MICHAEL
The shivering cold convinced me last night had only been a dream. I’d certainly had enough of those dreams through the passages of time - dreams of Desi, her kisses, her love, her warmth. When I pried open one eye I saw her, curled into my side, my arm clasped around her. She was here. She was with me.
I shut my eyes against the burning tears that sprang to my eyes and allowed myself to believe it. The night hadn’t been a dream, after all. The kisses had been real. But the cold, the biting endless cold raked through me like claws. Desi wasn’t warm - she was so, so cold.
She jolted awake and jumped out of bed as if she’d been bitten. Her reaction, coupled with the cold that seeped from her like a crack in the Doorway, left me confused and I shut my eyes. I pretended to be asleep while my love, the one I had missed for so long, watched me.