The File

The File ~ Chap. 22

Cole

I watched Tate sleep for longer than I thought I had. She just looked so...beautiful for a girl that was town hopping everyday and barely had the chance to bathe. When I finally did take my eyes off of her, I felt as though I were wasting my time.

After being on the run for...how many days was it now? It was so hard to keep track when the terror of being captured erased all thoughts except those of escape methods. I came to the conclusion that it was somewhere around two weeks that we had been gone.

After being away that time, both Tate and I had gotten used to sharing a bed. The awkwardness had dissipated not even a day later. All we could think of was the fact that we actually had a real mattress under us, instead of the dewy grass-or a car seat. So I was in no rush to get out of the bed, even if I was fully awake and had the whole night ahead of me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tate shiver. I glanced back at her just as she pulled the cover higher up and turned over to her other side. I slowly got off the bed, careful not to jostle and disrupt her, and walked over to the thermostat. I turned it up a few degrees, and hoped it would help with the cold. I felt decent enough, but I still hadn't taken off my jacket. I saw Tate's-well, my old one-hanging on the bathroom doorknob.

Speaking of the bathroom...I hadn't gone for quite a while....

Back in the main room, I leaned on the wall and looked at Tate again, ignoring the hungry growling coming from my stomach. She had a tortured look on her face, and I was afraid that she would repeat the other night, where I had to wake her up multiple times to keep her from screaming.

Suddenly, her body stiffened, and a small gasp came out of her lips. I stepped closer to her and kept watching. She thrashed to her other side and clutched at the bedclothes. She still wasn't screaming, so I took that as a good sign, but I didn't like how agonized she looked. She murmured something so low I couldn't hear, so I stepped closer.

"Save," I heard her say then.

I gazed at her face, confused as to what she meant. Then I waited to see another reason to wake her up.

"Cole," she whispered.

My eyebrows rose in astonishment. She was dreaming about me? But...I could tell she was having a nightmare. I had never done anything even remotely evil to her. Sure I got mad at her sometimes, but that was different. What could-

Oh.

It wasn't that I was doing something bad to her in her dream, it was the guys. They were coming after us in her dream, and she didn't want me to be hurt. My heart ached for her, because I felt the same way about her when we were chased. I wished I could do something to stop her horrific nightmare. Waking her up was always an idea, but I really thought she needed her sleep. I didn't want to interrupt her.

Then I had an idea. I knelt down next to the bed, and brushed her hair away from her ear. I rested my chin on the edge of the bed and whispered, "Tate, I'm okay. They're gone; we escaped."

I waited to see if there was a change in her emotion. As a matter of fact, her hand loosened its grip on the sheets. I half smiled, happy that what I had heard about a person still able to hear you even they were asleep to be true. I could do a kind of hypnosis thing. I continued on.

"Look: there's a bench right over there. Let's go sit down and relax."

She sighed in relief.

"The sun is really bright today. We should take that as a good omen. No more bad guys for today. We're safe; I'm safe."