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Isabella avoided eye contact with him on the way down to the parking lot. 

He noticed.




"Are you okay?"


"Yeah."


"Are you sure?"


"Yeah."


"Are you lying to me?"


"Yeah."


"I...I'm sorry for coming in like that. I...it's just that your aunt invited me in and I just thought that-"


"It's okay. I...it's just a little weird."


"Weird?"


"You...you seeing me like that. Like...like...after one of my nightmares I'm not exactly...in the best state of mind, if you know what I mean."


"I know what you mean."


"You do?"


"Uh-huh. And also...I kind of get why it was weird for me to see you like...like you were."


"Really?"


"Yeah...I mean...I would hate for someone to see me after one of my nightmares. I can't really explain it. It's...just...I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a bit of pride. I guess...I...maybe we act so tough in the daytime that it's weird for someone to see what it's like when we can't control our demons. Maybe...maybe we spend so long trying to be okay that it's weird for people to see us when we're not."




She looked him in the eye.




"Yeah...I get what you mean."




And she did. She just hadn't expected him to understand so much. Waking up from her nightmares was like regaining control of her mind. She never thought that someone else could have felt the same panic she did when she closed her eyes. She always thought maybe she was a bit nuts. After all, who wouldn't want to fall into the blissful ignorance of dreaming? Where the mind could conjure up its own playground and the obstacles of the world were forgotten. Where a person can be anything or anyone. Where everything is fantasy and reality is the enemy.

She never supposed that anyone else would fear to close their eyes. She had always considered herself to be alone in her loss of control, that no one else had to worry about what horrors their head could manufacture in the consciousness's absence. But now she realised how wrong she had been. People were only alone because they felt like they had to be. She supposed that, if everyone took a leap of faith then no one would be alone. To talk to that stranger you see on the train every morning. Or that person you always buy milk from every Monday morning. Humanity had isolated itself into believing that they had to be alone in what they felt.

Isabella decided that she was going to go against that unspoken rule.

Elliot smiled.

She reached out to hold his hand.

Isabella smiled.




"So...where are we going?"


"It's a surprise."


"How does that work? I'm the one driving."


"I'll give you directions."


"If you end up directing me into the middle of a ditch, I swear I'll kill you."




He laughed.




"Don't worry, where we're going is way more fun than the middle of a ditch."




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