In the end we curled to the center of the broken bed, facing each other. Kissing so softly and gently in our warm little nest, our lips were just barely touching.
“So?” he asked eventually, raising an eyebrow. “Was it—”
I shushed my lover with a single finger, pressed tightly against his lips. My eyes were half-lidded. My mind, still slowly finding its way back down from cloud nine.
“That was perfect.”
Thirty-Nine
SAVANNAH
The steering wheel turned aimlessly, first left and then right. It was like a ghost was driving. Without my hands, it spun on its own.
La, la, la, la, la…
Another scream reached my ears, this time from the back seat. I barely heard it. Only the music registered.
La, la, la, la, la…
I struggled hard, through a scream of my own. The wheel was wet now — all slick with blood. And the song! That slow, haunting song. Everything outside was black, now. Almost invisible. Everything but the one slender object, rapidly approaching. Somewhere off to my left…
Valentine is done…
I reached across, abandoning everything but the belt. Focusing on the only thing that mattered: hearing that ‘click’ as I locked it tight.
Here but now they’re gone…
The object was thicker. Taller. Closer. Wincing hard, I grabbed the wheel…
Romeo and Juliet…
… and jerked it down and to the left. HARD.
Are together in eterni—
CRASH!
This time I exploded from my dream full speed. I flew up from the blankets. My body jolted across the bed and slammed hard into the opposite wall of the tiny bedroom, only to sink down cowering in the fetal position…
“Savannah!”
Two arms reached for me frantically. I batted them away through a wall of terror.
“Savannah, what’s wrong?”
The name was meaningless. The person attached to the arms, faceless and foreboding.
“It’s okay,” the voice said again and again. “Savannah, it’s alright. You’re only dreaming. You’re only—”
I burst into tears as the arms surrounded me, enveloping me in warmth… and comfort. Gradually my surroundings came into focus. The scattered blankets, the broken bed. Roman, cradling me against his body. Rocking me gently back and forth, while stroking my hair.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered softly. “You’re okay now. It was only a nightmare…”
Only a nightmare.
I don’t know how long I sat there, trying to recover. Waiting until my body was finished shaking, and I didn’t feel so cold anymore.
Then the guilt swept in, and with it the embarrassment.