The fabric danced lazily in the breeze of the open window, the light of the rising sun slowly making itself known in the dark of the room.

"Not a fan of a sleep-in, are you?" Eve mumbled, pulling me towards her.

I blinked slowly, trying to clear the morning brain-fog. I was watching the curtains, almost in a trance, trying to figure out how to get out of bed without waking her.

She's beautiful. I thought as I rolled into her embrace, the same thought always struck me when I saw her and I doubt it would ever stop. "You know me, the sun means coffee." I replied, doing my best to suppress a grin.

The sheet laying over them left little to the imagination, the soft morning light drawing my eyes to the silhouette of her hips as she faced me. Drifting up to the soothing rise and fall of her chest, skin pushing against the fabric of her t-shirt. Really beautiful.

"And there's that goofy smile of yours." she teased, and the look in her eyes said she'd be pinching my cheek if she had the energy, "Find me a girl that looks at me like you do.." she said before yawning mightily.

Her body pressed in against mine as she pulled me a little closer, a little tighter. Her arms felt like safety, and the warmth of her skin felt like the very concept of comfort. A content sigh left my lips, completely without my permission.

"You did find a girl like that. Now who's the goof." I said in muffled protest, poking her gently to show my clear indignation at the teasing.

"No no." she started to mumble, her words coming piecemeal as she seemed to be falling back to sleep, "People like you don't exist.. you’re clearly a robot.. sent back in time to.. to love me."

She let out another yawn, and I could feel a few kisses being planted on the top of my head. At this point, facing her and nearly smothered as I was, I had given up on the idea of leaving the bed. "I love you, too." I mumbled into her chest, my one free arm giving her a squeeze of my own as my eyelids felt heavier and heavier. I love you so much. I echoed in my thoughts. I'm so grateful we can have these lazy mornings now.

As my eyes drifted closed and sleep took me, I felt blissfully at ease. Content.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The space around me slowly came to my awareness. The memory of the bed started to grow distant, yet remained clear in my thoughts. It wasn't fading like a dream, but just becoming distant enough to remind me it wasn't my current reality.

White. Or at least a lack of colour. I'm not sure if there was any light, or the light was so perfect there simply weren't any shadows. I'm not even sure I can 'see'.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Tears came unbidden, and I started to sob. It wasn't the first time, it wouldn't be the last, but I couldn't help myself. The sense of loss was unbearable. I was so happy. She. I reminded myself. She was so happy. It wasn't me. It hadn't been me. It never was.

I couldn't let this place get to me. Whoever I was at this point.

Just another memory on the wall. Just another, painstakingly vivid, memory that wasn’t mine. It can’t be mine. They can’t all be mine.

But maybe some of them were?

It was getting harder and harder to keep track of what was real and what wasn’t. I don’t even know if this is real. I paused. Trying to look at the space around me. There was just..

Nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Eve said, a thumb wiping at my cheek.

The digit came away wet, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. But when I looked up into her eyes, the feeling faded quicker than it had come. Her concern was clearly chasing away her tiredness, “I’m sorry Evey, I don’t know what came over me.”

I made an effort to wipe some of the tears myself, but she was holding me a little tight for me to find much success, it didn’t matter, “I just- I’m so happy we can spend time like this.” a sniffle made me realise my nose wasn’t helping the growing mess on my face, “I think I got a little overwhelmed is all.”

“Happy tears are always okay.” she cooed softly, pulling me tight to her chest once more, “Let it out, honey. T-shirts are made to be washed.” she finished, a hand gently stroking through my hair.

So I cried. It felt good. I was happy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Awareness..

White..

Nothingness..

I had forgotten. Or maybe I was made to forget. I can’t get distracted from the ‘lesson’ in the memories. Whatever the hell I’m supposed to “learn” in all this. When I get distracted I get pulled back, and it’s always worse.

So I cried. It felt good. She was happy.