Chapter 5
992 Words
5
She dreamed of strange, dark things. She was standing in an open field surrounded by the tall trees which edged the lodge. A full moon was high overhead and the night was still and quiet. She glanced hear and there trying to find any signs of anyone else, and that’s when she heard it. A howl.
It wasn’t like that one in the alley. This one invited her like the call of a friend from across the hall. Someone wanted her to join them in the fun. The sound wasn’t far off. She knew she could run to it.
She smiled and tried to go with them, to join in their merriment, but something held her back. She didn’t know what it was but she struggled against it. The call was too enticing, too comforting. She needed to go. They were calling her.
The harder she struggled, though, the harder the grip. Her eyes flew around wildly, looking to see what held her. She couldn’t see anything. She felt her chest tighten. Her breath came out in hard, shallow gasps. There wasn’t enough air. She was suffocating as she clawed at nothing.
Suddenly Stephanie’s eyes shot open. She was laying on the bed in the lodge room. Sweat covered her entire body. She still felt the pressure on her arm, and she glanced to that side only to be surprised to find Chuck sitting on the bed.
He was at her side, and one of his hands was holding down her arm. His face wasn’t turned toward her, however. They were staring at the large windows along the wall that faced the thick woods. He watched them without blinking.
“Chuck?” she whispered. Her voice startled him from his sentry, and he glanced down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“I came in to find you trying to sleepwalk your way out of the room,” he quietly informed her.
“Sleepwalking?” she repeated. She’d never sleepwalked in her entire life. “I never sleepwalk.”
“You were a few minutes ago, and in a heavy sleep, too,” he added. He wryly grinned. “I had a hard time getting you back into bed.”
That explained the chaotic mess of covers kicked everywhere around the bed.
“Wow, I really roughed you up, didn’t I?” she proudly proclaimed.
“Yeah, you were a real she-cat,” he complimented. Then his face turned serious again. “But I don’t think you want to be doing that very often. You had the door open when I caught you.”
“Any idea where I was going?” she asked him.
“No clue, but you were muttering something about needed to follow a noise,” he informed her. He looked at her questioningly. “Any idea what that could mean?”
“I heard some noise in my dream,” she admitted. “It sounded like a howl, and I wanted to go check it out.”
“Really?” he wondered. He mused on that for a moment. “I think I heard something outside a few minutes ago, maybe that’s what you heard.”
“Maybe,” she half-heartedly admitted. She glanced down at her trapped arm. “You think you can let me go now?”
“Oh, sorry,” he apologized. He quickly released her. “I had to keep you down to the bed. It was the softest thing in the room.”
“Well, thanks for stopping me from doing something probably stupid,” she sincerely thanked.
“It’s not the first time,” Chuck jokingly shot back.
“There you go trying to get fired again,” she teasingly threatened.
“I’ll take my chances,” he willingly risked. He sighed and shook his head. “You know, Boss, you’ve been a lot of trouble this last day.”
“Aren’t I always?” she pointed out. She leaned over to grab some of the covers that were half over the bed. She cringed when she noticed his neat bed had been trampled and torn apart. “We did that, hunh?” she asked as she nodded at the mess.
“Yep, but I think I’ll fix it now and get some sleep, too,” he suggested. “It’s almost midnight.”
“Midnight?” Stephanie asked. She glanced at her watch on the nightstand and sure enough the time was that late. Then a sudden thought struck her, and she looked to her partner. “What were you doing wandering around this late?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” he shrugged. He slid off the bed and began rearranging his bed. “Besides, it’s a nice moon outside. I didn’t want to miss that.”
“Oh, yeah, it is a nice moon,” she quickly agreed. She didn’t want to talk about that orb in the sky anymore, so she grabbed the covers and rolled over away from Chuck. “Well, guess I’ll try to get some more sleep.”
“And I’ll be here on the floor in case you try to go walking around again,” Chuck joked. “You have to walk over me to get to the door.”
“I’m make sure to give you a couple of good kicks on the way by,” she teased.
With an exchange of words of goodnight, the two companions settled into bed. This time, though, Stephanie’s sleep wasn’t punctuated with exercise and the morning came without trouble. She rose earlier than Chuck and was dressed before he finally slunk out of his bed of blankets.
“Come on, sleepy head,” she teased. She felt much better than yesterday, though not quite like herself yet. “We’ve got a few hours of driving to take care of.”
“Whatever you say, Boss,” Chuck returned with a grin as he threw off the covers.
They gathered their luggage and checked out at the front desk. Chuck still had the car keys and still insisted on driving. Stephanie didn’t object as she slid into the passenger seat. It was only a few hours left till home, and she wanted to enjoy the views of the mountains before they drove down into the valley they called home.
They pulled away from the business and were back on the road to civilization, but Stephanie glanced back once last time at the lodge. With all the strange goings ons there, she still felt a tinge of regret at leaving it. There was something wonderfully wild and untamed about the place. It made her feel almost at home.
- Writer
