Falling by Midnight
Falling by Midnight
April Carver paced around in the dark. Holding her phone in her hand, she tapped it against her mouth.
Should I call him? She thought. He did say to call if she was stressed and he would take her some place that she couldn't be anything else, but "calm."
With finding out about her leukemia and her family finding out, and work, stress had been at an all time high for the last couple of weeks.
And she couldn't sleep. She was exhausted, but every time she closed her eyes, she couldn't slip into dreamland.
April continued to drum her phone against her lips and watched the moonlight fall across her floor.
She felt crazy to feel the need to call a guy she just met, but even if it was only for an hour, she needed to relax.
Looking at the alarm clock, the numbers read 10:00 p. before she told herself it was too late to call; April flipped up her cell and pressed on the name, Leo Hendrie.
Sighing, she pressed the phone to her ear.
And someone picked up on the fourth ring."Hello."The voice said sounding groggy.
She cursed herself. Of course, he would be sleeping, everybody was sleeping expect for her.
April thought about hanging up, but she already called him. So, what the hell.
"Hi Leo, it's April," she paused. Then when there wasn't response she added," From cancer support group."
There was some rustling on the other end then he said,"Oh yeah April. What can I do for you?"
"Well..."she started." You said if I was ever stressed. You told me to call you and you would take me to that place that would relax me."
Leo coughed." And you want to go now?" he asked surprised.
Sighing, April ran her fingers through her hair."Yeah, look I know it's late, and if you don't want to go. That's fine, but I can't sleep, so can you tell me a least where it is?"she pleaded.
"No, I'll take you. I'll be there in ten minutes." Leo said.
"Okay, see you then."
Closing the phone after saying goodbye, April changed into a pair of jeans and a hoodie, and went to wait outside.
Leo led her out in the middle of the woods, tall trees were towering over them.
"So, this is the place?" she questioned looking around. Leaves and branches crunched underneath her sneakers.
Smiling, Leo laid a blanket down on the ground." Don't judge until you're here for a little bit."
"I-"
All of a sudden, April's feet went out from under her and all she could was the cold, hard ground she was going to face plate into until two arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling.
Giggling from embarrassment, she pushed her hair out of her eyes."Won't."she finished.
They smiled at each other before Leo grabbed her hand and helped her over to the blanket.
Sitting down on the soft material, April wiped her hands on her jeans and said,"So, why is this place so relaxing?"
She had to ask since she didn't instantly feel her nerves wash away.
Laughing, Leo bit into a chip. He brought snacks and two bottles of water to have, just incase they wanted to have any." Just give it a few minutes and you'll see why."
April was unconvinced, but kept her mouth shut anyway. Grabbing a chip out of the bag, she looked out at the little lake in front of them.
The way the moon was reflecting off of the water, it was breath -taking and somehow looked magical. Taking a deep breath in and then letting it out, she was starting to get why this spot could make you feel like everything was right in the world.
"So, what has got you stressing out so bad, that you can't sleep?" he asked crunching another chip between his teeth.
"Everything,"April stated." The cancer, my family about me having cancer, and my 's all just too much."
"Yeah that's how I felt too, when I found out about my brain tumor. It was like the whole world was spinning out of control and I couldn't do anything to stop it."
April threw her head back towards the sky, leaning back on her hands." Exactly."
"And I wished I could stop it. Not only for me ,but everyone who I'm close to, especially my mom who lost it when she found out."Leo continued.
April looked at him, a soft laugh escaping from her lips." Your mom sounds like mine."
"My mom just wanted to fix things, just wanted to make things better and I love her for that. I do, but I just wanted things to be normal again, I just wanted her to calm down."
Without thinking, April pressed her lips against his.
Backing away, she laughed softly." I'm very sorry for doing that, but you just described everything I have felt in the last couple of weeks."
It was nice to feel like someone finally understood how she felt after all this time of feeling so damn alone.
Leo brushed his nose against hers and her breath caught in her chest when he pressed his lips against hers.
The crickets sang in the background. All sorts of feelings exploded inside April's body and she realized this might be crazy, but she has never felt this way before.
It was close to midnight and April had been with this guy for two hours and in one little moment, she felt as though she was falling in love.
Leo leaned onto her,making her lay on the kiss broke apart and he stared into her her once more, he fell onto his back.
April licked her lips, still tasting his. She peered up at the night sky, the moon was so bright and the stars looked like little diamonds. It looked so perfect, like someone painted it.
Yawning, she could feel her eyes getting heavy." You know what?" she asked.
Leo turned his head to look at her." What?"
"This place really does rela..."
And then there was silence. Dead silence. Panicked, Leo bolted up from his spot."Apr-" he was cut off by her chest moving up and down. He sent a quick "thank you." up to God that he didn't take her from this world. He knew she was just diagnosed, but a life with cancer, you just never know when a life will end.
Relief flooded through him as he laid back down. Finally, Leo realized how tired he was.
"I told you this place would make you calm." he said.
Smiling at her peaceful state, Leo pulled April close and held her tightly to him before he drifted off to sleep.