There is a sound. It is the sound of a heart. I feel warm. I breathe in a sweet scent and cuddle in closer to it. My cheek rubs against soft skin and the heart beat skips. I let out a muzzled moan and squint my eyes as I begin to wake. And a realisation hits me. My eyes open wide. My breath catches. I am laying on someone. A girl. Isabelle.
"Lil?"
I gulp in a breath and am about to pull back and apologise. Until that is that Isabelle puts her arm on my back and rubs my shoulders a little. Gently. Instead of getting up I close my eyes. And suddenly realise that I was comfortable right where I was.
"Mnn, I am sorry."
Sorry for the person that I am.
Sorry for crying.
For being so weak.
Sorry that at some time… during the night… so scared of a nightmare; that I unknowingly crawled into your arms.
I swallow and breathe deep. I cannot say these things. You would not accept my apologies. And to prove this:
"You don't need to be sorry Delilah."
Yes I do.
"It wasn't your fault."
Yes it was.
I don't answer. I breathe. Quietly. And listen. To her breath. Her heart. Oh! Her beautiful heart. I can hear it. As it beats in time with each of her steady breaths.
"Well I'm sorry for being sorry."
Isabelles chest moves as she let out a small laugh. "You are so strange sometimes Delilah." My heart flutters as her other arm wraps around me. "But I love that about you. You're so unique. So…"
Isabelle loses track of her words. Or forgets what she wanted to say; she chooses not to finish her sentence. Instead it is left hanging between us. I open my eyes; still and heavy.
"What is the time?"
"Nearly half past nine."
My eyes widen for a moment and I roll onto my back. "Half past nine?"
"Yeah."
I take in a breath and stare up at the ceiling. It has been such a long time since I have slept inn so late. So long, I close my eyes and let the breath out before I suffocate.
"Delilah?"
"Yeah."
"You all right?"
I nod my head. "Yeah I'm fine."
"Hey we're going for a camp out tonight." Isabelle says sitting up and yawning. "So we should probably get up and have some breakfast."
I sit up as well and feel my heart beat faster. "C-camp out?"
"Yeah just tonight." Isabelle grins at me. "It'll be fun."
I nod my head and get off the bed. "Uh I think I'll just I'll have a shower before breakfast though."
Isabelle also gets up and acknowledges my shower plan before leaving the room so that I can get ready.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So are you two girls ready?"
"Yup!"
"Delilah?"
"Uh, yep." I press my lips together in a small smile and nod my head before turning away.
"Be back by eight PM Sunday Isabelle."
"Okay."
"Yep, and I'll call if anything goes wrong."
"Right then, bye girls." Mr. Samsa gives us a wave goodbye before walking back into the house.
Isabelle takes a breath and looks to me happily. "Let's go!"
I smile back at her and we start to walk over to the ute with our stuff in it. "Now the ute will only et s so far. We'll have to walk to get the dam we found."
"Found? I thought farmers made damns. Not found them..."
"Yeah well..." Isabelle pauses as she puts on her seatbelt and continues as she ignites the old engine. "Our farms really big...and we also own a fair bit that's just made up of bushland. So my dad when he was small he went bushwalking alot. One day while walking he came across a damn. Obviously not man-made. Seems to be really clean water too. And so that became his favourite place. He fought tooth and nail with his own dad. 'Cause my grandad didn't wanna keep the wild land."
I listen in silence as we cut across a paddock and lean my head back as I listen to my friends voice, above the rumble of the ute engine.
"In the end my dad won over. And once my grandad was bed-ridden my father inherited the estate and all the land and such. The damn... it's not just a damn to my dad. It was a peaceful place." Isabelle laughs. "It's where he took my mother for their first date."
I look over to my friend and smile. "Not just a damn."
Isabelle stops the car at a gate and looks at me. "Mnno, not just a damn. My dad took her there all the time. It's where he proposed to her. And when my mum and dad had me that's where we'd go on 'holidays' we'd just camp out at the damn."
Isabelle looks out at the gate. Beyond it is the bush. "So I'm guessing this is the point where we have to get out and walk?"
Isabelle unclicks her buckle loudly. "That's right."
I let out a false groan of disappointment which is answered by Isbelles laugh as she swings her door open and gets out.
The gate is opened and after driving the old ute nearer to the shade of the eucalyptus and shutting the gate locked behind us, we take out a couple of backpacks. And with the Autumn breeze cool on our cheeks, and sun warm above us I follow beside Isabelle as we begin our walk through the barely noticeable path to the damn.
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