Julia was wearing a hole in the carpet. Figuratively--that is. Not to say she hadn't accidentally burned some actual holes through upholstery after a spell gone wrong, but this was a different kind of burn. She paced back and forth behind the couch, gnawing on her lower lip. Her eyes scanned words in the leather bound book cradled in her arms. At this point in the night, she found herself rereading the same sentence over and over so many times it took nearly twenty minutes to get through one page. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration, not fully paying attention to where she was walking. Suddenly, her foot caught and nearly sent her sprawling to the ground. "Shit..." she grabbed the back of the couch to steady herself, looking down to where she had pulled up the edge of the area rug. At first, she thought she was looking at a shadow, except, there was nothing above the floor to make such a shape. Her stomach tightened. The stain curved at an odd angle,and smeared down, darkening the wood beneath it and tapering off beneath the rest of the rug.
Julia's vision swam as she fought to push down the memories she had been suppressing for the last week or so, dimming them so she could actually function for two whole seconds. Only this time, she couldn't stop them. They came flooding back so aggressively she nearly lost her balance again, the book lay forgotten on the couch and Julia fought to keep her breathing steady, trying to focus on anything other than the screams clouding her mind. She faintly heard the click of a door opening and a familiar voice trail in.
"Is your water heater working? That was the fucking coldest shower I've ever had..." Kady's footsteps echoed into the kitchen as she continued to talk, but Julia felt like she was hearing her from underwater, the syllables muffled and far away, even as she struggled to listen.
What felt like minutes, but was probably only a couple seconds passed, and Kady must have finally realized she was having a one sided conversation. Julia felt another presence next to her and all the sound came rushing back in.
"Julia?"
Julia had to blink a couple times for the worry etched face to come into focus. She looked back down at the stain and Kady's eyes followed, along with a sharp inhalation of breath. She stood there with her for a moment, before walking to the edge of the rug and flattening it with her foot. She turned back to Julia, who finally got a good look at her without the room spinning. Her hair was damp and hung in curly rivulets across her face, dripping small spots of water onto the oversized red flannel she wore over a dark tank top, along with a pair of Julia's sweatpants that rose up on the ankle due to the women's contrasting heights.
Kady took a step towards her and did something Julia wasn't expecting. She held out her arms.
Julia stared, unsure of what was happening until she looked up at Kady's face. It was different from what it usually was; guarded, closed off, letting in nearly nothing and no one. Instead it was open, vulnerable, green eyes shining with unshed tears.She let Julia come to her. Watched as she took the couple steps towards her and slid her hands around her waist, letting her head rest in the crook of Kady's neck. Julia inhaled, noting how Kady's damp hair tickled her cheek and smelled of fresh roses--curious considering the shampoo Julia had told her she could use was jasmine and vanilla scented.
One of Kady's arms slowly came to rest around her shoulders and the other joined it around her waist. They stood there, breathing in sync for what felt like an eternity, until Julia noticed Kady's chest catching. She had thought the water dripping on her temple was from her wet hair, but then she heard the small hiccup, and suddenly, a dam opened.
Julia felt every emotion built up from the past few weeks spill out, and then her own tears were wetting Kady's skin and her breathing was getting shallow and her body was shaking and pain shot up her legs as her knees hit the hard floor beneath her. Kady showed no signs of resistance as she dropped down with her, instead her body shuddered just as hard and her breathing came out in strangled gasps. She held tighter to Julia's waist and tangled a hand in her hair, pressing her forehead against her temple.
It wasn't until Julia's own sobs had quieted that she heard Kady whispering something over and over again, that made fresh tears spring to her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Two hours later, Julia shivered against the cool breeze, tugging her sweater tighter around her shoulders and taking a deep inhale. She watched as streaks of orange and yellow made their way across the sky, the sun just peaking over the horizon and cutting beams through the early morning fog. From the roof you could see nearly the entire city, but Julia turned instead to look at the woman beside her, who's cheeks were rosy from the cold and unruly curls were fluttering in the wind.
She kept her eyes facing forward when she spoke. "We're going to find him."
Julia fiddled with a loose thread on her sleeve, wrapping it around her finger, once, twice. "And then what?"
When she lifted her head, Kady was staring at her with a look in her eyes Julia couldn't identify.
"And then,"Kady gently took Julia's hand, unraveling the string from around her finger. "We're going to be okay."