Don't Fall Asleep
It was really cold; the frost had already filled the room all around and we were freezing. I screamed once more for help, but I only heard the echoes of my sound back. A few hours more like this and I feared we would die of hypothermia.
“Help! Help! Anyone, can you hear us? We’re locked in here!” My friend and partner in this, Amelia, screamed, only to hear her echoes in the air. She sank back to her place, and I followed suit, sitting down beside her and cuddling close to her as we tried to warm ourselves up with our bodies and a light blanket that we had found.
“What are we going to do, Amelia? No one is around and if this continues a bit more, we’ll freeze! I-I am so cold...”
“D-Don’t worry, Rose,” she made an effort to smile to me cheerfully, for even her face muscles had difficulty moving, “L-Let me try again; we shouldn’t lose hope yet.”
Once more, she screamed for help, but no one heard her before and no one heard her then. I was already losing hope but her smile didn’t fade, and shivering as she clasped the blanket tightly, she softly said,
“They-They can’t hear us yet. B-But they will, soon enough, I am sure.”
I sighed and clasped to the blanket too, hearing my teeth grind and feeling my skin shiver.
“I can’t believe they forgot us here like this!” I burst suddenly, feeling the urge to let out some anger and perhaps feel a little warmer doing so, “God, to lock us in here in the ice room of the factory...Didn’t they even notice our absence?!”
Amelia looked to me and making an effort to smile in comfort, she replied, “D-Don’t blame them. W-We told them that we would stay overtime to work, right? Remember? It’s Ellen’s birthday tomorrow and we wanted to surprise her. B-But they didn’t know that we are in here and they locked the room...”
She made a reasonable argument, but I refused to calm down, “Right! And because they are such lazy icy potatoes, we are going to freeze to death! That’s a great surprise we’re making for Ellen, Amelia. She’s going to find two huge pieces of delicious ice cream in the morning!”
It was really the worst of jokes, and in the worst of times, but Amelia made an effort to giggle or smile if she couldn’t do the first. That was Amelia for you; she’d laugh at my jokes no matter how lame they were, no matter what time it was; my dearest and best friend in life, and apparently death too.
I observed her and I noticed that her face was getting paler and paler. Her shivering was getting any less and her teeth grinded hard and fast. I wasn’t in a better state one bit, but her being such a small figure, and having such a vulnerable nature, I feared for her health. Amelia was my best friend and I was ready to do anything just to ensure that she would be safe, even if I died myself!
“Help! Somebody help us! Help!” I screamed from the top of my lungs, wanting my sound to reach anyone, hoping that anyone nearby could hear us and come to unlock that stupid door that had us in there. But alas, no one heard us, no one came, and no one could help us.
My eyes turned to Amelia once more, and I noticed that her eyelids were slowly drooping. She was feeling pretty cold and tired and probably wanted to sleep. Seeing her like that, it made me realize how tired I was too and for a moment, I thought about leaning back, closing my eyes and dozing off for just a minute...
But then I remembered-no way! If we fell asleep now, there was no awakening. Yes, I was so tired and weary, and so she was, but we couldn’t. We had to stay awake if we wanted to stay alive.
So quickly shaking her, I said in a worried tone, “Amelia, wake up! Wake up, Amelia. Wake up, darling. Come on now, you can’t fall asleep. Not here, not now.”
She quickly opened her eyes, started, and looked at me before looking tired and sleepy again. She softly replied, “B-But I am just so tired, Rose...Let me sleep for a few minutes. Just...a few...”
She leaned her head on my shoulder and her eyelids slowly began drooping again, but I quickly shook her once more and she started again. I replied,
“Please, Amelia. Here, talk to me. Talk to me, Amelia. Talk to me.”
I wanted to distract her from the thoughts of falling asleep in any way and it could help me stay awake too, for as much as I tried to persuade her to keep awake, I was finding difficulty doing it myself. She smiled, and making an effort to do as I said, she replied,
“Alright then. Talk. What do...What do you want to talk about?”
I cuddled closer to her to keep ourselves warm, and she welcomed the gesture and cuddled to me as close as she could get. Thinking quickly over her question, I said the first thing that came to mind,
“Hey, have you confessed to Kevin yet?”
She looked surprised by my question, and I thought it was actually the perfect subject to open up, despite its sensitivity to both of us.
If it hadn’t been so cold, she might as well have blushed but instead, she just turned away and shyly replied, “N-No...Not yet. I don’t know if I am actually brave enough to do it.”
