By: Abigail Handojo
Promise Me You'll Live
Chapter 3: "Sleepless Nights"
Amy’s POV
“18. Your turn.”
“Who’s your favorite Disney princess?”
"Haha, uhm Rapunzel I guess. Or- wait no, maybe Belle. What about you?”
“Hm. Probably Ariel. Though Cinderella is a close second.”
“Classic.”
I smile up at the ceiling from my place on the bed. Lily has settled down next to me. Her eyes are closed. We’re busy passing the time I couldn’t spend sleeping.
“19. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?”
She answers immediately, “With my family.”
Comfortable silence fills the gap between us. I take the time to wonder what losing my family would feel like.
“Do you miss them?”
“More than anything. We had Disneyland pass and they’d take me there all the time. Work and school rarely overlapped, but when it did, they made the best of it. We did everything together.”
“Now I don’t even know where they are.” Lily trails off.
Somehow, even without talking, we both know she still has the floor in our conversation. I focus on the soothing sound of our breathing.
“20. What are you afraid of?” That's a deep one.
Lily waits patiently for my answer. Maybe she knows the longer I take to respond, the more I mean what I'm going to say next.
“Well, I used to be afraid of the dark because of the things that hide in it.”
“But..?”
“But then I realized they’re hiding for a reason. In their eyes, I might be the monster. Whatever the reason, I stopped minding their company. It’s better than being alone in the dark, isn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
“And yourself?
“Getting lost. Being gone. My thoughts get too loud and it’s suffocating. But before that… I was afraid of ghosts. And… in a way… I think I still am.”
I look away from the ceiling to see Lily turned on her side, facing mine. We stay like this for a while, just enjoying the open vulnerability. A wave of sleepiness catches up to me and I yawn.
“Amy.”
“Lily.”
“I just remembered. I forgot to return your previous question.”
“And what’s that?”
“21. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?”
“Here.”
And with that, I let the day's exhaustion take me like the tide. Drifting into peaceful unconsciousness for the first time in a while. Perhaps because I know Lily will linger by my side as I sleep and will be ready to start a new day when I wake up.
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