Night Lights

Sam turned off his phone, leaned into his wife on the couch. She opened her blanket and welcomed him into her cocoon.

"I don't need the phone. I'm going off grid for a while, babe. I need you more."

His heart skipped a beat when she returned his words with a playful sigh and a smile. The person he fell in love with was coming back into her own skin. He didn't think it was possible that he could love her more, but it was a real thing.

Her face glowed from the fireplace. She massaged his stiff neck. Soon, Sam's eyes shifted to the flames of the fireplace until his eyes fell like trap doors.

Sam suddenly found himself walking alone in the woods where a baby screamed a blood curdling cry. He followed a deer path, as the sounds grew louder. He fell to his knees and dug with his hands. Could a child be buried alive? His eyes fixed on a baby monitor in the dirt, as if it were a sick joke. But all too real!

He screamed and lurched forward almost falling on the floor.

Sarah grabbed his shoulders. "Sam! Are you okay?"

He stared at the fire. There are no longer the sounds of a baby crying, just the crackling fire and his heart beating into his ears. He twisted toward Sarah and hugged her like a child once lost in the woods. "Just a bad dream," he said. "Let's go to bed, babe."

Sarah crinkled her nose. She gave him a one-eyed look. "You want to talk about it?"

"It's okay. I'm just so, so tired. I haven't slept well since you were gone. I just want to hold you,
Honey."

"I couldn't sleep either. We never spent even one night apart. I'm so sorry I left you alone." She choked up and cried on his neck until he could feel her warm tears.

"It's okay, babe. I was wrong. You needed the time after the last miscarriage. I was selfish."

The house was dark except for the fireplace and the faint light from stars beyond the patio door. Sam stumbled over to the slider and wedged an old broke broom handle in the bottom to secure it.

The pair hugged each other up the stairs. Sam relied on Sarah to steady himself until they crested the top. There was a night light in the hall glowing, as they leaned into each other toward the bedroom.

Not bothering with a light in the room, they sat on each side of the bed and peeled off everything but the undergarments. They slipped under the covers until they found each other and the warmth of their skin. Sam found the nerve to ask her if she was healing down under.

"I'm okay."

"I...I don't want you to think I asked because..."

"I know. It's okay." Her back was to him, as she tucked her knees.

Sam kissed her on the ear. He spooned with her in the darkness and breathed on her neck. "I just want to hold you. I love you."

More tears glistened in the darkness from her eyes. "I love you so much."

He was having flashbacks to their wedding night. How innocent and unpretentious were the words they shared like two kids navigating an unknown adventure, discovering each other for the first time, yet not wanting to trip on a land mine.

"It's okay," she said. "It's okay."

It sent shockwaves through him to hear the tenderness in her permission when he once thought he could lose her. All the hurt and pain melted away in their embrace.

The pair fell asleep clinging to each other when sounds from the roof jarred Sam from his sleep. He looked over at the red glowing clock. It was 3:30 in the morning. Sarah stirred and rolled over.

Sam grabbed his phone from the nightstand and crawled out of bed. He turned his phone on to use it for a nightlight. He shifted down the hall toward the hanging rope of the attic stairs. If squirrels were in the attic, he'd need his old baseball vest and catcher's mask.

A swath of light illuminated the darkness downstairs below him from a car in the driveway pulling out. It almost blinded him. He grabbed the railing of the stairs and fumbled his way to the front door. But it was too late! When he opened the door, they were gone, red taillights disappearing around a bend on the country road.

Sam looked down at the phone he promised to turn off for Sarah's sake. Several text alerts came, first from Taylor's phone, then the last one was from Lisa at the city shelter. Sam turned and looked up to see his wife standing in her nightgown above the stairs.