I thought I was lying on the beach. My ears caught the sound of waves, the cries of birds - which I was pretty sure had to be seagulls - and the wind blowing through branches and leaves. It was pleasantly warm, but not hot. I kept my eyes closed and enjoyed the moment. I didn't know where I was or what time it was. But the sun shining through my eyelids told me that it must be midday. I turned my head slightly to the side and felt sand under my cheek. Now I also noticed that my whole body was lying on sand. It was soft and firm at the same time. “Hey you, who’s slowly waking up?” the same soft voice asked again. I put a hand over my eyes and opened them slightly. I didn't see anyone and was about to close it again when the person who must have spoken came into view. She craned her head over mine and grinned. Then suddenly my face became wet. “What the...?” I cursed and got to my feet. The person – a woman – laughed out loud. “It’s your own fault if you ignore me.” I looked at her and saw that she was holding a bottle of water slightly tilted over the spot where I had just been lying. She was still smiling broadly and as my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I recognized her. Her strawberry blonde locks were gathered in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, her eyes hidden behind large sunglasses. But I knew how beautiful blue they were. She wore a kind of short kimono, under which a white bikini emerged when she moved. As I processed who I was with on this bright beach in the middle of nowhere, I began to grin maliciously, then quickly walked up to her and swept her into my arms. I picked her up and carried her to the water, which ran over the sand in slow waves less than five meters and receded again. She screamed and tried to free herself. But my grip was tight and she was too petite to be able to defend herself against me. “You're so crazy,” I said and then I was already knee-high in the water. “Please please don’t, please, it’s so cold,” she whined, clinging to my shoulders like a kitten. “You made me wet too. “I would say an eye for an eye,” I said threateningly. She took off her glasses and stuck one of the handles between her teeth, then looked at me with her puppy dog eyes with her big blue eyes that were so familiar to me and that even now took my breath away. “You don’t want to get me wet, do you? Then I feel really cold,” she spoke in a toddler’s voice and pouted slightly. “You deserve it,” I adopted the tone of a teacher handing out a punishment. “Beg!” I then said and grinned scornfully at her. She blinked, caught. "I'm sorry, what?" “Beg for me to let you down and then I’ll think about it.” She narrowed her eyes briefly, then put on her puppy dog eyes again. “Please please please,” she gave me a kiss on the cheek. I smiled at her briefly, then grinned gleefully. “No,” and with that I threw her into the cold waves, laughing.

“How nasty,” she complained as she emerged sputtering again. I continued to laugh as she tried to push me into the water too but just couldn't. “Where are my glasses?” she asked in shock and looked around at the waves. I held her up. “I quickly fished them out. Can I get a kiss as a thank you?” She still looked at me angry, but her mask was slowly crumbling. Then she came towards me. A small smile crept onto her lips. I couldn't hold on to myself anymore. I carefully placed the glasses on her little nose and then pulled her close to me. I kissed her hard, held her tighter to me and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She moaned softly against my mouth and returned the kiss. Her skin was cold from the water and her hair dripped onto my arms. It was so nice to hold her in my arms, feel her and kiss her. Only when she was shaking slightly did I lead her out of the water and back to where our bags were. I took out a large towel and then wrapped her in it. I hung the kimono over a branch of a tree in whose shade we had spread out. “Now you’re a big churro. “You’re good to eat,” I said with a grin and kissed her on the nose. “I'll pay you back for that,” she said, but her voice sounded too loving to convey it seriously. I lay down in the warm sand and gently pulled her head onto my stomach. Then I started stroking her hair. She began to hum slightly. I knew the melody, she had made it up once and I had heard it from her several times. Her voice was beautiful and I let myself fall to the sound of it.

“Hey, Dude!” someone shook my shoulder. I frowned in annoyance, but then opened my eyes. Immediately I was back in the room, the fucking closed room, which I was so sick of at that moment. It was a complete contrast to the place I had just been. No light, no beach, no noise. And she wasn't there anymore either. “What is it?” I snapped angrily at the person who had snapped me out of this dream. Because it wasn't anything different. A dream. A dream that could have been, that had been, but that would now never be again. Henry raised his hands placatingly “Sorry, the movie is over, we should go back to the room. They’ll lock up the room soon.” I looked around and sure enough the room was almost completely empty, with only a few people still sitting around and talking. I stood up angrily and narrowed my eyes. I was sorry for snapping at Henry like that, but I was so overwhelmed by the feelings that the dream and then reality had triggered that I couldn't apologize. So we went to the room in silence and I went straight to bed. I would apologize to him tomorrow, but now I wanted to escape back into this dream.

