Free The Reservoir by Rosemarie Naramore

sleep.”
    Holly sighed.  “I can’t find my flashlight.”
    “Do you need it?” he asked.  “Do you need to go to…?”
    “No,” she said, glad he hadn’t seen her face turn red.  “Something scared me.  That’s all.”
    “That’s all, huh?”
    She watched his face, attempting to read him, but the darkness veiled his expressions.  What little light there was danced off the planes of his handsome face, creating a fascinating study in blacks and muted grays.  Holly found herself entranced by the beauty of his long lashes as they cast shadows on his cheekbones.
    “What are you staring at?” he asked her, his voice husky with fatigue.
    “You.”
    “Oh, yeah?”  His voice sounded slightly lighter.
    “Yeah.”
    “Tell me what scared you,” he urged in a gentle voice.
    She shrugged and he took her hand, giving it a squeeze.  “Me?  Did I scare you?  Do I snore?  Talk in my sleep?  Did I try to take a bite out of your neck?”
    Holly gave a nervous chuckle.  “Just what we need.  Another blood sucker in the room,” she muttered. 
    Zack gave her a perplexed glance.  “What?”
    “Each and every one of those mosquitoes humming around us is a tiny blood sucker,” she pointed out, slapping her hands in a futile effort to keep them at bay.  “Stupid broken screens.” 
    “Try not to think about the mosquitoes,” he urged, sending shivers up her arm when his thumb began working slow circles on her palm.
    Holly struggled to keep her wits about her.  “Uh, I thought you said you weren’t sleeping before,” she reminded him.  “If you weren’t sleeping, how could you snore or … talk in your sleep?”  She smiled.  “Or take a bite out of my neck?”
    “I’m a multitasker.  Holly, talk to me.  What’s wrong?”
    “What’s right?” she quipped.  “I mean, really, what’s right about this trip so far.”
    “I can think of two things,” he said.  “You … and … me.”
    Holly couldn’t force back the smile from her lips.
    “You’re smiling…” he said in a sing-song voice.  “Now tell me, what frightened you?”
    “I got really cold all of a sudden, as if…”
    “It gets cold up here at night,” he said.  “Even during the summer.”
    “Oh,” she said with relief.  “I figured the ghost had decided to join our slumber party.”
    “If that were the case, you would have heard the sound of a diesel truck engine roaring to life…”
    “Yeah, and I’d be on the seat beside you.”
    “Where else would you be?  I’d never leave without you,” he said matter-of- factly.  “Are you cold now?”
    She shivered.  “Yeah.  I don’t know why.  I have plenty of blankets.”
    Suddenly, Zack rose slightly and pulled her close, settling her body against him.  He wrapped a strong arm around her and whispered in her ear, “Extenuating circumstances.  Your mother will just have to understand.”
    Holly felt her heart tumble, and his warm breath against her cheek sent sensations fluttering against her nerve endings.  But admittedly, these sensations were far more conducive to restful slumber than abject terror.  Well, maybe…  
     
    ***
     
    Holly and Zack heard the sounds of voices in their respective sleep states.  In Holly’s semi-awake state, she wondered, who do those voices belong to?  Girl ghosts?  When she felt a kick against her foot, she stirred and muttered a protest.  Had the ghost entered the cabin and kicked her?  It wasn’t a very polite thing to do, even for a ghost.
    It was a ridiculous idea, contemplating a ghost’s manners, or the lack thereof, but she just wasn’t thinking straight.  She hadn’t slept well at all, despite Zack wrapping her in his protective embrace.  Zack was tall, muscular, and strong, but according to him and Daniel, that girl ghost had a grip of steel. 
    Holly’s thoughts were a muddled mess, until a second kick brought some measure of clarity to her brain, particularly when the kick connected with