6: A Busy Day

    Noon changed to dusk quickly. The day had moved by so fast, it seemed as though there had hardly been time for anything to get anything done. As the darkness crept upon us, we prepared ourselves for sleep. Without a word said to each other about the plans for the ‘morrow, we all just seemed to know that it would be a busy day. Caroline slept with her hat on instead of it under her head so that she wouldn’t risk suffocating, once again. Laura cuddled her warm body against me and smiled her grand smile. Her perfume drifted into my brain, making my senses unable to work properly. Sometimes, I thought of her as my only weakness.

   “ Today sure flew by fast, huh? I’m worried, though. Today we were in the clear, but what about tomorrow? What about the day after that? What if they attack? It could happen at any minute! Matilda said that they were most likely on the other side of the school. Do you think that?” asked Laura, her mind buzzing with questions.

   “ Seth and I were talking about plans earlier today, sweetie. I agree with Matilda, I think that may be our case here. We are going to start getting ready first thing in the morning, okay? So don’t you worry.”

   “ What if they kill one of us? Do you think there are others who survived, too? Do you think that we may be the only ones left alive?”

   “ You are worrying too much. Just get some sleep, and we will concern ourselves with these matters later. Now, goodnight.”

              *           *           *

   I wakened to the scent of flowers and the feel of a warm body snuggled close to me. I instantly knew it was Laura. I pulled her tighter, not wanting to get up. I wanted to hold her forever, maybe waking up out of his nightmare that had been going on for too long. I remembered reading somewhere that even though dreams felt very lengthy, they only lasted a few seconds, and you had numerous dreams in one night. Maybe, I was having the opposite of that. Maybe, I was just having one long dream. Even though I tried to convince myself that this theory was true, something in the back of my mind knew otherwise.

   I pulled myself up, being careful not to bother Laura. I walked over to Seth, who was resting near Matilda, and woke him up with a slight kick to his arm.

   “ Hey, wake up,” I said. “ Today is gonna be a busy day.”

   He nodded his head in response. I trusted him more than anyone else in the group. He was my confident. I knew I could talk to him about anything.

   But is it worth the risk to tell him about Laura and Carrie?

prev chapter