Amber settled on the couch in front of the TV, her entire body aching.
Switching on a movie, she sat, waiting for everyone else to come home, and eyes quickly darted up when the front door creaked open.
Tara's arrival brought a smile to her face, and she patted the empty seat next to her.
"Hey, sit with me," she called out. Tara grinned, and scooted over to sit next to her girlfriend, enveloping her in a hug.
Amber winced; the small expression made Tara pull away.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" Tara murmured, immediately apologetic.
Amber shook her head; Tara was just trying to be her usual loving self, after all.
"Does it still hurt?" Amber nodded, and caressed Tara's hand.
"It's fine. It happened a while ago, so..." Amber quietly said, before breaking into a fit of coughing.
"I'll get water!" Tara rushed to the kitchen, filling a plastic cup with water. Amber was still unstable, and her hands would sometimes shake terribly.
Tara held the cup of water in front of Amber, and watched as Amber tried to take the cup from her, each time hands just slightly missing the cup, instead grasping at thin air.
Shocked, Tara grabbed Amber's aimless hands, guiding them to the cup, and looked on as Amber gulped the water down.
Now only did she notice the older's eyes wandering around, unable to focus, and she would sometimes squint at Tara's face to ascertain her expressions, as if she couldn't see Tara properly.
With a worried look, Tara lifted all five fingers of her right hand in front of Amber. Taking a deep breath, she asked: "How many?" Looking up, Amber muttered, unsure of herself: "Two today."
"...Today?"
"Yeah," Amber sighed.
"Yesterday, I did the same thing, and it was sometimes one, sometimes two. I know there's five, but... I can only see two."
Tara stared at her, heart sinking in dismay.
The other smiled ruefully at her.
"Tara, it's okay. The doctor said the bones have already started to heal; I'm sure the rest will do the same eventually."
And she looked at Tara with wide, dark eyes, not a single light of life in them, before toppling sideways off the couch...
Tara jolted awake, quickly sitting up in bed, darkness of the night surrounding her.
Her breathing was erratic and fast; the lingering nightmare felt too real to be otherwise.
Tears had unconsciously gathered in her eyes.
Below her in the bottom bunk, Sam turned over in her sleep.
She quickly scuttled down from the top bunk, running to Amber's room.
It was at times like this she wish they slept together in the same room, but she knew that Amber preferred to sleep alone.
The door creaking open had Amber stirring awake.
Slowly sitting up, she saw Tara making her way towards the bed.
The faint moonlight filtering in through the curtains were reflected on Tara's tear-streaked face.
"Tara, what's wrong? You're crying!" Amber exclaimed as she wiped away Tara's tears with her thumbs.
Tara wasn't aware that she had been crying in her sleep, but there was a very important question she had to ask the older.
"A-Amber, how many fingers?" She held up her opened right hand in a high-five gesture.
"Tara, what even?" Amber whined.
"Just answer the question."
"Well, I can't see clearly..." Just that answer alone set Tara into a panic.
Sensing Tara's heightened, unstable breathing, Amber immediately continued, squinting her eyes: "...because it's dark, but there's five fingers, why?"
And Tara collapsed in relief, sitting on the cold, tiled bedroom floor.
Amber gasped, and hurriedly scooped Tara up, effortlessly carrying her in her arms before gently placing her on the small bed.
"Tara, I'm serious, what's wrong? What happened?"
Shivering despite the warmth of the bed, Tara took a shaky breath.
Amber strained to catch her whispered words.
"I-I dreamt of you, and you had an accident, and so many of your bones broke and you couldn't see even though it happened a really long time ago, and you couldn't see anything properly, and you couldn't even take a cup of water, and..."
Tara's breath hitched.
Although she knew she shouldn't press further, Amber still asked. "And...?"
"And you couldn't even see me..."
At that, Tara burst into tears, and quiet sobs filled the room.
Amber pulled her in, enveloping her in a soothing hug as her girlfriend's tears soaked her shoulder.
"It's alright, it's alright,” she said softly.
"I can see you now, even in the darkness, as clear as day."
Hearing no response from Tara, she patted her head as Tara's breathing slowed.
She exhaled, feeling saddened that Tara had cried herself to sleep.
Amber laid Tara down in her bed, tucking her in.
The bed was small, and she thought of leaving Tara here to sleep for the night.
But she hesitated, and decided to sleep in the same bed to ward off any more nightmares that dared to haunt Tara in the night.
She smiled when Tara instinctively snuggled closer to her under the blanket, and closed her eyes.
Tara slept peacefully for the rest of the night.