Shutdown (Glitch)

help?” Adrien’s voice seemed doubly loud in the dark. “Anything that will help you stay awake?”
    I shivered, drying my eyes on my tunic sleeve. “Well, at least the cold helps.” The pod light had doubled as a heat lamp, and the cold night air quickly invaded the small space. “But you should get under the blanket so you can keep warm.”
    “I’m fine.” It was so strange hearing his voice coming out of the darkness without being able to see him. “Maybe if we keep talking, that will help?”
    I didn’t say anything for several long moments. My heavy eyelids were already drooping. If we couldn’t read, I didn’t know how I was going to stay awake. Unless …
    The darkness made me feel a strange recklessness. As if, when I couldn’t see him, barriers between us were suddenly broken down.
    “Well, there is one thing,” I started, then stopped, feeling foolish.
    “What?”
    “Whenever you touch me…” I stopped again.
    His voice responded without any hesitation, a silken whisper in the dark. “What happens when I touch you?”
    “It makes me feel, um…” My face went hot, and I was glad he couldn’t see my blush. “The opposite of sleepy.”
    I didn’t hear a response, and I clenched my hands into fists. Stupid. I knew talking like that would just drive him away.
    There was absolute silence for a few terribly long moments, and then I heard a slight crinkling as he shifted off his thermo blanket. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought he was moving toward me.
    His hand brushed my arm, groping in the dark. Finally he found my hand. I froze, and let him make contact. He flipped my hand over and then used the tip of his finger to outline the lines on my palm. His touch sent an electric ping throughout my body.
    One thing was sure. I was no longer sleepy.
    “Yeah,” I said, my throat suddenly dry, “like that.”
    He shifted until he was sitting so close, I could feel the warmth of his body beside me.
    “Like this?” His fingers left my hand and touched my hair, then moved up to my forehead and cheek.
    My breath caught in my throat, and I turned my face into his hand. Even though my muscles all relaxed against him, a zinging awareness ricocheted through my body.
    His touch was so gentle. After ten minutes hovering along my hairline, he took my shoulders firmly and arranged me so that I was lying down, facing away from him. Then he lay behind me, his body separated from mine by mere inches. The lightest whisper of fingers traced down my arm, down the sloping dip of my waist and then over the curve of my hip. Even though my cloth tunic was between us, his touch still seared straight through to my sinew.
    I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to scare him away. I wanted him to keep touching me like this forever. I knew he was only doing it to help keep me awake. That it meant nothing to him. He was probably moving his hands across my body according to some mechanical pattern in his head. Cold and scientific.
    But for the moment, I couldn’t be bothered to care. Long minutes stretched out as he continued the tortuous path up and down my body. Always along the outermost edge, never venturing inland.
    Finally I couldn’t help but let out the slightest whimper, but again, he didn’t pull away. Instead, his touch became heavier until he was caressing the side of my body with his entire hand. He pulled up the side of my tunic with agonizing slowness, just far enough to expose my waist, and then he brushed the tips of his fingers against my skin. I shuddered under his touch. My breathing was loud and erratic in the quiet cave.
    Did he know what he was doing to me? Did he not care, as long as it accomplished the goal of keeping me awake?
    My fingers itched to touch him back, to caress the jaw line of the face that I loved and then to stroke down his broad shoulders. But I kept my hands in place, balling them into fists at my side to keep them still.
    After another half hour, though, my skin was on fire and the reckless impulse took over again. What was holding me back from reaching toward him in the dark? These might be my last few days on earth. Was I really going to allow my fear of rejection to keep me from living them to the fullest?
    No. No, I wouldn’t. I suddenly flipped over so that I was facing Adrien, though I still couldn’t see anything. If he was surprised, he gave no indication. He didn’t speak or shift his position at all. I stretched a trembling hand out in front of me and