Until Sunrise

“Oh God, it’s nothing.” She whispered aloud between gasps of air.

“It’s a nightmare.” More specifically, it was the nightmare that starred her prince charming Ricky. Flora smoothed a shaking hand over her hair, she pressed her cool fingers to her warm cheek and took a long deep breath until her racing heart stopped.

Her pulse finally settled to a normal rhythm and the dew of sweat had dried on her skin. She plumped her pillow and settled back under the covers.

She tossed and turned for a while. She tried to make herself lie still as she stared up the ceiling. Finally with a weary sigh, she pulled back the covers and headed to the kitchen. She heated milk then carried her mug to the window. She turned the lamp on low as she gazed out the window that faced her room. She sipped slowly and tried to clear her mind off of everything.

She could see light on in the opposite room. Ricky was in that room. She smiled to herself. So. Somebody there can’t sleep either. Maybe Ricky, the most handsome man suffered from bad dreams too. She thought.

****

Ricky O’Donnell stood in his room wearing his new pair of sweats and his fitness t shirt. He stared out the window at the faint gleam of light from Flora’s room. Beyond Flora’s room, the full moon hung suspended above the peaks of the Westfield Mountains.