Clouded Visions

Kiera woke up for real, face down on the wooden floor and drenched with sweat. Darius rushed into the room, knocking over a standing lamp that fell with a loud metal clang. “Kiera? Kiera! What’s wrong?” he yelped desperately, searching for the light in the dark, panicking uncontrollably. His bare feet made contact with a small rug, which slipped out from under his feet. He fell hard. As Kiera finally realized what was happening, she picked herself from off the floor and fell to her knees beside Darius. Luckily, Darius had not hit his head as Kiera had feared, but instead, smacked his cheek on the coffee table. Darius sat on the couch while Kiera held a bag of ice over a patch of his skin that was rapidly changing color to a deep purple and forming a welt beneath the sickly hue. He took over, pressing the bag more firmly to his cheek, wincing slightly. “I’m clumsy, aren’t I?” he laughed. Kiera, however, found it hard to even smile. Darius’s face altered into a soft grimace as he brought up the inevitable. “You were screaming, Kiera.” “Sleepwalking too, apparently.”