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It seems Amanda wasn\'t the only one more than slightly perturbed by the sudden downpour growing heavier by the second… as the minutes ticked on by, it was becoming more, and more of a common practice for me to momentarily stop using my phone as a searchlight and actually use it as a phone for once after feeling it buzz in my hand. 

First, it was Ash, a great concern obvious in her soft voice… I could almost picture her in her room pacing back and forth with circular steps wreath with worry. 

Second came Sammy chiming in with a text so short and concise I could read it from the lock screen itself. Just a single sentence, a single question, <<you coming home or no>>

To them both, I told them the same thing; that I\'ll be weathering the storm here over at Amanda\'s, and that I\'ll be back home first thing in the morning. As for Amelia and Adalia? Well, according to Ash, they send their well-wishes, warm regards - which I really think was more Adalia than Amelia, but still, it\'s the thought that counts I guess.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn\'t just Amanda\'s apartment that was experiencing some technical difficulties. Just one look out the window would reveal a fogged sullen city void of its light that spanned for quite a distance. 

If I had to take a guess, I think the whole block was out of commission… maybe a tree fell somewhere and got jumbled on wires, I don\'t know. What I do know, however, was that this whole power outage business might last for quite a while.

I made some space on the coffee table to put up a scented candle, \'cause apparently, that was all Amanda had at the moment. Placed it right beside the Eshwlyn figurine, and trust me when I say that the dim candlelight ominously illuminating the wicked expression on her face, does not a comforting sight make. 

Why does Amanda even have this?

"Again, I said it already, but… really, thank you for not leaving," Amanda spoke out from nearby, her outline faintly shuffling through the darkness, lighting another scented candle on the kitchen countertop. "The dark doesn\'t frighten me, neither does the thunder, it\'s just - you know?"

"I know," I said, settling down on the couch, wiping the sweat from my brow. "We\'ll just say I\'m deathly afraid of both, save you the embarrassment, huh?"

I could hear her curling smile through the puff of air that left her. "Well, aren\'t you sweet?" 

She was starting to loosen up, if only slightly… slow and steady she was beginning to unwind again. Though a part of me still felt a little bad, a normal girl like her shouldn\'t have to worry about impending end-of-the-world catastrophes anytime anything remotely foreboding happens… no one should have to, frankly.

"Oh, by the way," Amanda\'s phone light blindingly loomed over in my direction. "About you staying the night… did-did anyone have anything to say about it on your end?"

"Ash wished us a gentle night\'s slumber and assured me she will keep a close eye on Sammy." 

"Speaking of Samantha," She walked over to me. "She?"

I looked down at my phone, swiping over to the latest of her messages. "She told me not to do anything funny to you while I\'m here, said Mom and Dad didn\'t raise me that way." 

"Anything funny, she says?" Her shadow moved, disappeared from my sight, and before I knew it, Amanda had appeared beside me, the couch giving a slight creak under our combined weight. "Curious… just what does she think you plan on doing with me?"

I offered up a half-hearted shrug. "Hell if I know what anything means in that head of hers." 

"Is she right though?" I heard her say, somehow her voice having this extra \'oomph\' in the total darkness. "Do you have any plans for us tonight in particular?"

"I guess that depends," I replied, watching the soft glow of the candlelight flickering in her creeping, drifting, hazel eyes. "Do you?"

And manifesting beneath it, her pale lips slowly spreading wide. "Always gotta throw the question back… never a straight answer with you."

It was then that I was made too aware of how everything seemingly, inadvertently, fell into place. The rain pouring, the night cold, lukewarm candlelight our only comfort, just the two of us alone together tonight.

Except, the moment wasn\'t right, not yet… not when her hands were still trembling by her side. 

By an inch, she drew away… staying close, resting her head on my shoulders, but still keeping distant.

"Anybody else said anything about this?" She asked, glancing up at me from the corner of her eyes. "How about Irene?"

Irene. Oh, Irene… I turn to my phone again, and that\'ll make twenty the times I\'ve checked for any signs of you.

My missed calls stared back at me, my unread messages a reflection in my gaze… my questions continuing to go unanswered.

