Visited by the Dreams

Chapter 12 - Puzzles and Clues

Greg was awake again in the middle of the night. He wasn’t wrestling angels or demons this time; he was simply trying to keep their hard won fire alive. The sand beneath the fire was not yet dry enough to keep it from going out if it wasn’t constantly tended, and they didn’t have quiet enough coals yet to ensure some would still be live without tending by morning. So as a result, he sat up dozing, slowly feeding the fire as often as necessary to keep it going while Susan slept nearby.

The fire was going through the wood they’d gathered quickly. Once it got going, even the pieces that were still damp burned readily, which was good because that meant they could probably use wood collected directly from the beach without drying it. But it was also bad because that meant it would be necessary to go out as soon as possible to collect more. They’d already determined it would be first thing they needed to do the next morning, as soon as it was light.

Having the fire would definitely add to their chores, but it was worth it. It would enable them to use it to signal for help should the opportunity arise. It helped them to see in the cave. It gave them a way to cook their food. All of these were good things and they’d discussed them together before Susan lay down. Eventually, when the sand was suitably hot and dry, they should be able to bank their coals over night, enabling them both to sleep, but in the meantime it needed tending.

And so Greg volunteered to go first, tending the fire and watching Susan sleep.

Though they’d been living together in the cave for well over a week, due to the constant darkness, Greg’s awareness of Susan during the hours of the night previously had been limited to sounds she might make. Now however he could see her clearly by the light of the fire. There really wasn’t much else to do to occupy his attention during the night hours aside from tending the fire and watching her sleep. It didn’t seem to disturb her for him to watch from the opposite side of the hearth and so he did. As a result he became aware of the way she moved, how she positioned her body as she slept, and also when she began to dream.

Greg became aware of the change in the tension in her limbs first, followed by movement behind her eyelids. It was fascinating to watch from the outside of the dream, and even more so when Susan began to speak. They both had a tendency to talk in their sleep, but this was the first time he’d been actively paying attention when Susan spoke.

“Harald, don’t call me that! My name is not Marie!” she called out in her sleep.

“Indeed, then what should I call you?” Greg asked the sleeping woman in spite of himself.

But Susan either ignored or didn’t hear his question. “Why do you always do that when you are half asleep?”

“Because you remind me so much of her,” Greg answered honestly.

“Do I?” she asked in a doubtful tone.

“You do,” Greg assured her.

Susan nodded in her sleep. “Do you need me to tend the fire for you, Harald?”

Greg raised a brow at her question. He studied Susan from across the fire, trying to determine if she might actually be awake. She wasn’t. From the way she laid, there was every indication Susan was completely asleep, and yet except for the name she’d used to address him, her question fit the context of what he was doing exactly. Could it be her dream was prompted by what was happening in their current situation? He supposed it was possible, perhaps even probable. After all, it was the similarity of the occurrence between Susan swimming in the volcanic pool and Marie swimming in the pond in the garden that first prompted his dream about Marie and her sisters a few nights ago. He’d dreamt of them repeatedly in just this past week, and yet only one other time did he catch a glimpse of Susan bathing, before becoming aware she bathed every day. He’d never stopped to consider whether this sort of thing could be happening to Susan too. If the conversation he was overhearing between Susan and someone named Harald was any indication, then clearly it was. Someone she was dreaming about was trying to keep a fire going, just as he was.