached for the lamp on her nightstand and turned it on. She only saw her panicked face staring back in the mirror.

      She listened for any noises in the apartment. She heard only the drummers pounding out the beat of her heart. TH-THUMP. TA-THUMP. TA-THUMP.

      Tessa tried to slow her breathing down to a normal level. She pulled a deep intake of air though her nose, held it briefly in her lungs before releasing it slowly through her mouth. Her yoga instructor once said, "Our breathing is an indicator of our mood and how our mood is a dictator of how we breathe." Tessa was not sure how to describe her mood, but her breathing was all but out of control. Relax, Tessa, she told herself,It was only a dream. And, immediately, With dreams like that, who needs nightmares.

      Nightmares were nothing new for Teresa Jekyll. She had been enduring them for years. Most of the time, she couldn't remember them—just woke up startled and with uneasy feelings. At other times, a rapid-fire series of images assaulted Tessa's brain, though she could not make sense of any of them. Lately, the nightmares had become more intense. Images, though still chaotic, had become more vivid, more focused. There was even sound at times.

      Nightmares are a part of life for most people. Stress, anxiety and trauma can sometimes take nightmares from being part of the sleep cycle to becoming a disorder. When nightmares become a disorder, bigger problems—such as lack of sleep and mood swings—can, and often do, take hold. All of the sudden, something that started in the sleep cycle grabs hold of day-to-day life. Tessa was nearing that point.

      Tessa started to gain control of her breathing. Slowly, the gasping breaths though her mouth gave way to regulated nose breathing. As her breathing relaxed, so did her mood. She switched off the light and laid back on the bed. She didn't close her eyes however. She just peered into the darkness. She knew the ceiling was there, she just couldn't see it.

      Soon Tessa closed her eyes trying to induce sleep—sleep that would not come.

      CHAPTER 1

      Good morning, Tessa, the cheery receptionist offered, looking up ever-so-briefly from whatever it was she was doing at her work station/ centered in the large atrium at the front of the building that was home to a pharmaceutical conglomerate. The company had started out as small, treading water in the pond that is the drug industry, but it grew fast and soon became the big fish that was eating all the little fish. It wasn't long before it outgrew that pond and became one of the largest, and most profitable, in the Western Hemisphere.

      Tessa, carrying an extra-large cup of coffee and wearing over-size sunglasses that hid the dark, puffy skin under her eyes caused by the lack of sleep, simply grunted in reply.

      Teresa Jekyll worked in the accounting department of the large pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Administrators promoted a healthy balance between their employees work and private lives. It was a good place to work and the company implemented and promoted, among other things, independence through integrity and accountability. Tessa wasn't one-hundred per cent sure of what that meant, but she liked working there, as did her fellow workers—which was obvious from the fact there was very little turnover at the company.

      You look like shit, came a greeting from across the counter as Tessa reached her workstation.

      She set down her coffee.. Thanks, she said. And good morning to you, Rosie.

      Rosalia Escondido was Teresa Jekyll's best and oldest friend. They had met coincidentally on e summer while their respective families were on a summer vacation. The two girls had just finished grade school and would be starting high school the following fall—oddly enough at the same school. Teresa and Rosalia became instant friends and would be all but inseparable through the next four years. Their friendship was so tight that they decided to pursue the same field of study, at the same university. After that, they were lucky to find employment with the same company. Twenty years had gone by in a flash.

      How did you know that, by the way? asked Tessa, taking off her sunglasses and setting then down on the work surface. You didn't even look up as I walked in.

      I didn't have to, Rosie said. You've been coming in like that for weeks... quite a few weeks. she looked up to her friend. What's going on, Tessa?

      I wish I knew. Just haven't been sleeping well, having awful nightmares.

      What kind of nightmares?

      Tessa thought for a moment. They're hard to describe. It's not like they are fluid, like moving images. Most times, they are a collection of photographs. People. Places.

      What are these pictures of?

      All kinds of things. Tessa shrugged. Sometimes, they are bodies and sexual situations and...

      Rosalia didn't let her friend finish. That makes total sense. You haven't been getting any... have you?

      Shuddup. Tessa brought her coffee cup to her lips. I wake up sweaty and breathing hard.

      You haven't been getting any, have you?

      It's not funny, Rosie. Tessa explained how the nightmare had become more frequent and more vivid. I wake up, sometimes, feeling like I was part of the dream. Like I really experienced it.

      The lab began to fill up as the workday started and the discussion between Teresa and Rosalia stopped/ The two women set about their work, but Tessa was having trouble concentrating.

      It wasn't so much the nightmare that was distracting her, it was the way she felt. The tightness in her chest and the way muscles throughout her body went into spasms. The way she woke up sweating and her breathing out of control. Tessa didn't understand why it was happening to her. She also didn't like the way panic had gripped her. There was a vivid reality to it all and Tessa was concerned. No. She was afraid.

      Tessa and Rosie sat on the sides of a raised planter outside the company building at lunchtime. It was a gorgeous day. The warmth of the sun worked wonders in soothing the body but, deep-down, Tessa was still fighting the turmoil that was afflicting her. She was anxious and having trouble focusing on anything else.

      It was all so real, Rosie, she told her friend. My body was reacting to something... I just don't know why. It was only a dream right?

      Dreams can be like that. You know, like in some dreams you have this feeling like you are falling and you wake up with a jolt, hanging on for dear life.

      This was more than that. Tessa stared into the distance. She was not looking at anything. She was just re-living the moment when she was startled from her sleep. My body was totally tingling. Like I had just lived through something.

      Rosie suggested Tessa make an appointment with the company's counselor. To head off burnout, their workplace offered the services of an analyst to discuss troubling matters—both work-related and at home. Nicholas Lowe was not a psychiatrist in the sense he had no authority to prescribe medication. Dr. Lowe was not a real doctor. Most workers regarded him as a friend for hire. The company was fine with that. And if Lowe saw circumstances that went beyond emotional issues

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