An alarm wakes Lianna from her light sleep. She groans and turns around, falling off again. At least this is the last time she has to sleep on this cursed sofa. Her couch at home is much more comfortable. “Did you fall off?” William asks with his morning voice. Lianna laughs lightly and nods her head. Her head falls back on the ground as she stares at the ceiling. William gets out of bed and walks over to her. He holds his hand out to her and helps her to her feet. “How did you sleep?” Lianna adjusts her t-shirt. William had another nightmare last night which caused her to wake up. Whatever the nightmare is about, it must be something terrible. He was sobbing and trashing around when she woke up. She tried to put the earphones in, but he started crying when she touched him. “Fine, you?” he asks while walking back to the bed. He cannot believe that he had another nightmare. And why does Lianna keep on sleeping on the couch? He knows that the sofa is not comfortable at all. Does she k

Lianna watches William from her peripheral as they walk back to her apartment. He has not said a word during the trip back. She did not even attempt to make small talk, much less ask him what happened. He had this dark, disturbed look in his eyes that scares her. William opens the door and barges into the apartment with his bags, heading to the bedroom. Lianna trails behind him with her bag. She places her bag on the island in the kitchen and goes to switch on the kettle. “Do you want tea?” she asks into the silence, but there is no answer. Lianna frowns as she slowly walks to her bedroom. What is he doing? She enters the bedroom and sees William sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. His breathing is uneven and he is gripping his hair. “William?” He looks at her and she notices that his eyes are even darker. “What is going on?” she asks, giving a step closer. William shakes his head and stands up. He walks past her, slightly bumping into her shoulder. She bites th

Once they enter the apartment, William heads to the bedroom, but Lianna grabs his arm. He sighs mentally. He does not have the strength for a pep talk. He cannot deal with this now. Lianna takes William’s arm and leads him to the island in the kitchen. She pulls out a chair and gestures for him to sit. William hesitates. “Please?” she asks with a soft voice. William scoffs and turns to the bedroom. He cannot stand the pity on Lianna’s face. “Sit,” she demands and William pauses. He slowly turns around and sees Lianna searching for something under the sink. With a frustrated sigh, he sits down. Lianna grabs the first aid kit from under the sink. She makes her way back and sits across from William. Great, now she is going to patch him up. William places his hands on the table and watches Lianna remove his wrapping. The sooner she can get this over with, the sooner he can leave. For good. After Lianna has unwrapped his hands, she holds the bottle with saline solutions over a cloth.

Light rain tickles Lianna’s face as she makes her way out of the school, William running in front of her. They had finished the color run, but it started to rain while they were cleaning up. They managed to finish packing up and are now hurrying to the car that William arranged for them. “Come on,” William calls over his shoulder, slowing his pace so that Lianna can catch up. She falls into step next to him and he lifts his jacket over them to shelter them from the rain. William leads her to the abandoned building across from the school where they can wait for the car. He ushers Lianna to the nearest wall which serves as protection from the weather. Lianna falls back against the wall and rests her hands on her knees. She tries to catch her breath. William also rests against the wall, running his hand through wet hair. “Ugh, I am soaked,” she says, twisting her shirt between her hands to get the water from it. William turns his gaze to her and notices that her white shirt is clingin