The Wind Blows

The sweat on her soft skin, and the trembling of her hands was enough to shake her from the dream that seemed darker than the sky outside. The black, and unfamiliar walls of their hotel room made her panic, and heart race against her chest, aching to burst from her body.

The cotton of her thin shirt was damp, and sticking to all sides of her pink skin - and she was having trouble catching her breath at this point, as she kicked the warm sheets from her legs, allowing the cold air to strike their suffocating surface.

"John." She called out his name, and began shaking his shoulder, begging him to wake, and begging him to hear the loud whispers of her voice.

She could feel his body stirring next to her, causing the sheets to rustle and pull across the bed, as he sat upright, and rubbed the crust from his tired red eyes with the tips of his fingers in midst of the darkness.

He blinked a few times, trying to clear the stars from his line of vision, before he reached over, and turned on the light that set on the nightstand near by. And with the light nearly blinding him, and his scratchy eyes squinting - struggling to see anything at all, he made an effort to peer over at the girl, who's body was quivering, and eyes were drowning in their own tiny beads of saline.

She looked frightened, and worn down, like she'd crawled through the deepest depths of hell in her sleep, as he watched her wipe the salty tears from her crimson cheeks, and he felt his heart sink somewhere deep inside his chest.

"Dani - baby what - what's wrong?" His voice was rough, as he ran his hands over his face, and through the tangles of his matted hair, as he began to move beneath the sheets. His cold fingers grabbed her arm, and tugged lightly, until she fell into his body. He could feel her tears staining his skin , as her face fell flat against the plains of his chest, and he pulled her as deep as he could into his folded arms.

"It was just a dream. It's not real, okay?" He kissed her on the forehead, and kept his lips pressed against the warm spot, as he felt her head nod just faintly into his chest, and her tears begin to dry against his skin.

"I'm sorry." She whispered so softly into his chest that it nearly missed his ears, as it fell from her lips, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Her body was wrapped around his, and his fingers were still looped around the stitchings of the oversized t-shirt that hung loosely from her skin. He kissed away the dry tears from her face, and whispered careful words, with his lips pressed into her hair.

Her tired eyes fell heavy, even with her mind still wide awake, as she counted the number of times his lips hit her skin, and his fingers traced circles into her shirt.

"Just sing to me, and I'll be alright," she muttered in a quiet whisper, and nodded her face deeper into his bare chest, "I just need to hear your voice - that's all… I just need to hear your voice until I fall asleep."

And that's all that she said in the calmest voice she could muster up. And he wasn't sure if it was the sound, or the words that made her feel safe, or if it was even him that made her feel safe at all, as he looked over at the light that was still shining brightly from beneath the lamp shade nearby.

He reached over, and turned off the light, watching the room go dark - the walls turn black, and feeling her body hug his a little tighter than before.

He hummed quietly for a while, until the words came to his tongue, and formed in his mouth, as he sang so softly, it was nearly a whisper in her ear.

"The ship got lost…The tides they tossed…And as we watched, our vessel sank…We wanted more…Not sure what for…What we explore, is what we'll take…We found a beach…We lost our sleeves…We slept in trees…The Fire burned…When we woke, we found a boat…And as we float…The World it turns…On…If we're lost, if we're lost…At least it's together…."

"What're you doing?"

"I'm packing."

Dani's eyes shifted back and forth, as she watched Anna throw wrinkled, and unfolded clothes into an old suitcase that was lying open on the unmade bed. Everything was in shambles - the drawers all open, and the dirty clothes littering the carpet.

"Where - where are you going?" She grabbed Anna's arm, and looked at her with a worried, and pained expression, as everything around them began to fall into dust.

Anna yanked her arm from the loose grip that was holding her back, and continued folding the clothes that were strewn about the dingy room.

"Listen, I - I have to leave, okay? Staying here it - it's only getting worse, and it's not getting me anywhere. I - I have to go -"

"What? - Why? Why do you have to go?" Dani snatched the shirt from her loose grip - her words bitter, and angered as they fell from her chapped lips, while she tossed the fabric to the floor in frustration, "Jesus Christ, don't you care about anyone but yourself? - I know it's been rough since mom left - I understand that, and I know you and John have shit to sort out, but leaving's not going to sort your problems out for you Anna -"

"Fuck, what do you know? You've never had to give up, or sacrifice anything in your life. You've always had it easy, with your precious Kenny," she tossed a few more clothes into the bag, before zipping it shut, and sitting it on it's wheels to the floor. She threw her purse over her shoulder, and clutched the handle of the suitcase with a violent grip, as she turned to Dani once more, "I'm leaving for a while, and I don't know when I'll be back. You can tell everyone that I'm a selfish bitch, I don't care," she brushed past her as she headed towards the door, with her body aching in bitter heartache, "and unless you can understand what it's like to feel unwanted in a place that your slowly rotting in, don't give me a lecture on something that you can't even begin to relate to."


She opened one eye, and then the other, watching as shadows filled the quiet room, with the exception of rain striking the building from outside. It was too early to be awake, and the rough beaches outside were deserted of people, and warm sunshine that usually hugged the sand, and ocean breeze.

She groaned into the early morning air as she stretched her legs, and folded her hands together, tucking them beneath her heavy head. Her body sank further into the mattress, and the bedsheets began to shift along her skin, as the warmth of his lanky arm tugged her back deeper into his chest.

