Back in Umbria to my parents’. A heat wave has been following me from the sea to the hills and only at night temperatures lower to reasonable digits. Today, despite the merciless weather condition, I wrote 2k words. Too bad they are the only words I typed in a week.

Although I should be working on both projects, my mental energies are depleted and I can’t see a clear path out of an impasse in the fantasy plot. Therefore, dystopian TCOM it is, again.

The man under the brunette’s care moaned in pain as she threaded the needle in and out of his skin. “I’m sorry, but it’s better this way. The longer it takes the more painful it is for you.” She patted his arm in a display of tenderness Marie found out of place. “The rector sent me another useless, snotty girl,” the brunette said under her breath, but loud enough to be heard. The man smiled through thin, bloodless lips.

Marie had already reached the door and was looking longingly at the darkness of the stairs, when the brunette called her back, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I thought—” Sweat freezing on her forehead, Marie understood she wasn’t getting away from that job.