A Kingdom of Our Own

Chapter Fourteen - Dreams Under the Stars

Dalton hated to sleep in unfamiliar places, even at friend’s houses, so you can imagine what it must have felt like that first night on the road. When he slept in his own bed, he normally did so soundly. Out here though in the dark, open wilderness, with no mattress to sleep on - just a sleeping bag and a tent to keep off the persistent flies, his mind was swarmed with unsettling dreams.

He was back in fifth grade, a day like any other, with his head slumped tiredly on his desk, paying little attention to his Physics teacher Mr Savage.

The sun is the centre of our solar system, it’s the reason why all of the planets are here. It-It’s warmth gives us sunlight and makes life possible here. Now of course the sun won’t always be here to keep us warm…

Dalton had been playing with a model of the solar system he’d been working on all week, but looked up all of a sudden, wide-eyed, on the mention of death. He looked out of the window two rows across, almost expecting the sun to be gone, but as always it was there, peeking out from behind the clouds. The sun couldn’t possibly die, could it? Something that powerful surely couldn’t wither and die like any other insignificant organism.

It like all things will eventually die and what it does first, you see, it expands, enveloping all of the surrounding planets, including Earth, before consuming rapidly.

Everyone in the classroom was deadly silent now, paying their teacher, for the first time all term, their full attention. How could such a large planet with so many people, resources and technological inventions possibly be so fragile?

The sun after all is just fuel burning, and when it runs out of fuel, well it’ll be gone. Then after that, the solar system will go dark, permanently, and in time all the others will follow too. The whole universe, empty and without life. I mean I’m sure by that time the human race will have already fallen to any number of calamities. War, pollution, tsunamis, meteors - hey, who knows right?

                                                                            *

Harry was sat in the far corner of the tent, wrapped in his sleeping bag, shoes off, weeds and grass on the cuffs of his jeans. He was exhausted, but sleep was not possible. Events were whirling around in his overworked brain, and he tried to keep thinking. What was their next move? Did they even have enough money and food to last them the journey?

These worries though were quickly abandoned when he turned to Dalton beside him, who had begun struggling and moaning in his sleep.

His shirt was soaked, unbuttoned, and sweat ran down his jeans and puddled around the zipper. His breathing had turned heavy. His short hair was watery and rows of sweat ran to his eyebrows and dripped from the tip of his nose. His face was crimson and hot. He was curled tightly with his knees on his chest and except for his rapid breathing, he remained motionless.

Initially Harry ignored it, thinking that it would pass, but when it didn’t, he reached out and rubbed Dalton’s shoulder lightly. “Hey.” Dalton woke with a gasp and his eyes darted open.

“It’s just me,” Harry added comfortingly, as Dalton sat up.

“Oh shit, you pissed all over your sleeping bag.”

Dalton shook his head weakly and uttered quietly in explanation, “No, it’s sweat.”

Harry leant over his friend and turned on a small battery-powered lamp. “You’re shivering all over, how can you sweat when you’re cold?”

“I don’t know, I just do.” Dalton said, shrugging as if it were an irrelevant question to ask.

Harry got out of his sleeping bag and stood with a crouch in the tent. “You can change your clothes. You can use my sleeping bag.”

Dalton slipped off his damp, sticky shirt and switched sides with Harry.

“Thanks”

Harry took off his own shirt and handed it over to Dalton to slip on. “Here you go. So were you having a nightmare or something?”

“No, not really, I don’t really know what it is,” Dalton said, shaking his head.

“What’s the matter?”

For a short while, he just sat there looking at Harry, as if he were ashamed with himself and was unsure on whether or not to reveal the truth. He didn’t want to appear to be a coward, especially given how strong Harry always was about things.

“It happens sometimes. When I wake up in an unfamiliar place, it’s dark. It’s hard to believe that the universe is nearly 14 billion years old and someday it’s going to die.”

“So?” Harrys asked, not quite understanding where he was going with all of this.

“If the universe is gonna die someday, then how much time do you think people like us have left? We could be dead by tomorrow if Gavin caught us. But suppose you go to bed one night, a night like any other and you never wake up again. Everything you’ve ever known, over just like that. And what if there’s nothing when you die, like when the sun implodes? Forever alone. Infinitely black. Sometimes, if I wake up, it’s dark, I get really scared, like I’m dead and I’m never coming back.”

Harry lay there thinking for a moment or two, but then bent down and pulled one of his converse sneakers off his foot. He placed it in front of Dalton who eyed it with bewilderment.

“Here. Hold onto this while you sleep and if you ever wake up and you’re scared, you’ll say ‘Wait and minute, I’m holding Harry’s shoe. Why the hell would I be wearing some smelly old basketball shoe, in a land far from home? I must be here on Earth, safe in my sleeping bag and Harry must be close by.’”

Dalton smiled softly as he gazed into Harry’s bright blue eyes and then took a hold of the shoe and whispered, “I guess it’s worth trying.”

“Do you want me to leave the light on?” Harry asked. But Dalton had already rolled over in his sleeping bag and drifted off into a deep, settled sleep. He watched over Dalton a moment more to check that he was ok, and then lay back himself, now topless and without a sleeping bag of his own. Not that it bothered him, with the weather being so hot and sticky. It was going to be another long day tomorrow and so he needed to rest and gather as much strength as he could muster.