When you dream a dream so realistic that every dream you dream has the same person in it, do you run away from it or try to find out who this person is?
Hayley Chen is an upcoming fashionista designer who has recently signed a contract with Vogue. S...
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"It's going to rain!"
"It's not going to rain."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because we are dreaming."
The man and the woman stood in the middle of the dark forest. Making their way through the dense thickets, they were wearing military-coloured explorer hats that helped hide their location to people that were searching for them.
"Then I suppose that you know everything then."
The man rolled his eyes. "I know both of us don't want to be here, but we are. So get over yourself."
"Get over yourself!" She mimicked him.
The man grabbed her shoulders and gently slammed her against the nearest tree trunk. "We are risking our lives here! Do you understand that? If we don't find the treasure, Gonzalez will have our heads. If we die without finding the treasure for him, he will kill our families."
Her eyes stung with the realisation being dawned upon her. It was more than the two of them, but she looked directly into his eyes, not offering what she was feeling. "It's a good thing that I don't have anyone to lose then."
The man took a deep breath, letting go of her. He had no reason to fight with her yet they always did. "You would let innocent people die for your whimsical sense of humour?" His voice stung her more than her hitting the rough trunk of the tree. "Then I guess you will be the one to live with blood on your hands."
He continued making his way forward. "If we survive," she mumbled before joining him.
They followed the compass in silence and kept a track of the distance that they were covering. They were close to the Nile, that's all they knew. They needed to get the treasure before Mendoza's men did.
"I'm sorry," the woman spoke after drowning in several minutes of silence. "I was only getting annoyed at you. We have been in each other's company for six months now, and besides, you aren't easy to work with."
The man clenched his jaw. "Well, it isn't like this journey is going to end any time soon. So I suggest that you make your peace with us spending all our time together."
The two of them found a safe clearing in between the forest covers where there were enough wood sticks for them to start a small fire. They sat in silence as they thought about what was going to happen next. They needed to treasure to survive, both metaphorically and literally.
The man looked at the maps and started to cross out the sections that they had scoured through while the woman warmed her hands up. They had eaten a small portion of the food that they had, trying to save as much as possible in case their journey went longer than they had assumed. They were all alone in the forest. No one was going to come to save them.
"What?" The man asked, not looking up from the sheets of papers surrounding him.
"Nothing."
"Then why are you staring?"
"Do you have eyes on the top of your head as well?"
He shook his head and looked up at her sitting on the opposite side of the fire. "Why are you like this?"
"Why are you so broody?"
Loud thunder broke their little bickering. Hayley looked at the sky and then glared at him. "Glad to know you aren't the son of Zeus then." She gave him a fake smile and then rushed to their backpacks to set up a tent for them.
The man went to set up another tent for himself, receiving an eye roll from Hayley. "We could share a tent and save space but no!" She mumbled under her breath.
An hour or two had passed by with the woman making sure that her tent stood right in the storm that had formed without any indication. The small fire that she had created for herself threatened to give out any moment. She wondered how the man was doing but shook that thought away as soon as it entered her mind.
There was a loud thud that made her turn her head hurriedly in that direction. She opened the flap of her tent and saw the man kicking stones into the dead hearth of the fire that they had shared. His tent was blown over by the wind and he was getting wet.
She groaned. "Oi!" He turned around. "Come on over already."
The man considered it for some time as the woman moved things around for him to have some space. He could either let his equipment drench along with him or he could get over himself and share his partner's tent. He went with the latter as the tent's flap opened and he crawled inside along with his pack.
"Thank you," he muttered under his breath.
The two of them sat staring at the fire, only looking up when thunder and lightning shook. "We need to fall asleep before it gives out," she said.
"I agree," he nodded.
She lay down at the exact spot that she sat and turned her back on him. She was waiting for him to lie down as well but he seemed to be rigid in his position. "If you don't want to freeze to death in this dense forest, I suggest that you get over here."
"What!" His voice squeaked.
She sat up resting on her elbow to look at him. "Do you think I want this? It's the only way we can save the heat."
The man stared at her before giving in without another word about it. He lay down next to her with his back to hers, staring at the flickering fire. "It won't give out," he said.
The woman turned her head slightly as if to see if she had heard him right. "And why is that?"
