The road to Maudlinkestle Hospital looked far more welcoming in the daylight. Its flat, narrow brook of asphalt meandered through the shadows of overarching sycamores, progressing without interruption save for the occasional dirt branch that trailed off across the surrounding valleys. Leaving Bosmouth as the sun crested the horizon, Elise leaned back in her seat and basked in the liquid gold that fell from the sky.

    Sometime between the snap of her eye's shutters, the light slipped away. In its place loomed a thick blanket of steel clouds, its black knots unfurling on an icy wind that all but drew blood from Elise's cheeks. She reached down to cling to her seat, yet nothing lay beyond her waist but thin, chilled air. A desperate look to her side made the same point. The car was gone, Cadence was gone, and she was outside alone. "Cade?"

    Walls of wind forced Elise into the hard concrete ground, and she gritted her teeth to bite back against the cold as she pressed forward into the darkness. The flat stone path ahead held no distinguishing features to mark, draining the strength from Elise's legs with its endless stretch into eternity. She could not move, she could not stand, and she could not think.

    Just as the pound of the blood in her ears ground Elise's mind to dust, a solid force crashed into her side. She stumbled backwards and reached out to catch her fall, yet rather than flailing at the emptiness, another hard mass struck her outstretched arm. A dizzy glance discovered a sea of silhouettes around her, their ranks shifting just enough to let her squeeze through. As she stared to make out a face or an article of clothing, a loud shunt shook the world, and a cluster of harsh, focused floodlights blazed into her eyes. Blind and battered by the bodies around her, Elise staggered forward towards the new lights. "Cade! Where are you?"

    She heard the sound first, picking up on the hushed whispers that flew amid the groups of shadowy people. Beneath them all lurked a slow, pained flow of whimpers, almost too soft to register in the chattering, blustering air. As Elise shoved past a stubborn silhouette, the whimpers grew into a haunting wail, gathering greater force and swirling around her despite her claw-like grip around her ears. Then, with a blink and a step, she came across the source of the noise and stopped dead in her tracks.

    Cadence lay right in front of her, stranded, collapsed, and shivering in the centre of the path. Her eyes were wild yet petrified, and her limbs occasionally jerked with enough power to knock a passerby off their feet. The wailing hushed itself away, yet the tormented expression remained on Cadence's saliva-stained face.

    Tripping over her own feet, Elise fell at her friend's side. "Cade! What happened?" she asked, grabbing the girl and staring into her eyes.

    Her chapped lips moved, yet no sound left Cadence's mouth. After a moment of silence, the girl's body suddenly chilled to a bitter cold in Elise's grasp, and her head snapped backwards as if yanked by an invisible string. Elise's heart burst in her chest as she took tighter hold of Cadence's motionless frame. "Come on, Cade. Talk to me!" she cried, scrambling to find a part of her friend's form that escaped the cold's deadly onslaught. Nothing had, and nothing in Cadence's body registered her words. "No!"

    A firm grip took Elise by the shoulder. "Woah, chill out, Ellie," Cadence said, a note of genuine concern tainting her usual calm. "You good?"

    "What?" Elise rubbed her eyes until the sunlight's flare dipped to a gentle glow, then gasped with relief as the features returned to her friend's silhouette. "Cade! You're back!"

    "And you're way too intense right now. You know I never left, right?" Maintaining her hold on Elise, Cadence glanced between the road and her friend's face to search for something unspoken. She had removed her beanie since they had set off, and the fresh roots of her purple-streaked hairs shone like amber in the morning light. "Are you back? I didn't even realise you'd dozed off until you didn't call out that deer we passed."

    "I'm fine, really." As she worked the kinks out of her stiff limbs, Elise cast a speculative glance out of the window. A steady stream of blackbirds leaped between the bushes that sprouted along the side of the road, their wings unfolding to within touching distance of Elise's outstretched hand. "Just a weird dream, that's all."

    Cadence released her friend's shoulder and fidgeted in her seat, flexing her fingers around the steering wheel. "Beats me how you fell asleep in here. This piece of junk clangs around like nothing else." Suddenly, she shivered and breathed into her cupped hands. "Shit, it's cold today. I guess we're skipping the rest of autumn."

    Though fresh, the wind that stole in from beyond the car was feeble compared to the chill from Elise's nightmare. "Sorry for drifting off on you like that," she muttered as a single rub of her arms banished the slight shivers that shook through them. Looking over at her friend, the flickers of joy that Cadence's presence released in Elise's heart almost drowned out the dread that lingered in her mind from last night. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

    "Looks like someone needs that bribe coffee sooner rather than later." With a grin, Cadence veered the car to the side and slowed their pace to a gentle crawl. Gravel shifted and crackled beneath the vehicle's tyres, and the hospital's front signage sailed past the windows. "Unfortunately, you'll have to hold off on your first fix today, killer. Blame the grump. She's the one that wanted to meet bright and early."

