When Tiffany had realized that it had been a while since Jessica had gone out to the balcony, she gave a quick glance down at her beeping wrist watch before making her way to the balcony as well. It reminded her of the time remaining before it stilled to its temporary silence. Half worried and half apprehensive about the oncoming sun light, her eyes patted down Jessica’s slender figure through the balcony’s French doors before giving a couple of taps on the glass to catch Jessica’s attention. 
 

Jessica promptly gave a glimpse towards the source of the noise, and seeing Tiffany beneath her own reflection on the glass, she gave a weeping smile with the corners of her lips twitching. 
 

Tired of smiling. Sick of pretending. 
 

Tiffany opened one of the doors, and made her way on to the balcony, the chills of the morning cooling off the temperature she had gained inside the house. Closing the door behind her, Tiffany stood next to Jessica, to which Jessica responded with locking her arm with Tiffany’s. Tiffany answered with running her fingers through Jessica’s blonde locks, and in doing so, giving a chaste but affectionate peck to the corner of the blonde’s left brow. 
 

“It’s cold outside.” Tiffany’s husky voice reverberated through the night air, seemingly disturbing the stars’ early morning melody. She then checked her watch, and the sun was going to rise very, very soon. But the last thing she wanted to do was to remind Jessica of the sun. Tiffany exhaled into the chilly night, but no sign of her breath was apparent. 
 

Jessica revelled in the vibrations of her partner’s voice, snuggling close to Tiffany with her ear close to where Tiffany’s heart would have been, long ago. She knew, now, their voices were the only sounds that would come out of their bodies- no more of systemic thumps or the rush of their blood was to be heard. 
 

“Don’t be silly,” Jessica breathed in Tiffany’s scent, only to find that she had none. She remembered reading from somewhere that when a person dies, so does their body odour in a matter of seconds. Jessica frowned as she fidgeted with the hems of Tiffany’s winter coat. It had been more than a ‘couple of seconds’ for them, she was stupid to think that taking a big whiff of Tiffany might make her feel more alive rather than remind her of the one fact she wanted to hide away. “I don’t feel it anymore.” Jessica raised one of her sleeves to check her arm, and the smooth milky skin that glistened beneath the lights of the setting stars unsettled her. The lack of goose bumps made her want to shudder. 
 

“But you don’t like the cold.” Tiffany relented, engulfing the blonde in a bear hug underneath her winter jacket. Tiffany loved the sensation of Jessica squirming in her hold, her hands snaking their way around Tiffany’s waist and pulling her in. She will protect her, and she will give anything Jessica had wanted, anything to make her happy, and anything to make her smile. Tiffany’s insides churned at the memory of Jessica’s life spilling away from her like a broken wine bottle, and how she had forced Jessica to drink her own- 
 

“Tiffany.” Jessica’s voice startled Tiffany out of her thoughts, and Jessica quietly took Tiffany’s hand that was giving flittering touches to her jugular. Her touches were directed at the scar on Jessica’s neck, resembling a bite sized marks consisting of what seemed like two holes. 
 

“Sorry.” 
 

Apologizing had become Tiffany’s everyday habit, the conviction in her tone dying each time she said it- Jessica had noticed. And like a rollercoaster ride, or the moon falling beneath the horizon each early morning, or the conviction in Tiffany’s voice, she knew that this charade couldn’t keep up for more than a couple of years, or even months at best. 
 

“We should go back inside, baby.” Tiffany cooed at Jessica’s earlobe, pulling the blonde in closer as if there were any warmth to be shared. The beeping of her watch reminded both of them that they had ten minutes to get back inside before the sun rise. 
 

Tiffany gave a small and gentle kiss full on Jessica’s lips before pulling away all too soon, urging Jessica to come along inside the house. The night sky above them wasn’t dark anymore but glowing purple, pretty to look at but an alarming caution for beings like Tiffany and Jessica. 
 

But Tiffany faltered when Jessica’s hold on her arm loosened and finally let go, as if to signify that she was going to stay outside. “Tiffany.” 
 

She called out to Tiffany once again, her voice calm but strained, as if she tensed up the back of to gulp back tears, disdain, and regret. Tiffany knew this look, she’s seen it before. The last time she saw it was when the red sticky thick liquid that was too rich to be wine, drenched the carpets and Jessica’s once cherry coloured lips were turning blue. And she remembered all too well how that look intensified when Tiffany began trying to force the blonde into swallowing- 
 

“Every day,” Jessica’s shaking whisper brought Tiffany back into reality and the sky grew orange, with clouds unveiling their silver linings. “It feels like I’m dying.” 
 

Her confession slid out of her lips, each word broken and submerged in the wetness of Jessica’s sorrow. 
 

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