My Short Story Rambles

Go to Sleep

I created this after watch A Fistful of Dollars, the fist movie of the Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The owl hooted in the dead of the night, waking her from her sleep. She opened her eyes and looked about into the darkness. Everything was still, save for the horses shuffling every now and then, her breathing, and her partner's light snoring. She sighed and laid back down on her makeshift bed roll. The chill of the night bit through the wool blanket wrapped around her body. The fire had died hours ago. There was no heat to be had from it.

She shivered and rolled over onto her side facing the cold fire pit. On the other side was her travelling partner. He seemed to be fast asleep. His hat was down over his face. The wool poncho he wore and his blanket were draped over his tall figure. How was the chill of night not bothering him? "What are you still doing awake?" The crisp, baritone voice of her partner asked. This caused her to jump and gasp from her to place on the ground. Through the darkness she could just barely see him remove his had from his sun-kissed skin.

"I woke up because of a damned owl. Now it's too cold to get back to sleep," she answered sheepishly and buried her head further into her saddle, which she used as a makeshift pillow. A deep chuckle emanated from him as he shuffled over in his makeshift bed roll.

"Come 'ere," he ordered. At first she was hesitant to get up from her spot on the hard ground, but she did as she was told. Bringing the blanket with her, she moved to his side. One of his muscles arms snaked around her waist, taking her by surprise and pulling her down to his side. With practically no wiggle room, she was forced to lay her head and part of her upper body on his broad chest. Her left arm was draped over him.

There she lay, stock still beside of him. "I don't bite, you know," he said to her as he places his hat back over his face. She looked up at him through dark lashes. In the moonlight, he looked almost as if he wasn't there. He was so strange to her. Eventually she relaxed and curled into his side, sharing body heat. Beneath his arm and her blanket, she was finally able to find sleep again.