SAWYERS POV
"I'll tell you my favorite one." I whisper into her ear.
Opal looks at me with anticipation.
"Imagine standing on a frozen lake just north of the Arctic. The only noise comes from a gentle wind playing with the pine trees in the forest behind you. In front lies a vast and flat expanse of snow-covered ice stretching away into the distance until it encounters the dark..." Opal interrupts me, her small hands cover my mouth.
"Wait, shhh. Let me imagine." She says as she closes her eyes to picture what I'm saying. "Go on." She whispers, nodding. Her eyes still closed.
"Where was I? Right, dark haphazard barrier that is more forest on the opposite shoreline. Above that forest is darkness, an ink black sky, dotted with more stars than you'd ever believed possible. Suddenly, somewhere in the northern sky, a green smudge of light begins to materialise and slowly manifests itself into dancing stair rods of shimmering green light which skip across the darkness of space."
"Sounds beautiful." She heavily breathes out. "Have you ever been?" She asks, peaking one eye open. I shake my head,
"Never." I tell her. Her face falls at my answer.
"Then how do you know what it looks like. You describe it so perfectly." Her eye brows knit together as she pouts.
"Ever heard of... stories?" I roll my eyes.
"Right." She looks down at her hands. "Tell me about the fox."
"One of my absolute favourite myths comes from Finland you know."
"Do you know how to speak Finnish?" She asks and I glare at her. Her mouth shuts and she zips it up and pretends to throw the key.
"It was said that the lights were caused by the firefox who ran so quickly across the snow that its tail caused sparks to fly into the night sky creating the Aurora. The Finnish word for the Northern Lights is revontulet which means fire fox."
"I love that story. I picture a cute white fox." She sighs into her pillow.
This has been our routine for the past few days. I come in here repeating to her the stories my father would tell me. I am exhausted but deliriously happy. At night we are in our own universe, belonging only to each other, nothing else matters in these moments.
Tonight is different, my body pulses with awareness as our fingers intertwine. We've been sharing each others breaths for what seems like weeks.
My lips almost brush hers and I forget about the sickness taking over her body. Right now, in this room it's only Opal, me, and our kiss.
Something isn't right. I hear footsteps coming and I look down at her confused face.
"Always being interrupted." I huff out. She raises an eyebrow, more confusion crossing her features.
The door swings open behind me and I quickly turn pretending to look at her charts.
"Oh, Sawyer. Didn't think you were in here." Evan states.
"Oh, yeah. Just wanted to check something."
"I thought I heard talking." He says and I look at him confused. We both turn to see Opal pretending to be asleep. He doesn't know that she's faking, and his face falls.
