She had on sweats, socks, and two blankets over her, but she was still cold. She had not slept well. She would doze off, dreaming that she was in the dark and a huge male body was pressing up against her. She would wake up in a sweat, but she was freezing. She finally moved from her bed to the couch because there were more lights in the small living room. Two of the lamps in the living room had back up batteries in case the power went out. In the long winters in this area of Illinois, the power went out often during heavy snowstorms. She had learned early to keep lots of batteries and flashlights along with automatic backups. She had turned on the TV with the volume up loud, but that didn’t work, so she shut it off. She had gotten up, warmed up some milk, but only drank half. She tossed the rest, then washed the glass. So here she sat, cold, hugging her knees, her shades open to let the light in, the TV on again, making noise in the background she could not hear. Still, the impression of a large body pressed up against her from behind.
