Ghost In The Snow

Chapter 12: Nightmares

Frank pushed me onto the bed, and I was getting used to his randomly rough behaviour. I stretched out for a bit, just lying there, close to falling asleep. I heard Frank shuffle around with something. I tried to get up on my elbows, so I could get a glance at him, and I saw he was looking for DVDs. I collapsed down on the maddress again, closing my eyes for a moment.

Suddenly something was thrown at me, landing on my stomach. I took the thing, and as soon as I saw it, I asked: "The Shining?" Frank nodded, looking at me with an excited smile. "Alright", I said and sat up on the bed. He took the DVD and placed it in the black box under his tv. He waited a second until the black box had swallowed the DVD.

Then he jumped onto the bed with such energy, I was almost pushed off the bed. Since I was quite tired, I was really shocked because of the jump. I nervously chuckled, crawling over to Frank, who sat with his back against the wall. We cuddled up together, his arm around my shoulders and my head on his shoulder.

"The Shining"'s long, boring intro made me think. Not about the movie, but about what I was doing. I stared at Frank, who glared at the screen, not noticing my staring.

I didn't care if he noticed me or not, because I was simply just admiring his face. Burning all the details onto my mind, my memory. His perfect nose, cognac colored eyes, thin lips and piercings. And of course his wild, black fringe, that curved around his left eye and cheek. I absorbed his warmth and happiness, his sparkling energy and love for me. But did he feel my coldness, or did he feel my admiration?

I think I had fallen in love with Frank.

Yet, I wasn't sure. I wasn't obsessed with him, but still, I loved him. Maybe just as a friend? Could-.. Could we just be friends? He seemed happy for our relationship, though. And I wanted him to be the happiest person on earth, he deserved that. But if I wasn't happy...

He suddenly glanced at me. At first he didn't notice, I was staring at him, but then he looked again. He giggled and asked in a low, hoarse voice: "Why are you staring at me?" I shrugged my shoulders a tiny bit and continued gazing at him. "Watch the movie, you idiot", he said, trying to hold back a laugh.

I loved his face right before, he burst into a laugh or chuckle. His sparkling eyes, pressing his lips together, but failing, then the tightening smile. He started giggling, and I loved the sound. The high pitched giggling, almost coming out as hiccups.

"Stop staring at me!", he laughed, couldn't stop doing it. "You're creeping me out", he said with a tight smile. "Oh really?", I said in a calm voice. "Yeah", he mumbled and tightening his grip around my shoulders. I let out a long, deep sigh and began watching the movie.

My eyelids started to drop, and I thought it wouldn't be a big deal to take a nap. It had been a long week, and I don't know, is it just me who feels ten times sleepier Friday evenings? Just for five minutes, I thought. But five minutes are a lot more, when you fall asleep. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was simply gone.

"Tess?", a whispering voice called. I shuffled a bit around, trying to lie more comfortably. "Teeeeess? Wake up, Tessie-girl", the voice called. I finally decided to wake up, stretched my arms and back, hearing the cracking noise from my spine. I mumbled something unrecognizable and opened my eyes. The room was totally dark. "Are you awake?", he said. "Mmm, very", I paused since a yawn interrupted me. "Very awake."

Frank chuckled and sat down on the end of the bed, next to me, who sat up and rubbed my eyes. "What's the time?", I asked and yawned again. Frank giggled and said: "3:30am." Suddenly I actually felt very awake. "Holy fuck, are you serious?", I asked, my jaw dropping and wide eyes glaring at Frank. He nodded with a stupid smile. "How-..", I paused, when Frank started explaining.