13. SAFE FOR THE NIGHT

I am so grateful towards Brent for being here. I have always been a loner but when trouble strikes, I like to have backup. Or rather, I like to be backup. I am not much of a leader.

Brent definitely knows how to make good of a bad situation. He has set up the whole room to be quite comforting. It reminds me of camping but without all the leaves and dangers of snakes.

"You are good at handling bad situations" I tell Brent as we make ourselves comfortable on the blanket and pillows, he spread in the middle of the floor.

"Well, I am an old tree, remember?" he smiles at me as he takes a sip of the tea, he made us on the small gas stove.

"Is there anything you are bad at?"

"Of course!" he says immediately with a broad smile on his face. "I am very bad at baking cakes." He smiles at me as I roll my eyes.

"No, in all honesty, I am bad at letting things be. I have trouble leaving situations unsolved. Or even people where there is unresolved conflict. That is my biggest vice." The smile on his lips looks sad.

"That isn't a terrible vice to have though. It is good to resolve issues so you and others can be at peace." I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them. Brent looks at me and smiles.

"Sometimes it is best to let things be, little sapling. Sometimes people need time to heal or to think about a situation. Sometimes a situation needs time to unravel so the truth can be set free. Not all things can be resolved through conversation and actions. Sometimes doing nothing is truly the best thing to do." His voice is so soft and soothing. Everything he says makes sense. He speaks with a knowledge that I do not have.

We sit and talk a while before I start yawning. It has been a tough day. So much has happened. I cannot believe it is only a few hours since I have met this man.

Brent sees me yawning and gets up from our picnic spot. He makes a bed with blankets and pillows in the dark spot next to the stairs. It looks comfortable even though it is on the ground.

"Come little sapling. Time for bed." He pulls me up by the hand and leads me to the bed he made on the floor.

"You sleep here. I will have a look around and take the second shift." He smiles at me.

The basement is turning cold. I feel terrible when I crawl into the bed he made. He must be getting cold also. I put my head down on the pillow and drift off to sleep.

A while later I wake slowly. The room is silent and there is only one oil lamp burning in the corner.

"Brent" I call to the dimly lit room.

Brent puts a book down and walks to me. He kneels on the bed and looks at me closely.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I was just wondering if you are still here." I tell him honestly.

Brent lays next to me on the bed. He doesn't get under the blankets.

"I am still here little sapling. I hate to tell you that it is almost impossible to leave." He chuckles softly.

"You are terrible" I laugh softly at him. "You must be exhausted. Why don't you sleep. Tomorrow we can keep each other company while we figure out how to escape this storm."

Brent nods and kicks off his shoes.

"I have discovered a fascinating box of things at the other side of this room" Brent tells as he gets under the thick blanket. It is really comfortable and warm in the bed he made. I pull the comforter over my shoulder and lay on my side, facing him as he tells me about the box of treasures he found.

Brent lays on his side also, facing me.

"There are incredibly old pictures in the box. They are framed by a very exclusive company in the 1900's. The frames are of course more valuable than the pictures." Brent goes silent for a moment. It is clear that he is rather talking to himself than to me. "It is very expensive work. That must mean the people in the photographs are of some importance. I will have to have them valued to truly tell the worth of them." He trails off and his eyes focuses on mine.

"I mean, if you want to have them valued" he ads as an afterthought.

"I can honestly tell you that I do not care for any of it." I tell Brent whose eyes grow wide when I finish my sentence. "These are all things I found in the house when I moved in here. I do not have a love for antiques as you do. I see clutter, you see treasures. You may have any treasures you find in this house. I only ask that if the treasure you find is something like a functioning lamp that you replace it with another functioning lamp that goes with the rest of the décor in the room"

Brent laughs a soft laugh at this.

"I will replace your box of hidden photographs and antique frames with a box of newer photographs and equally decorative frames that you can store in the basement for all eternity." He chuckles.

"You are being amusing. Please take them." I smile at him and yawn again.

"That is truly very generous of you." He says softly and holds his hand in front of his mouth as he stifles a yawn.

"Do you think the storm will clear up tomorrow?" I ask him as I struggle to keep my eyes open.

"I'm sorry little sapling. These storms have a way of lasting a few days."

I drift off to a deep sleep. The day and its troubles fall away. I feel safe. Brent makes me feel safe.

During the night I wake to a pitch-dark room. The oil lamp in the corner has gone out and there is no other light in the basement. I wonder for a moment if it is daylight outside as there is also no windows in the basement.

My eyes are heavy and I am very tired. I can hear Brent's breathing on the pillow next to mine. I turn my back to him and make myself comfortable. I push my feet back to touch his leg. This way I will know if he is not there anymore.

The moment my feet touches his leg his breathing stops for a moment. I must have woken him. I freeze. Waiting for him to move his leg away. He doesn't.

He places a hand on my hip on top of the blankets.

"I am still here little sapling." His voice is soft and soothing in the darkness. It amazes me how he knows exactly what I am thinking.

I press my feet back against his leg for a second. I guess it would count as a hug. He squeezes my hip and let go.

I pull the blankets tighter around my shoulders and drift off to sleep again. I do not know if it is daytime outside. I only know that I am exhausted. I will sleep until I am rested.

* * * * * * * *

There is a slight shift in the bed next to me. I force my eyes open and look over my shoulder. It is dark still but I can feel Brent is not next to me anymore.

I slide my arm over his side of the bed. I can feel the warmth where he was but he is not there anymore.

Moments later a soft light flickers to life at the other side of the room. He lights an oil lamp and sets it in its place. He then lights two other lamps in the room. The glow in the room grows brighter when all the lamps are lit.

Brent lights the gas stove and sets the tin kettle on it to boil water.

I stretch out in the bed. I have slept really well considering the situation we are in.

Brent looks over to me when I stifle a yawn.

"Good morning little sapling." He smiles at me. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you. How did you sleep?" I ask Brent while watching him make coffee.

"Well enough, thank you."

He brings me a cup of coffee to the bed and I sit up to take it from him. He goes to take his cup of tea and comes to sit next to me.

"I would like to go up to check on the state of the storm a little later. If you don't mind" he tells me between sips of tea.

"I don't mind. I was wondering how we will know what is going on up there. There are no windows in the basement."

"There is a reason for that. This basement is built to withstand any natural disaster. Windows would have been a weakness."

The person who built this house knew about the storms. He also knew about the portal. The house was built on top of the portal.