Kevin was Amelia’s long love interest whom she secretly admired from afar but couldn’t bring herself to tell him of her feelings yet. It happened that Kevin was my ex-boyfriend, and things were a little shaky between me and Amelia for a while because of this. But I eventually got over it, and our friendship was stronger than to let a guy break it.
I smiled to her, talking as though as we were actually going to make it out of there, I replied, “Hey now...I could swear that he has eyes for you myself. You should be braver than this, Amelia.”
She made an effort to smile once more and although I could see that her eyelids wanted to droop close again, she replied softly, “I-I will...If we make it out of here, I will.”
I nodded and there was a brief silence in which I saw her eyes droop and slowly close again, and her head slowly fell to the side on my shoulder. Worse, I could feel my own eyelids getting heavier and almost close before I quickly jerk awake and shake Amelia with me, saying,
“Wake up, Amelia. Come on, wake up. You can’t fall asleep. Don’t sleep, Amelia. Don’t.”
She didn’t reply, and I could notice her teeth clattering harder through her now turning blue lips. I shook her harder, screaming her name louder and doing my best to wake her up. Oh god, please. No, she couldn’t die. I couldn’t let Amelia die. Please wake up, god!
Her eyes slowly fluttered, and she looked at me blankly, softly whispered, “I’m so cold, so cold, Rose...”
I wasn’t any less cold, Amelia! But we had to be strong, we had to hang on. Please, Amelia...
I looked around frantically, wanting to find anything to help her warm up. But I saw nothing but ice. Ice, ice, ice everywhere! It only reminded me of how cold I was.
Doing the only thing that came to mind, I took off my own jacket, and wrapped it around her, doing my best to warm her up despite how hopeless it was. Amelia opened her eyes and becoming alert for a moment, almost alarmed, she looked at me and said, “R-Rose...?!”
Underneath the jacket, I wore nothing but a simple, pink strap top. Taking my jacket off left me freezing one hundred times more and my body was shivering, though I couldn’t actually feel it anymore. I was slowly growing numb. God, so numb and...tired.
Putting the blanket all over Amelia to warm her up as much as possible, I said, feeling my voice stager and shake,
“T-There...You should be warm now, a little, I-I hope...”
I could feel my muscles grow numb and weaker, and I slowly sank to Amelia’s side, feeling too weary and cold to do anything anymore.
Amelia had grown to be more alert as she realized my worsening state, and had proceeded to take off the jacket I had placed on her to place back on me before I slowly whispered to her,
“N-No...Don’t, don’t.”
She shook her head frantically and replied, “No way...I won’t let you freeze to death for me! Rose, look to me! Rose, Rosemary!”
I could hear her voice except that it was going a little further and I came to realize how cold I really was all along-it was just that my concern for Amelia’s health made me neglect my own and it didn’t help any that I took off my jacket and lay bare on the freezing icy grounds. Before long, my vision grew more and more blurry as my body simply grew more and more numb. I didn’t even know that my eyelids slowly drooped, and I was out of consciousness.
“Rosemary! Rosemary! Rose, god, Rose! Wake up!”
I suddenly felt someone shaking me fiercely, almost like they were trying to bring back the dead or something. My eyes suddenly opened to find Amelia in front of me, or rather, her face looking at me with lots of worry.
“A-Amelia...? Where are we?”
My eyes turned around, and I found myself in the ice factory, in the ice room. Except it wasn’t so cold, and the generators weren’t working, and everything was normal. Even the door was open. What happened?
“We’re in the ice room, silly bean! Come on, stop slacking. Ellen and the others will be here soon!”
I was confused. Huh? What?
“Amelia? Did we make it out of the chills? Did we survive the freezing ice room?”
She looked confused. “Survive the what?”
I slowly sat up and rubbing my eyes, I looked around once more. Everything was quite normal and in place. I looked towards the door. I could even see birthday decorations all around the factory’s halls. My face only turned to Amelia with confusion and simply said,
“The freezing...ice...room?”
Amelia looked even more lost for a moment, before bursting out in laughter.
“Freezing ice room? What the hell is that, Rose?!”
I only realized then that I must have been having a dream all along. It came to me then that I and Amelia had spent the night before decorating the factory for Ellen’s birthday, and when we were done, we were quite so tired that we fell asleep in the ice room, where I apparently had my dream...
I blushed in embarrassment to myself, and explained the whole thing to Amelia, who only burst in laughing more. Well, that was a good way to start a day, I suppose.
Ellen had quite the birthday listening to my dream, and all the guys had a swell time laughing over it.
Well, that’s dreams for you.
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Well, just an attempt to write something light-hearted for a change.
I think I failed though. I should stick to the sad stories. XD
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