I could look at this another way… if she wasn\'t saying anything about this thunderstorm, then that just means she doesn\'t think it was anything worth getting concerned about, right?

Still, I only wish there was an easier way to get in touch with her \'cause clearly this whole phone thing wasn\'t working out too good.

"Nope," I replied, flicking off and placing my phone atop the table. "Probably asleep by now anyway."

Maybe tomorrow. She\'ll definitely call tomorrow.

"Mmn," She murmured, snuggling to a more comfortable position, lifting her feet up the couch.

"Resting nice?" I asked, and in turn, she curled herself up on me even more.

"The best," She whispered breathlessly, exhaling bliss. "Nothing better."

"Feeling better?"

"If I say yes, must I stop? If so, then no." 

"I\'ll take that as a yes."

If I had a dollar for every time I ended up being used as a pillow of some sort, then I\'d have a handful of dollars… which admittedly wasn\'t much, but hey…  who\'s complaining about free money?

For a long, long while, we just sat there, huddled close on the couch, not speaking a word, simply watching the makeshift fireplace flicker and sway on her coffee table.

It was a short while after that while that I realized Amanda had become unusually still, and that her breathing had somewhat lessened slightly.

I think I was alone now in admiring the bright glow of the candle.

Slowly, gently, I shook her awake, and with a soft moan, I heard her rouse once more.

"Hey," I said, quiet as a mouse. "I think you should call it a night now."

Consciousness teetering between the line of dreamland and reality, she muttered sleepily. "You\'re saying…?"

"Go to bed."

Just barely, I could feel her hair grazing my neck, as she feebly shook her head. "But... how about you?

"Comfy couch you got here," I simply said. "I\'ll be just fine here."

"No," She immediately said, shaking her head even harder. "I can\'t… I can\'t let you do that."

"Really, Amanda… I don\'t mind, you don\'t have to worry about me."

"No, no," Amanda insisted, slurring every order word. "That - I\'ll feel bad. How can I sleep like that?"

I\'m starting to think there wasn\'t any winning this argument here. Not when she was whining so cute like that anyway…

"Alright, fine," I said, conceding. "What do you suggest then?"

In hindsight, should have probably known better to ask a barely conscious person for sleeping recommendations.

But I had a feeling, fully awake or otherwise, her answer would have remained the same either way.

"Sleep with me." 

"Knew you\'d say that," I said, heaving a breath. 

"It\'s not anything more," She sluggishly clarified. "We\'ll just sleep. Nothing else."

Thing was, the last time I was in bed with someone…

"And how are you sure that nothing else will happen?"

"I trust you, and besides, if something else does happen…" She sighed here, breathing her words out that I barely heard it. "I wouldn\'t mind that either."

Suddenly, before I could say anymore, before I could think anymore - there was a knock on her door. 

The distinct rapping of wood sounded, resounded, jolting Amanda back to consciousness, eyes wide in full alertness, and averting my gaze towards the front door, just as startled.

It sounded again, firmer this time, so conveniently time with the lightning flashing from the outside. 

Y\'know how some horror movies have that \'based on a true story\' tag in the beginning? Well, guess they weren\'t all bullshit after all.

"By any chance, were you expecting any late-night deliveries?" I asked.

To my dismay, Amanda vehemently shook her head and that\'s when I pretty much resigned myself to my fate.

Like foolish victim number one, I got up from the couch and stupidly proclaimed, "I\'ll go check it out."

The knocking persisted all throughout my wary walk towards the closed door.

Thinking wise, I tried to ask, "Who\'s there?" only to have more incessant knocking to be my answer back.

Typical.

Breathing deep, my hand around the knob, I twisted it, and slowly, I pulled it open.

No scary monster gargling, lashing its claws, no psycho slasher with a machete came to greet me, and momentarily, I felt relief rushing through me.

Then, as if plunged into the coldest sea, I felt that relief freeze. All this time, I thought Amanda might have had a visitor.

There was a visitor, but as it turns out, it wasn\'t one for her… it was for me.

Clad in the deepest hue of violet head to toe, glinting a yellow almost blinding to my stare, dripping, soaking, staining the rugged carpet of the apartment corridor… Sera stood silently before me.