The second

I answered swiftly, "yes?" rising up from the layers of warmth and stumbling outside into the iced night. He had called my name, spoken it into my dreams and permeated sleep instantly. I stood in the dark searching, perhaps seeking more than just grass and the evening sky, the layers of unbroken shadows that lay thickly everywhere. The voice had inspired attention, but the aftereffects of my search inspired an eerie feeling. Self inflicted mind games taking a darker turn when daylight had hidden? Most likely. At least that is what I told myself. To stop thinking creepy things during the day that might infuse my less comfortable nights.

Still...the voice stayed with me. It had a soothing quality, unlike the ragged edges of thoughts about a watcher and unsavory deeds. Whatever it was, whomever it was, it beckoned with a commanding insistence. If it was my own lonely mind that fashioned it out of need, it was working. If it was more than that, I was eagerly chasing after it. Hopes and wishes were sent upward once more to the moons and stars above. One glittered brighter, rimmed with a golden edge and I felt like maybe I had been heard. I banished the watcher and his secret gaze outside the flaps of my wagon and crept into the fold of blankets, surrounded by piled up supplies. Exhaustion once more began scratching at the edges of my awakened mind and I slowly succumbed, slipping into the quilted comfort of sleep.

Sleep. The cure for what ails you. The respite from a storm. My emotional sanctuary.
And then I heard it.