Quieter World

Alex shows up at her doorstep, cuts on her face already tended to, bruises on her body flowering in purple and brown. And Kara bites her tongue because it’s all she can do to keep from yelling, from arguing that she should have asked for help.

Kara takes all the ‘I would have’s welling up in her throat and buries them, taking Alex by the hand and pulling her close as gently as she can.

“You’re okay?”

Alex sighs into her shoulder, too exhausted to pretend. “I need to sleep for a hundred hours, so I’ll get back to you on that.”

“You could’ve gone home.”

“I wanted to see you.” Something in Alex’s voice becomes fragile, and Kara holds on a little tighter, fingers digging into the warmth of her leather jacket.