The door to Dana’s bedroom was open, so she gingerly walked into the doorway, her arm with the knife poised. The knife clattered to the floor when she saw her best friend in a fitful sleep, tossing and turning. Am I hallucinating? Is that real? Dana’s still alive?

Dana let out another very real groan. Alice brought her hands to her mouth and clamped down on one to muffle her sobs. I should get out of here before she hears me. She didn’t move from her spot though, and was soon finding it hard to fight the increasing urge she had to just reach out and touch Dana. She took a few steps towards the bed and then back again. If she sees me then I’ll really seem crazy, Alice thought with a shake of her head. She turned around and started to walk back into the hall when she felt a sharp stinging between her toes.

“Motherfucker!” Alice whispered as she fell, clutching her foot and carefully pulling the small knife out from it. Blood slowly trickled out onto her hand as she tried to crawl out of the bedroom.

“Al?”

Alice paused, a deer-in-headlights expression on her face. Oh fuck! Go back to sleep!

“Al? Is that you? I can see you on the floor. What the hell are you doing?”

Alice slowly stood up, grimacing at the pain moving her right foot caused. “Nothing… I just, uh, dropped something.”

“In my room? At… 1:30 A.M.?” Dana replied incredulously, now fully awake.

“Don’t worry about it, just go to sleep. I’m fine,” Alice croaked, her voice scratchy from all the crying. Shit, I hope she didn’t notice that.

“Have you been crying? You woke me up, now you need to explain to me what’s going on,” Dana hissed.

“Alright, alright. I just had a stupid dream and I was kind of out of it. I… I thought you were gone.” The tears started again.

“Gone? What… oh. Oh, Al. Come here,” Dana murmured, pulling the sheets back and offering a hand. Alice readily complied, taking the hand and sinking onto the bed. Dana pulled Alice’s shaking body to herself, closing her arms tightly around her. The hysterical sobbing was back, and although Alice knew she shouldn’t be doing this, it felt so good to be back in Dana’s arms. This thought made her shove her face into the crook of Dana’s neck and cry harder.

“It’s okay, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere,” Dana whispered, rubbing her back soothingly. Alice pulled back slightly at this, looking into Dana’s eyes.

“You swear?”

“Cross my heart–”

“DON’T finish that sentence!” Alice cried, burying her face into Dana’s neck again. When it felt like she had no more tears left, Alice gently pulled back. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“For bringing this shit here. I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I didn’t realize..”

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m always going to be here for you,” Dana interrupted. Alice smiled softly, turning around in the bed, moving to get up.

“Okay, well, if I don’t have to say sorry then I’m going to try and sleep.”

“Al… can you just stay here?” Dana pleaded, telling herself it was because she didn’t want Alice to have another bad dream. Really, though, she couldn’t fool herself. She always slept better with her close by. Alice sighed. This isn’t a good idea.

“Well.. okay. Only because your couch sucks so much,” she answered, still not facing Dana, who was now beaming. She moved closer to Alice and pressed into a spoon, putting one arm around her waist. She took Alice’s hand in the other and brought it to her lips.

“Ouch, what’s this, hm?” Dana grunted, not opening her eyes but tasting blood on Alice’s hand.

“Erm,” Alice started, not knowing if Dana was commenting on the blood or if she could feel the growing heat between her legs. Oh God, I hope it’s the first one.“Well when I woke up I assumed I was home alone, but then I heard you groan. So I thought it was like a robber and I grabbed a knife. Then I went upstairs and saw you, which made me drop the knife. Then I stepped on it.”

“Mmm,” Dana sighed, already falling asleep. “Poor baby. Sorry I made you do that.”

“It’s not that bad. Night, Dane,” Alice whispered, grateful that it seemed like Dana hadn’t noticed.

“Goodnight.”