Sarah woke up with a jump, her breath wild and erratic and her heart racing; she was covered in sweat and the inside of her sleeping bag was closing around her, squashing her. She fumbled for the zipper and yanked the bag off her, letting the cool, night air blow on her as she ran her hand through her hair and willed her heart to stop beating like a drum. Once again she had "the Hurricane Dream".
Outside, it was pitch black, with the crescent moon providing little light for Sarah to see. It sounded as if everyone else was asleep, finally, after the adults had managed to quiet the little ones as they stayed up until late in their tents telling ghost stories.
Suddenly, Sarah heard a twig crack outside. Her head whirled towards the flaps of her tent, her heart returning to the rhythmic drumming beat. "W-who's there?" She whispered out into the open. Nobody answered her. Sarah quickly searched for anything in her tent to use as a weapon, but the only things that were in her tent was a sleeping bag and a small pebble her fingers had grazed. It certainly couldn't do any damage to what was out there whatsoever. Another twig cracked.
Just as she was about to call out for her dad, Elliot's face popped into her tent and she nearly screamed.
Elliot quickly backed up in surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Elliot whispered quickly as Sarah put a hand to her heart.
"Its fine, I'm just glad you aren't some bear that's come to eat me." She smiled at him as he entered her tent as quietly as he could, glancing outside once more. If their fathers saw him sneaking into Sarah's tent in the middle of the night, they would expect the worse.
"I heard you rolling around in here; are you okay? Were you having a nightmare?"
Sarah looked down and bit her lip. "Yeah…"
Elliot sensed that she didn't want to talk about it. He glanced left to right outside again to make sure nobody else was up before climbing into her sleeping bag with her.
"Come here," He said and pulled her close. Sarah allowed herself to be wrapped in Elliot's protective arms and sighed deeply, breathing in the scent of him that smelled like mint and firewood. It was just like she remembered from two years ago. He honestly hadn't changed a bit from that young, reckless boy she once fell in love with. And she was happy.
"No bear will be able to eat you with me here, now."
Sarah giggled. "I appreciate that."
The two sat in comfortable silence, lost in the moment they were finally together and alone.
Then, Sarah broke it. "What if we get caught?" She asked him while yawning sleepily.
Elliot looked down at her fondly. "Then we get in huge trouble." They smiled up at each other.
"Well, that's a risk I'm willing to take." And then she leaned up and kissed him quickly.