Summer Dream

Chapter 19

In the morning, Aspen woke up to the sound of horses neighing. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. She looked down at Michael's sleeping form next to her before shaking him gently. "Mike, wake up." Aspen said, shaking him.

"Mm, five more minutes." Michael mumbled, pulling her tightly against his chest. She groaned a little and kicked his shin.

"Mike, wake up. We need to get back to camp." Aspen said, getting off the bale.

"Is the storm passed?" Michael asked, stretching his arms above his head as a yawn escaped his lips.

"Yeah, it's only sprinkling now." Aspen said, looking out the small window. "Get dressed so we can find a way back." Michael nodded and got up. He grabbed his clothes and pulled them on.

"My clothes are still wet." Michael sighed, wrapping the blanket around his clothed self.

"You'll be fine. You can change when we get back." Aspen said, walking out into the light rain. Michael held her hand as they walked toward the river. "We can swim across. It doesn't look like the current is strong today."

"A-are you sure it's safe? The current is unpredictable." Michael said, looking down at Aspen.

"We'll be fine, Mike. We can make it." Aspen said, letting go of his hand. She walked to the edge of the river and jumped in.

"Aspen!" Michael said, waiting to see her come to the surface. It took longer than he wanted, and his heart was racing. She finally surfaced and Michael let out a breath of relief.

"Come on, get in." Aspen called to him. "The current is weak." Michael chewed on his lip as he debated it. Finally, he jumped in. The cold water embraced him and he came up, coughing slightly.

"You didn't tell me it was this cold." Michael said as they started swimming downstream.

"You wouldn't have gotten in, if I told you that." Aspen said, pulling herself up onto the rocky dam. Michael followed, shivering as he left the water. "Now, let's go get some warm clothes on and then we can go to breakfast." Michael nodded, holding her hand as they walked back to camp. They went their separate ways at their cabins, but met again when they had changed into dry clothes.

"I hope we don't get sick from being wet." Michael sighed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they headed to the mess hall. They walked in, and all eyes were on them.

"Oh, my God. They're alive." Rian chuckled. "They survived."

"Yes, and we're starving." Aspen said, grabbing a plate. She filled it with a couple waffles and some cantaloupe. She took a seat next to Michael at the table of counselors.

"You two had us worried sick." Carly said, looking at the two of them. "What happened?"

"Well, I had gone down to the river last night to be alone. The river started getting crazy, but I was enjoying watching it. The water had started rising from the storm and the rapids were cracking the boards. I tried to get off before it broke completely, but I got off on the wrong side."

"I saw the broken bridge and I thought she had ended up in the water. I spent, like, an hour looking for her before I gave up and went to the farm." Michael added.

"I had already been in the barn for a while. I went there right after I got off the bridge. I tried to use the landline out there to call you guys, but the power was out." Aspen said. "Then, Michael showed up."

"We slept in the barn to avoid getting struck by lightning, and we swam across the river this morning to get back. We decided we wanted to be dry for breakfast, so we changed before we came here." Michael said. "It was a rough night. I thought the barn was gonna be swept away."