“And you sound like an idiot.”
“That’s not very nice,” he pouted.
“Go to sleep. Long day tomorrow.” Clara laid her head down, and managed to pull the blanket over half her body.
“Yes, Mom.” He replied.
The night air was cooler than he anticipated. He’d worked up enough of a sweat walking he had barely noticed the temperature dropping. As his heart rate slowed, he noticed it more and more. It wasn’t exactly comfortable.
He glanced Clara’s way and saw her shivering in her lack of covering. He was pretty close to doing the same. “Is this going to work?” He whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re both shivering, and there’s an easy solution.” He paused, contemplating how to present his suggestion. “The mission comes first, right?”
“Right,” she answered, rolling to her side to look at him.
“And we can’t finish the mission if we freeze to death.” He appealed to her logic, hoping she would agree with him–purely for the sake of the mission.
“I don’t think we’re in danger of freezing to death,” she attempted to rebut, but her chattering teeth belied her statement.
“You know what I mean. Technically, we could share without breaking any of the rules.”
“Oh?” At that comment, she looked willing to listen.
“Well, we’d be sharing a blanket. We can each stay on our side and avoid any physical touch. The rules say if there’s only one bed, we take turns sleeping on the floor. Technically, we’re both on the floor already, so we wouldn’t be breaking that rule either.” A brilliant loophole, but would she accept it?
She contemplated it for a moment, but as her shivering grew worse, finally consented.
Carver spread his blanket out over the ground, and laid on the far side. She laid down on the other side and they pulled the blanket over both of them, managing to cover far more than the single blankets had.
Clara immediately closed her eyes, and moments later her breathing evened and Carver knew she was asleep. With that knowledge, he gingerly turned to his side so he was facing her. He did so slowly, careful not to wake her. He knew it could be considered creepy, but asleep she looked like the girl he had fallen in love with. She looked peaceful again, untouched by the horrors of the world. As if, once again, her biggest worries were choosing the right outfit or planning dinner.
He fell asleep quickly, in spite of the forest noises. The day had taken its toll.
He woke with the sunrise, Clara still asleep beside him. For the first time in years, he had no nightmares.
23CLARA
Clara woke to find the spot next to her empty. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and scanned the area for Carver. She thought she would see him quickly, where would he go anyway? Panic set in when she couldn’t spot him.
“Carver?” She called softly as she pushed the blanket back and stood up. No response. “Carver?” She called a little louder. A bird tweeted a response, but nothing came from him. She stood, spinning in a circle to look throughout the clearing. No sign of him.
For a moment she wondered if he had abandoned her, decided he was better set to accomplish the mission without her, and slinked away. But no, his stuff was still here. He couldn’t have left his bag, map, papers, clothes, and everything else behind, and still have a shot at completing the mission. There was a minuscule amount of comfort in that.
So where was he? Did something happen to him? Was he hurt? It was fitting, she supposed, that her initial assumption was he had abandoned her, not that he was hurt. Her mind spun frantically, and she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t leave their stuff to go look for him, but she had to know what happened to him.
She started packing her stuff, less carefully than she had the day before. “Good morning, sunshine!” His voice was far too carefree for the stress she felt, and truly she wanted to punch him. She did spin to face him.
“Where were you?” He looked confused by the anger in her tone, but chose not to question it.
“Nature calls?” He raised an eyebrow as he took in her posture. Feet spread as though bracing for impact, arms crossed over her chest. Even she could feel how prepared for a fight she was. She exhaled, relief flooding her veins. She dropped her arms to her side, shaking her head at him before resuming her packing more calmly.
“Why, were you worried about me?” He teased.
Clara, however, was not in a teasing mood, not with the anxiety still working its way out of her veins from his disappearing stunt. “No.” She replied sharply as she took the blanket from her bag, folded it in a perfect square, and then returned it to her bag.
“I think you were concerned,” his singsong tone only frustrated her more.
