Treehouse

I couldn't bring my self to get up, or even open my eyes. Instead, I just curled up, tucked my knees into my chest, rested my head on an overgrown root, kept my eyes shut, and concentrated on my breathing, counting ever breathe I took and making sure they were even. It was only now that my body realised that it was actually freezing. I was shivering.

"Sophia, Sophia, are you all right?" Steffan's worried voice asked.

I refused myself to speak to him, or even look at him, my eyes remained closed. I was afraid that I would show myself up even more than I already had done.

"Soph, are you okay?"

Once again, I would not communicate with him, I just carried on counting my breathes, letting them hypnotise me.

"Are you hurt? You're shivering! Are you cold?"

Completely ignoring him, I let the steady beat of my breathing lullaby me into a light sleep. I dreamt of him. I dreamt that he was embracing me, just like he did earlier today. I smiled even though I was asleep. I never ever wanted to wake up.

Eventually, my light nap turned into a deep sleep. I wasn't sure whether I was snoring, or sleep talking, or even sleep walking! I'd been known to do all of these in the past. I sincerely hoped that I wasn't; I couldn't face any more embarrassment today. I felt so comfortable, and warm to say I was laid on the cold, dirt floor.

My dreams started to transform into nightmares. Steffan had left me, I was alone, cold, heartbroken. Down, down, down. I was falling deeper and deeper into the never-ending pit of nothingness. By now I was bound to be screaming and uttering words as I slept, I could only hope that he couldn't hear me, or better still, if he wasn't there. But as much as I wanted him to be anywhere but here; here was the only place I yearned for him to be. I must have been tossing and turning, randomly hitting tree and wildlife, and possibly him.

At the bottom of the hole there was a fire, a roaring, amber fire. Arrows pointed at it from every angle, every one of them saying the same thing. Every single one. Each of them had 'unwanted' written across it. That's what I was. Unwanted. It hurt to know that. It hurt more than the physical pain that the fire had inflicted on me. I was in agony.

Suddenly, my eyes forced them selves to open. I was free. Free of pain, free of agony, free of my disturbing nightmare.

But not free of him. He was laid next to me, holding me close. His arms were wrapped around my waist like a seatbelt. His jacket was covering me like a blanket. He clearly cared about me. Why else would he go to such great lengths to ensure that I was not cold? His head was rested on my back, I could feel his warm, light breathes as they broke through my damp, thin shirt and hit my cool skin.

"What are you doing?" I asked Steffan as I tried to escape his locked arms so that I could turn to face him.

"You was freezing. I was transferring my body heat to you." He said in a quiet whisper.

"Oh," I sighed, "thank you."

"What were you dreaming about?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I just shook my head, I didn't want him to know.

"Please, tell me Sophia. You had me thinking about it the whole time you was asleep."

Not wanting to answer the question, I made my own. "What exactly was I doing?"

"Well, you said, well screamed actually the word 'no' a lot, then you started throwing your arms about, oh, and you said 'I love you'."

"I wasn't asleep then." I wished he hadn't have brought that up.

"No, you said it in your sleep too."

Great, just great, now I could refuse the facts. I quickly changed the subject. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About an hour."

"About an hour!" I repeated. "Shit, that means it's half seven. I've got to be in for eight."

I stood up and looked at my clothes - they were filthy. I couldn't go home like this, my mam would kill me, literally. Mucky clothes was the thing she hated the most. Crap.

"I can't go home like this." I looked down at my blackened clothes.

"Don't worry," he assured me, "every thing will be fine. I'll sort it out."

At that moment, he removed his phone from his pocket and called my best friend, he called Sara.

"Hey, Sara, I have your mate here with me, she's a little messed up." There was a pause. "Yeah, yes, I will," he held the phone out to me, "she wants to talk to you.

"Erm, hi."

"What's wrong Soph. Tell me everything." She was concerned.

I really wanted to tell Sara everything, but he was there. I had a choice to make. Sara was my best friend, I couldn't not tell her.

"Well, I saw your friend trying to kinda kill himself, then I stopped him, then he wasn't there, then he was, the I told him I loved him, then I ran and fell, then I fell asleep, then I had a really bad nightmare and I was unwanted and it really, really hurt, more than the fire, then I woke up and I was really muddy and I've got to be in for eight and if I come in like this me mother'd kill me."

she could understand that, she was amazing like that. "Okay Sophia, I'm coming, you can come round to mine."

"Thank you, Sara, love you lots and lots, thank you, thank you, bye."

I handed Steffan back his phone. "Yep, we'll come to the entrance of the woods, see you there, bye." He hung up, turned to me, and spoke. "Okay, carrot cake, we're going to Sara's."

I smiled as we walked into the distance.