The Red Heart by Isabelle Rowan

Author:Isabelle Rowan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE campfire burned out quickly in the steady patter of rain and the two men hid warm and dry in their joined sleeping bags. They’d talked for a while about camping trips when life didn’t seem as complicated, so when Daniel drifted off to sleep he was still thinking about long-gone cubby houses and pet blue-tongue lizards.

Daniel wasn’t sure how long he’d slept when a noise broke into his familiar dream of marching wombats and cockatoos. The stiff plastic cover had slid down, but the rain was gone and stars peeped out from behind the thin cloud cover. He lay still and listened for what had woken him. The night was quiet apart from a light wind whistling a path through the rocks. Daniel stretched his legs down the length of the sleeping bag, thankful for the warmth of the man beside him. He felt Sam twitch. Just dreaming, Daniel thought and closed his eyes. But the drover twitched again, that time more violently. His sounds were no longer gentle snores. They were small whimpers at first, but words formed that Daniel couldn’t quite make out.

“Sam?” he whispered.

No response. Sam lay quiet for a few seconds, and Daniel had just begun to believe the dream had passed when a cry erupted. Daniel bolted upright. “Sam?” he asked again, but more cries followed, each one escalating in fear and pain.

“Sam,” Daniel tried again and gripped his friend’s shoulder. The terrifying noise stopped. Tension and sweat soaked through the thin fabric of Sam’s T-shirt beneath Daniel’s fingers, but the hold was quickly ripped away. Sam pushed at the sleeping bag, clawed at it, desperate to get out, desperate to get away. The zipper slid down enough to create an escape and Sam scrambled from the confines of the bag to kneel in the dirt a short distance away.

“I’m sorry, Sam, I…,” Daniel said softly, but his voice still cascaded from rock to rock around them.

Sam looked up at the rocks, his chest heaving as he listened.

Daniel crawled out and knelt on the sleeping bag. “It was just a dream Sam. You’re here with me.” He kept his voice slow and quiet. “It’s the rocks you’re hearing. Remember how they vibrated when we touched them together?”

“I remember,” Sam said and looked at Daniel.

“Come on then, come back to bed.”

Daniel left the sleeping bag and crawled to meet Sam halfway. He held out his hand and waited. When their fingers touched and hands clasped, he knew it would be all right.

“I should have warned you,” Sam muttered.

“That you have bad dreams?” Daniel asked while he tried to get comfortable again and ignore the grit they’d dragged into the sleeping-bag.

“I’m not used to sleeping with anyone anymore.”

“Me either on that score.”

“I don’t have them every night,” Sam said, still trying to calm his breathing. He paused and stared up at the growing clouds. “But I guess I do most nights.”

Daniel knew Sam was keeping his distance, or as much as he could in their cocoon, but leaned closer anyway.

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