Perception

LI

They decided to just walk to the university, leaving the jumble of bikes in the hallway and the red door behind them as they set off together through the streets of her beloved city again. Why take a tram, when you can walk through history? Especially this early on a Monday morning, when most people about where locals.
Anna was still in yesterday's clothes, of course, and her light summer jacket barely protected her from the morning chill. She took Eli's hand easily, their fingers intertwining so naturally already that it scared her a little. It scared her, because it was fast becoming very obvious to her that Eli was not the only one falling in love here. And if he would leave her now, after all they'd said, all they'd done? Well... that would hurt her. In fact, that would hurt her more than she wanted to contemplate.
She shook her head slightly as they walked along.
Wow. This had all happened so quickly, so unexpectedly. How had she suddenly come to be in this vulnerable position, that she'd never envisaged herself to be in?

"How are you feeling?" she asked him quietly, after a while.
She could hear his intake of breath, she could feel him thinking about how to phrase his thoughts.
"Confused." he admitted. "And to be honest: a little curious, too."
She turned her head so fast her hair fanned out behind her in the morning breeze.
"Curious?" she asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "Wow."
"Is that not okay?"
"Of course it's okay, it's great, actually. It's just..." she paused, took a deep breath. "It's just, I guess a large part of me had kind of anticipated you being out the door by now."
He actually had the grace to grin.
"Nah." he said then. "Not about to happen. Naturally inquisitive personality, and all that."
She let go of his hand then and put her arm around his waist for a moment, leaning into him for just a second.
"Well, I'm glad you're so level headed."

She could see the big square shape university building in the distance now, and that meant that she would finally allow herself to pick up her phone and send the message she'd been dying to send. She typed quickly.

     'Hey sis, how are you? Are you okay? I don't mean to disturb.... I've been thinking about you.'

She put her phone away with a sigh, settling in to wait for news once more, when suddenly it rang. She scrambled to pick it up again.

"Sarah!" she exclaimed.
"Hey sweetie."
The tired voice of her best friend came over the line, and Anna knew immediately that she hadn't slept a wink.
"Hey...." she said. "Are you okay?"
It was a stupid thing to ask, really. Of course she wasn't okay. But what else was she going to say?
"Yeah, I'm okay. We're here, James drove most of the way. I've... I've just been to see her. She's okay, she's calm, she's mostly sleeping at the moment. I'm just outside the hospital now."
Anna couldn't stop her relieved exhale. Thank God. Sarah had made it to England in time, and she'd seen her grandmother, and her grandmother was not dead.
"Oh wow." she said softly. "Do... do they know anything yet?"
She felt her friend's sobs before they even started coming over the line, and she closed her eyes right there on the side walk, and tried vehemently to imagine standing right by Sarah's side. If she had these weird powers, she should be able to use them to help her friend, no? So she imagined it with all her might, putting her arm around Sarah in her mind, standing with her in front of the hospital.
"I've been strong up until now." Sarah snivelled. "But hearing your voice..."
Anna nodded. "I know. It's okay. I'm here, Sarah. You're okay."

She stood there for a long while, just in front of the university building, the sun starting to shine on her light jacket, the fair September weather still holding for now. Then she felt Sarah calming, and she could hear her deep breath over the phone.
"Okay." she said then. "So my mum spoke with the doctors, and they're cautiously optimistic. She's not really very conscious at the moment, and she's mostly paralysed on her whole left side right now, but she's alive and they think that if she does pull through she'll probably regain a lot of that mobility back."
Anna nodded quietly, although of course Sarah couldn't see that.
"I'm so glad, Sarah." she said then. "It... it sounds a bit more positive than it did last night."
"Anna?" Sarah asked, and there was an edge to her tone. "Do... have you... have you maybe seen anything about this?"
Anna scrunched her eyes shut. Oh, how she wished she could give her friend a different answer than the one she was about to have to give her.
"I tried." she almost whispered. "But I haven't, I'm so sorry. I'll keep trying."
"Don't worry, Anna." Sarah muttered. "I was just wondering. I should go back in, okay?"
Anna nodded again. "Yeah. My phone will be on at all times, hey?"
"Thanks."
And just like that, Sarah was gone again, and Anna looked to Eli to tell him what she had said.