{"id":3709,"date":"2018-09-03T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T04:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3709"},"modified":"2018-09-02T19:10:23","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T23:10:23","slug":"forty-five-02-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3709","title":{"rendered":"Forty-five – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Thom had promised to weather them all with me, but how was I going to guarantee that? Could I? Could he<\/em>?<\/p>\n

The visions suggested he couldn\u2019t\u2014that neither of us could. They\u2019d come back after all this time, after they\u2019d gone away for so long. I thought that it was over, that I wasn\u2019t going to have to be afraid<\/em> anymore.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thom hunched over, perched, wavering on the edge of our bed. I reached over and laid my hand against his spine. He just felt so <\/em>cold, like there was ice beneath his skin. I spoke softly, trying not to wake Lin, asleep on the other side of the small room.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cTalk to me,\u201d I said softly. \u201cWhat can I do? How can I help?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he whispered, reaching back to lay a frigid hand on my arm. His fingers practically burned with cold where they touched my bare skin and I shivered despite myself. He winced and withdrew his hand.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re like ice,\u201d I said, feeling hollow. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He shook his head slowly and pushed himself up, standing, swaying for a moment before he seemed to catch his balance. \u201cIf I knew, Mar, I\u2019d tell you. Going to go for a walk. Go back to sleep.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLet me get dressed. I\u2019ll come with you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d he said softly, reaching down to trace his fingertips along the side of my face. They were cold, but somehow felt a little warmer for at least a few seconds. \u201cStay here. Lin will wonder where we\u2019ve gone if he wakes up and we\u2019re not here. I won\u2019t be long.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo, it\u2019s okay,\u201d I said, watching him as he stepped away, started to dress in the darkness. \u201cTake as much time as you need.\u201d I pulled the blankets more tightly around me, trying to quell the panic that started to rise, tried to calm my suddenly pounding heart. \u201cWe\u2019ll be here.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cLove you, Mar,\u201d he said softly. I could see his smile in the dim as his hand touched the door handle. \u201cI\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOkay,\u201d I whispered. \u201cBe careful?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then he was gone and it was suddenly hard to breathe.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Thom had promised to weather them all with me, but how was I going to guarantee that? Could I? Could he? The visions suggested he couldn\u2019t\u2014that neither of us could. They\u2019d come … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,297,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,148,168,147,165,158,200,146],"class_list":["post-3709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-45-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-XP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3710,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709\/revisions\/3710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}