    "No kidding. I don't think I've ever seen the town as dead as it was when we left." The car rolled to a halt in the nearest open parking spot to the entrance, and Elise searched over her seat for her belongings. Though her bag lay clasped shut, the spectre of the sample inside lingered all too brightly in the back of her mind. "Cade, there's something I..."

    Perched on the edge of her seat, Cadence undid her seatbelt and let the ribbon slip over her body. "Something you...?" she began, raising her hand to coax the words from her friend.

    The anxious whiskers that pricked at the borders of Cadence's eyes transported Elise into her memories, back to the moment they found Florence wounded and frozen. Back then, her friend had made clear her true concern for her mother, and that same worry coursed through her every movement now. With Cadence scared and Florence vulnerable, the revelation on the tip of Elise's tongue carried a battery of extra destructive power.

    "Okay, I know you writers love your big reveals and all, but this is getting crazy." A dense, dull shunting sound pulled Elise from her contemplation. With her car key in one hand, Cadence held her door open and slid one leg out of the car. "You seem kinda out of it today, Ellie. Sure you're good to go see Flo?"

    Elise pinched the bridge of her nose to get her swirling thoughts straight. "Yeah, I'm sure. Let's get going." As her friend tilted her head with a silent question, Elise bit her lip and opened her own door. Cadence deserved to know the truth about Florence's book, yet Elise lacked the strength to crack the truth open. Losing her friend once, even in a dream, was more than enough for one day. "Don't worry, it can wait. We should check on your mum first."

    Hopping out and slipping her beanie over her head, Cadence shut and locked the car behind her. "Whatever you say," she muttered as they approached the repurposed farmhouse that constituted the hospital's main building. The main door opened with squealing hinges, and Cadence held the entrance open and waved Elise through. "Need me to find a chair you can doze off in, sleepyhead?"

    "You're the worst," Elise groaned, failing to disguise her giggle as she pulled Cadence's hat over her eyes. "I swear, I don't even know why I talk to you sometimes."

    The thud of the closing door punctuated Cadence's popping arrival by Elise's side. "Because you love me, duh."

    "Someone has to."

    Wincing theatrically, Cadence folded her arms and paced to the centre of the hospital's reception area. Unlike the building's exterior, the room's design came straight from a modern medical centre. Sterile white walls and floors spanned in all directions, broken up only by uniform birch picture frames and cold, empty navy-blue seats. A small fish tank bubbled beside the main desk, and Cadence crooked her neck to study the fierce flexing movements of a pair of ruby-finned minnows.

    By the side of the entrance, Elise ran her finger along a rubbery leaf of the sole potted plant in the room, her ear awaiting a set of approaching footsteps. "What if they don't let me in?" she asked as she joined her friend at the desk. "I'm not a relative, and you said it yourself – Florence doesn't do friends."

    "Relax, killer. I asked them if I could bring you as the grump's work friend, and they were totally chill with it." Gripping the far side of the desk, Cadence leaned forward and stared through the frosted glass of the staff door's window. As she settled on her feet again, she released a peeved grumble under her breath. "And if anybody tries to stop us, we'll just say you're also my dearly beloved wife. Sound good, honey bun?"

    Elise snorted at her friend's sly grin. "Sure thing, dearest."

    A muffled set of stomps announced the receptionist's arrival through the staff door. Though she had smirked at her hasty plan, the hold Cadence took around Elise's hand behind the desk was solid and sincere. "Hey, dude. I'm Cadence Harrow, and I'm here to see one of your patients. Her name's Florence Jago." She nodded her head towards Elise, keeping her fingers locked between her friend's. "This is her work colleague I mentioned. So, has Flo stopped complaining yet?"

    "Florence has been...fine. Let me see if the ward staff have checked in with her this morning." The receptionist – Liam, according to his badge – cringed away from Cadence's focused attention and turned to his computer screen. After a few clicks and taps on his keyboard, he hummed to himself and looked over his glasses at Cadence's expectant face. "Lucky you. The nurses have just finished up with Florence, so she's free to see you. Someone will be over to show you to her bed in a bit."

    Looking at the lack of activity in the surrounding corridors, Cadence drummed the fingers of her free hand against the desk. "Can't...you take us there? It's not like you're running us up Mount Everest, dude."

    Liam scoffed and pushed his chair away from the desk. "Fine. Follow me."

