Link Dane

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SIX

Sudden loss of control...

The spinning of the wheel...

The collision...

The opaque silence that followed...

A shattering scream came from somewhere in the house around me and it nearly knocked me out cold. The shrilling sound deafened my ears and my hands jumped on their own accord as they covered my head.

"Ori, what the fuck?" Another voice cut through the screaming and managed to quickly grab my attention.

My eyes, suddenly filled with tears blinked up as my mouth dropped open. I felt the scorching need to drink something, to extinguish the fire that burned from inside. My fingers were trembling as I roughly pushed my hair out my face.

I could then finally see Link standing by the door, his eyes open wide and staring straight at me as though I lost it. And then slowly everything fell in place and I realised I was the one who screamed.

"Did I-" I started to say, my voice coming out scratchy. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I'm sorry I woke you up." I said earnestly.

Link shrugged, still standing out by the hallway with his hand on the doorknob. "I wasn't sleeping anyway."

I frowned at him. "Why not?"

He answered with a simple shrug.

I let out a sigh and ran my hands over my eyes. My fingers were still trembling, a cold rush floating over every fibre of my body.

I felt the side of the bed dip as it complemented the new weight. Link's arm awkwardly rested on my shoulder, and surely, I felt the unsure pull. I caved into the strength he had, dropping my heavy head just shy of the curve of his neck.

He was warm, extremely so. I couldn't help but latch onto him, my legs curling into his side in hope of getting all his heat. I felt his feet shift and then he slowly bridged the small gap between us.

"It was just a bad dream Ori," he whispered low in the dark. I nodded my head, too afraid of what my voice would sound like.

"I'm fine now," I managed to say, my voice scratchy and high after it endured a whole marathon of screaming.

"Then why are you still shaking?" He asked softly.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. For the life of me, I tried to recall what I saw in my dream, tried to see why it made me jump and scream the house down. I couldn't see anything though as everything behind my eye was pitch black and nothing popped up in my mind.

Yet I was still shaking.

"I'm just really scared," I answered truthfully. In the back of my head, I prayed he wouldn't ask the reason for my fear since I wouldn't have any answer to it.

After a long pause, assuming Link had enough time to muse over my words, he said something. "If I stay here would you be able to sleep?"