Her heart beats slow to a stuttering pace as she looks up towards the now darkened night,

“I love you.” She confesses into the open night, the grasp of his hand warming hers,

“What?” He asks, in pure shock as he grips tighter onto her hand,

“I love you.” She whispers once more, the cold now digging its claws into her feet, climbing its way up her body,

“You don’t mean that, when we get out of here we will be talking about this” he tells her, as if they are both going to get out of here.

Her eyes flutter towards his dark gaze,

“I love you.” She replies, as if he had said nothing at all.

She lay waiting for his response, cold now settling into her bones preparing for its inevitable win, his warm hand now nothing but a weight she used as an anchor.

His eyes stutter to the crimson leaking onto her chest, his voice trapped in his throat as if he could choke on his unspoken words.

Grasping her hand tighter he replies,

“I- I” he tumbles over his words, her eyes full of hope.

He rears back his hand as if her touch now burns him,

He shakes his head with a frown, his heavy, rushed breathe mixed into a quick paced dance up and into the night above them.

Her hand left empty and alone.

He stood a few paces away, his rugged hand smoothing his hair away from the sweat that arose on his head. He looks away to the forest surrounding them.

“I-I love you.” He took a few moments to capture his breath, wringing out his hands in nerve,

“But Not like that. When we get back we can figure things out, I promise.” He spoke with his back turned towards her, his eyes skimming the dark green unknown that stood before him, as he couldn’t bare to acknowledge what his words had caused, he waited.

As silence passes without a whisper or a laugh, he turns to see his mistake,

As she lay with a smile and a tear running off her cheek, her body now as cold as the put out fire beside her.

Her once warm eyes now vacant as if nobody was home, stared back at him. The crimson on her chest now painted onto her clothes and face, the red hue dripping onto the floor in rhythm with his pounding heart.