42nd Country Road

Sleep Talk

"Morning, baby," It was Mark's voice.

"Morning," I mumbled into the mattress, "Could you turn off the lights?"

"Sure thing," Mark said. I heard his feet shuffle and turn the lights off. He crawled in the other side of the bed and slid his arm around my waist. I put my head back on the pillow. He kissed my neck. I slowly turned over. I opened my eyes to see his smiling face. I weakly smiled back and kissed him. I pulled away and then buried my head in his chest.

"My head hurts," I said quietly. He started to stroke my hair.

"I know," He said.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"A few hours," He said, "I was waiting for you to wake up," I smiled at that.

"You waited," I said. I guess he could feel my smile. He chuckled

"I waited," he replied.

We laid there for a few hours, not moving from our position. A loud knock came on the door, causing me to jump in paranoia and pain from my head. Mark only held me tighter. I shivered out of fear of not knowing what was behind the door. Steven came barging in, leaving the door wide open. The light stung my skull from the outside. I screwed my eyes shut and only curled closer to Mark.

"Hey! Mark," Steven said loudly.

"Steven," Mark said, quietly and calmly

"Ya?" Steven said loudly.

"Ev has a bad concussion and she's really paranoid right now, so if you could be a little more quiet, that'd be great," Mark said.

"Oh..." Steven said, "I am so sorry..."

"That's fine," Mark said.

"S-Steven... can you go?... I-I need to...recover," I said quietly into Mark's chest. Steven inched his way out of the room and closed the door quietly. I relaxed in Mark's arms. He continued to stroke my hair.

"What time is it?" I asked in a silent voice.

"It is... 12:38 in the afternoon," He said, trying not to disturb the silence as best as he could.

"Okay," I choked out, "Thank you for yesterday,"

"That wasn't me," He replied.

"Who was it?" I asked

"Jack," He said. I let out a soft noise, telling him that I had heard it. I gently fell back into sleep with Mark stroking my hair.

I woke up in the room again, Mark breathing silently beside me. I sat up and walked towards the door. I grabbed the handle and opened it. The lights caught me by surprise. I stumbled backwards. I finally decided to squint my eyes and continue. I walked into the kitchen. The sound of dishes being washed increased by tenfold. I squinted over to the sink to see Jack washing dishes. A ringing in my ears started to add to all the chaotic sounds. Steven had turned on the T.V. I stumbled backward hitting a kitchen chair, making it scrape against the floor.

"Ev, what are you doing out here?" I heard Jack say. His words rung in my ear. I started to breathe a bit heavier. He walked over to me. I backed up slightly in fear that he was going to hit me. I moved my hands toward my head.

"Don't hit me," I said through a whisper, "...please,"

"What? Ev I wouldn't hit you," He said, "We need to get you back to your room," He started to usher me to my doorway. Jack set me on the bed and left the room closing the door. I wanted to go out, but everything was all too much. I crawled back into Mark's arms. He shifted a bit and wrapped his arms around me.

"I want to go outside, Mark," I said in merely a whisper, "I want to feel the sunlight on my skin again, I want to hear the birds, I want to smell the rain,"

He was fast asleep so he wouldn't respond, but I continued talking. Intertwining my hand with his.

"I miss the old house, I miss the pond and the smell of wheat on the warmer days, I miss when you and I would be the only ones awake in the car. Oh, conversations we had," I continued, "I miss the way you would laugh at me when I did something stupid. I miss how we met people, always adding excitement to things. What I miss most? The way we can't ever grow old together, we'll never get the chance to. I love you anyways, I always will," I finished and fell asleep.