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"YOU STILL AWAKE?" Daryl asked me. "Yeah," I replied. We did this every few minutes to make sure that the other hadn't dozed off or bled out. It was strange, though it was cold out for sure, his skin was warm against the crook of my neck. He reminded me of a teddy bear, all soft and warm. I nuzzled closer, enjoying the heat that his body produced.
We stayed put. Neither of us wanted to deal with whatever army was waiting for us outside these doors. The room that we stayed in was getting colder by the minute. Hot days and cold nights. So that was a clear indication that night had fallen. It might have just been the loss of blood talking but I wanted to cuddle up to him. Our bodies touching one another.
He was so warm. I wanted it all for myself, but my last bit of rational thought warned against it. So I settled with the small amount of warmth that I was able to get. And yet that wouldn't be enough. As the night progresses the room just kept getting colder until I could have sworn my remaining fingers were frostbitten. It was so cold it might as well have been an icy wasteland outside these walls.
My one hand that was buried in the cloth of my shirt tried to stay limp as I trembled. I bit on my tongue to keep my teeth from chattering freely. My body temperature plummeted into abnormal lows that shouldn't be possible for the human body. "Still awake?" He asked me. It took me a second to make sure my teeth wouldn't strike one another.
"Yeah, I'm still here, barely," I said. My teeth chattered with the annoying banging noise before they sank into my tongue. If I bit down any harder there would be blood, and I couldn't afford to lose any more of that. "You cold?" He asked. "What gave it away? The shivering or the teeth chattering?" I murmured in a sarcastic tone. Of course I was cold.
I could hear him shuffling around. His arm moved and I was forced to leave the only source of warmth. I was about to tell him off when I saw him laying on the floor with his arms behind his head. It was a shock that the bandage didn't come unwrapped. He gazed up at me with that blank expression. "What?" I asked. Trying to figure out what he wanted from me.
"Said you were cold didn't ya?" I stared puzzled at him for a hot minute before understanding where he was coming from. I let out a sigh, was this my only option? I crawled on my one hand and knees towards him, laying my head down on his chest like we did down by the stream. Even without a shirt on in this cold weather, he was still warm.
"Don't get any funny ideas." I snapped at him. "This is just because I'm cold." Fog flooded my mind and I snuggled up against him, getting a little too comfortable. This warmth was an intoxicating feeling. I craved more than I had. His arm snaked its way around my back and held me close.
In any other situation, I would have slapped his arm away and yelled at him. But that didn't apply here. I never wanted to leave, I could stay here for the rest of eternity just clinging to his warmth. We sat there for a while in each other embrace, every so often asking if the other was awake.
It got harder and harder not to drift off. Cuddling up against him like he was a stuffed bear and his warmth acting as a blanket. How couldn't I doze off? Every time I did he would wake me shortly after. "Hey," Daryl said. Breaking the endless cycle of us asking 'are you awake' over and over again. "What's your name?" He asked.
"Evie," I answered. It was unbelievable that we'd been together for the past week or so and he didn't even know my name. Just calling me sweetheart was enough for him. "Like the flower?" "Exactly," I said. Not having enough energy to bicker back and forth with him. His chest bounced as he lightly chuckled.
"I perfer sweetheart." He said in his groggy voice. I never cared for pet names or nicknames in general. I found them confusing and annoying at times when two people knew one person with different names and the other person called them something different. It just made things more complicated than they had to be.
"Whatever you say," I muttered, my eyes barely able to stay alert. I wondered how much time passed as we lay there unmoving for a while. At one point in time, I fell asleep and just refused to wake up. Though I don't remember it, Daryl told me how he thought I was dead.
"Think it's alright for us to get some sleep now?" I asked, hoping that he would agree so I wouldn't go insane. "Go ahead, I'll make sure you don't stop breathing." His words troubled me, was he being serious? It was obvious that we both were longing for just a wink of sleep, so why would he stay up for my sake?
"I'll be fine, you need some shut eye," I said. The way he pushed me away but also looked out for me confused me more than anything. It was almost like he was afraid of getting too close to someone. "Don't worry, I won't die." I chuckled. It was nice to have someone care about me in this dark lonely world. Before I knew what hit me I had fallen into a deep well needed rest.