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My morning started very early, my watch vibrated at half past five. I had it on quiet so the ringing wouldn't wake Henry. I had to go to breakfast, then to training and wanted to stop by the hospital first. I had a guilty conscience that I hadn't been there much in the last few days. The hope that I could repeat yesterday's dream again had not come true. My night had been dreamless. In the beginning, after she fell into a coma, I had had many such dreams about her and I had always held on to them. Now they had become rarer and rarer. Not that I had forgotten her voice, her face, her laugh, but my head no longer wanted to let her into my dreams so often. I got up, showered and got ready. Then I quickly wrote a message to Henry apologizing and explaining that I wasn't feeling well last night and that's why I'd been so rude. Then I grabbed my training gear, my hand pad and headed towards the hospital hall. The main lights wouldn't come on until seven because that's when most everyone else would be up and it saved electricity. Instead, the hallways were equipped with dimmed lights. It gave the surroundings a dark mood. But I found it pleasant because it made you feel more protected. The base was largely made of glass, so you were almost never protected from view in the hallways and in many rooms during the day.

The hospital hall was open as always for safety reasons in case you needed to get out or in quickly. Out of fear that patients would be able to sneak away, a small metal ring was introduced at the beginning of basic use, which patients always had to wear around their foot and with which they could be tracked. These were also not possible to remove independently. In one of the night shift rooms, the lights were dimmed and I saw that a woman and a man were sitting there talking to each other at the screens that monitored everything, both the cameras and the patients' machines. When there were still a lot of coma patients, more employees were needed per shift. But now there were two. Only two more. I sneaked into the room. The constant beeping of the machines accompanied my every step. I knew the route like the back of my hand and quickly reached the bed. As always, I looked at the monitor and saw that all the values seemed good. Then, as always, I sat on the edge of the bed, took her hand and stroked it. "How are you doing? You look good." I whispered, as if I could wake up the other patients with my voice. “I have to train all day today, can you imagine that?” I stroked her hair and wrapped one of her curls around my index finger. “I'll be very toned when you wake up. “It’s sexy, isn’t it?” I smiled. I stayed on the bed in silence for a while until my watch vibrated. She indicated that I should go have breakfast. Sighing softly, I stood up and, as always, gave her another kiss on the forehead. Then I got up and sneaked out of the hall the same way I came.

I met the others at breakfast. Only Meredith was missing, but the others didn't know where she was either. We ate our porridge mostly in silence. Leon and I exchanged a few brief words as I mentioned that I was friends with Henry and he knew him too. Otherwise you could only hear the spoons scraping. We were all still very tired, none of us were used to getting up so early. But we would probably have to get used to that. The lights in this hall were also dimmed and there was only poor lighting. But it was enough. Each of us was even allowed to drink a cup of coffee. Coffee was very rare, so it was usually only drunk on very special occasions or when someone had a birthday. With our new meal plan, we were allowed to have one cup per day. It couldn't compare to the coffee I remembered from before. But it still wasn't bad. “What do you think we’ll learn first during training?” Beth asked, looking around shyly. Zane shrugged and finished his bowl. “I think the basics, how to defend yourself, how to attack and what techniques there are.” “Shouldn’t you be pretty good by now?” Will asked, looking at him searchingly. “You’ve been out there before, haven’t you?” Now everyone looked at Zane with interest. He wiped his mouth and shrugged his shoulders again, as if that was his preferred way of answering. “I've had training a few times, but I've mostly been on teams with far better trained people. Plus, it’s always good to refresh your knowledge.” Will shifted his gaze from him to me. “And you,” the others followed his gaze. I just looked at him unquestioningly. "I'm told you're supposed to be pretty good at the extra combat courses that are offered to everyone here." I narrowed my eyes slightly. “You’re pretty well informed. May I ask who your sources are?” But Will only smiled slightly and turned back to his porridge without answering.

When we entered the training hall a short time later, it looked completely different than yesterday. Our new coach, Dereck, had really done a real good job.