Golden Heart

(8) Nightmare

Warning: Mature content for themes around self-harm, strong language, drugs, alcohol and sex will be mentioned in the story.

Golden Heart 

It was getting later and later, the afternoon sun slowly disappearing behind a few mountains. Alice and Miles had spent most of the day talking to each other, it was more small talk like what they thought of the town and if they had any hobbies. Alice would answer most of the questions since Miles didn't want to talk about himself, still refusing to let her know about his mysterious life. But Alice didn't push him to answer since she didn't want to start another argument. There wasn't much to tell about her life, she left out a few of the bad details, the things she didn't want to talk about like her father or her family in general. He didn't question it either. 

It was now getting darker outside. They had eaten a little, Miles had taken one can for himself and one for Alice. They knew they couldn't eat too many of the cans or they would have to go buy new ones. And they had to avoid going back to town or even spending their last money. Although Miles didn't care about the money since he was going to steal the stuff they needed anyway. When Alice finished her can and was still hungry (she wouldn't tell him she was still hungry but he could basically hear her stomach rumbling) Miles just gave her his unfinished can. It took her a while to finally agree to grab the can, she kept asking him if he was sure, saying that she was fine and that she wasn't hungry anymore. But when she finally grabbed the can he couldn't help but smile at her. He ignored the hunger inside him, knowing that she could use the food better than him. 

Now here they were, sitting on the sofa as a little bit of sunshine was coming through the little holes in the cabin ceiling. They had been sitting in silence for a while but it wasn't awkward silence. Quite the opposite, it was relaxing. Miles had his legs on the bed while sitting on the sofa and comfortably leaning back. Alice was sitting with her hands tightly wrapped around her legs, enough space between them. The only sound was their loud breathing and the birds in the distance that were singing their beautiful melodies once again. 

Alice was getting more and more tired with each second that went by, Miles was trying to keep his eyes open, though it was hard since he hadn't really slept the night before. He still hadn't figured out how he was going to sleep without having a nightmare. But he came to the conclusion that he just had to sleep and accept the fact that he was going to have a nightmare either way and Alice would notice it. Maybe she would be fast asleep and not wake up from his loud breathing or...scream in the worst case. But eventually she would notice it. He just hoped she would ignore it instead of feeling sympathy or anything like that. She could feel bad for him, sure. But then he didn't want to know it. He didn't want to hear her asking how he felt and if he was okay. And he especially didn't want to hear her asking what it was about. 

Alice watched as Miles was desperately trying to stay awake, his eyes closing every few seconds. It was kind of amusing to look at and she didn't understand why he wouldn't just go to bed. Knowing that he hadn't slept enough the night before she found herself asking...

"Are you tired?" She asked, smiling slightly. She watched as he turned his head to her, a beam of sunlight shining right at him, making his skin glow. He was so incredibly pale, it was almost scary. As if he never went outside, or only at night. He fit the description of a vampire in those trashy vampire romance books. Dark hair, pale skin, thick eyebrows, dark circles under the eyes. But despite all that he still was attractive, there was no denying that. Even if she hated him more than anything she had to admit that he was attractive. 

"A little," he admitted, not returning the smile but not scowling as he usually would either. She still kept smiling at him, though. She knew he could decide to get mad at her for no reason any minute, she tried her best to prevent that from happening.