His nose nuzzled itself somewhere between her neck and shoulder, as he inhaled deeply, and let out a breath that sent warm air rushing into her pink skin.

"It's raining," she whispered to herself, with her eyes wide awake, and in a distant stare, not expecting him to hear her barely spoken words that left her mouth.

"Shhh," he whispered with his face still buried deep against her shoulder, "I'm trying to sleep."

Her lips curved into a slight smile - smiling at the way his warm rough words were striking dangerously close to her ear.

"Doesn't sound like it." She retorted with a heavy breath leaving the part between her pink lips - feeling the vibrations of his laugh run through his chest, and down her back.

She shifted among the pile of blankets, and wrinkled sheets - turning till she was facing him. He was looking at her, with one eye closed, and the other open. His thin lips were slightly parted, and his hair was nothing but a mess, with a few strands hanging across his forehead, and in his face.

She smiled as her eyes slowly studied the outlines of his face - tracing his lips that slanted at an angle, as she counted the subtle freckles, and faint scars across his skin - bringing her finger up to trace his cheeks down to his chin.

His eyes were closed as she pulled her hand away from his warm skin, and she felt the rosy part of her cheeks begin to burn - from the realization that she'd gotten carried away with herself.

She watched his green eyes flutter open in the shadows of the room, as she whispered "Sorry" in a mere whisper, that made his brows furrow in confusion.

So he took a hold of her hips, and brought her body closer to his - his fingertips gripping her waist, as he pulled her cross the sheets, and his legs intertwined with hers like a pretzel.

He kissed each section of her face, listening to the subtle laughs that were slipping past her tongue, with every press of his lips to her skin. "You know, I've yet to understand you."

"Good," she reached up to hold his face in the palm of her hands, "because I don't want you to."

"But I want to," he whined, kissing the corner of her mouth, "I want to know everything about you."

"But if you knew everything about me there'd be nothing left to learn." She spoke quietly, and wrapped her tiny fingers into the soft ends of his matted hair, rubbing lazy circles along the back of his head. His eyes were falling faster than her heart, and she nearly smiled when the pressure of her fingertips, caused a moan to escape past his throat.

"Then maybe you should teach me -teach me more, so I can understand." His voice was rough - deep - full of sleep - and begging her to let him in, as his heavy eyes fluttered open to look into hers. She took a breath in, with her forehead pressed into his, and she watched him lick the dryness from his own lips, as his fingers danced down her back with ease.

"Teach me everything I need to know - I wanna know everything so that I don't lose you too." There was sadness in his words - desperation in his voice - and a layer of loneliness glazed over his cloudy, half lidded eyes.

"You won't lose me John."

"How do I know? How do I know it's not just another promise, like the ones Anna used to make -"

"Because, I'm not Anna," she nearly whispered against the shape of his lips, like it was a secret that she was holding back from the empty room around them. She pressed her mouth into his, tasting his thin lips, but only for a moment, while brushing the tips of her fingers through the tangles of his unkept hair, "and I'll never hurt you like she did. I'll never make a promise that I can't keep, and I swear to you that this is where I want to be, okay?"

She pressed her nose into the letters on his chest, and took a deep breath in, as his cold fingers began to creep up beneath the back of her shirt - sliding across her soft skin with ease. Her body shivered into his.

"You know, you're not as sly as you think you are," she smirked knowingly, referring to the tapping of his fingers, that were resting on the clasp of her bra.

"But I like to think that I am," he laughed like a child, with his mouth pressed lazily against her jaw, and his fingers lingering on the spine of her back.

His phone began to buzz against the table's surface, across the room, next to where he'd tossed his keys and wallet aside.

He raised his head, only high enough to peer over at the irritating device, that buzzed with a consistent fury. There'd been thirty missed calls in the past two days, from people back home that didn't even compare to the girl that was lying in bed with her body wrapped around his in that moment.

She inhaled deeply, and nudged her face into the pit of his neck, as she let out a warm exhale into his skin, "You can answer it if you want, I don't mind."

"Right now, I'm not answering any calls unless it's you."

Her full lips pressed soft kisses beneath the stubble alone his jawline, while laughing subtly, with her palms pressed flat against his bare stomach - feeling his skin travel beneath the pads of her fingertips, as they slid down till they hit the waistband of his boxers.

"But what if I never call? What would you do then?" She skimmed her mouth down his throat, while feeling the roughness of his large hands grab hold of her waist, before she was pushed back into the mattress of the bed.

He hovered over her, with his green eyes smiling, and his forearms resting on either side of her head, as he let his thin hips sink down into hers.

"You're nothing, but a tease - you know that?" He mumbled with a smile, through parted teeth, and chapped lips that nipped a trail down, and across her extended neck.

She shivered faintly at the feel of his brazen touch. His hands were like ice - achingly cold as they slowly slipped beneath the hem of her oversized t-shirt, and lazily crawled across her warm skin.

He let out a breath, and laid his head down into her chest - listening to the overwhelming silence, and her heavy heartbeat, as it echoed through his listening ear like a beating drum. And like an endless cycle she rubbed shapes into his dirty hair, and down the nape of his neck, as her lips pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

"You're a beautiful person Dani, and I hope to God that I never get the chance to lose you somewhere along the way."

"You won't," she whispered softly, as her scratchy eyes fell shut amidst the dimness, and her heartbeat slowed inside her chest, "because I swear I'll never let you get that far from me."