    With a fiendish grin, Cadence led Elise by the hand and followed the receptionist down the nearby corridor. "See? Everything's fine," Cadence said as they passed through another ward. Suddenly, she pulled Elise close and leaned into her side. "I guess that means our fake marriage is off. Sorry to jilt you like that."

    "How devastating." After rolling her eyes, Elise's gaze landed on their linked fingers. Cadence's walking pace was quick and bursting with energy, yet her hold never slipped a particle away from Elise's hand. Their bond would not unravel until Cadence wanted it to, and as shown by the warmth that radiated through her core at the notion, that suited Elise just fine. "I was so looking forward to acting out a trashy romance novel plot with you."

    With a wink, Cadence drifted ahead of Elise, glancing over her shoulder at her friend. "Never say never, killer."

    A geyser blew a rush of heat through Elise's chest, yet the sudden burst of colour that awaited her through the next door dampened the updraft before it reached her face. The clean, clinical white surfaces had disappeared, and in their place came a veneer of matt laminate flooring and coloured stripes descending from the ceiling beside every bed. In the connecting corridor, a plush armchair stood beside a table with succulents arranged in its centre. It was almost a homely space, save for the medical-grade curtains and hand sanitiser dispensers all around.

    Elise paused by a window, a broad view of the nearby brook greeting her on the far side of the glass. "This place is a lot cosier than I imagined," she said as she turned to Liam, who devoted his attention to the screen of a tablet computer. "Why is this ward so much nicer than the others?"

    "Because we were one of the lucky centres the bosses chose to trial their new dementia-friendly wards. They have more space, softer lighting, and familiar furnishings, and they're meant to keep our patients from becoming agitated while in our care," Liam said, clutching his device against his chest at the end of his sentence. "Florence is in this bed here. I'll just let her know you've come."

    Releasing her friend's hand, Cadence let her head hang low. "Did he say 'dementia-friendly'? So, that must mean..." Her voice trailed off beneath the gathering whispers of the wind beyond the window. "Shit. This is real. Flo is really fighting this."

    The raw honesty that glanced through Cadence's words cut against Elise's ear, and she took cautious steps to enter the girl's field of view. "We're fighting this, Cade, all of us. And a diagnosis is a huge step towards getting her the help she needs," she said, blinking away the hints of moisture that clung to her eyes. "We might even be able to put her book on hold until she gets back in the writing groove. That'd be one stress off our minds."

    "One out of a thousand," Cadence muttered as she fiddled with the rolled-up cuff of her jacket sleeve. She lifted her head to meet Elise's enquiring eyes, folding her arms and sniffing away her own solemn expression. "Sorry again for dragging you into my huge fucking mess of a life. I really appreciate you tagging along, if that means anything."

    "It means a lot, Cade," Elise said, her thumping heart driving her to lay a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Because I love you, duh."

    Cadence shook her head as she laughed at her own repurposed words. "I guess someone really does have to," she said as she wiped tears blended from both anxiety and joy out of her eyes.

    "You what?" Florence's voice was weaker than Elise remembered, yet the author retained every bleeding edge of her scathing bite. "Cadence? Are you out there?"

   Sliding the deep blue curtain along its rail, Liam sighed and motioned for the girls to pass through to Florence's bedside. "She's as ready for you as she'll ever be. Just let one of the ward staff know when you're done."

    With a shrug, Cadence stepped into the curtained cloister and perched herself at the far end of Florence's bed, her hands on the bedframe's rounded edges. "Nice to see you too, Flo. Good to know your sparkling personality didn't take a hit in your stroke."

    Curled up in a thick, knitted sage green blanket under a soft, intimate light, Florence appeared even smaller than she did in her customary large rocking chair. The muscles of her pallid face seemed to move in slow motion, all but drowned out of sight by the royal purple stripe along the wall. "I didn't ask you to come," she grumbled as she stared daggers through Cadence's figure. "What in the blue blazes are you doing here, girl?"

    "Take a wild guess, mum." Cadence spread her arms out and matched her mother's scoff down to the last note. "As much as you wish I didn't exist and all, I'm still your kid. I still want you to get well and go back to telling me off for tracking dirt through the house or whatever."

    Struck by Cadence's endearment for her mother, Elise cleared her throat and waved to catch Florence's eye. "She's been worried about you since you were admitted, Florence," she said, smiling at her friend as she spoke. "When the hospital phoned to say you were doing better, we were so relieved. Cade made an appointment to see you straight away."

    Florence bristled at the sound of her daughter's name. "Why? Did you piss all your money away on cheap booze already?"

    Disappointment dragged itself up from Cadence's lungs, and her sigh propelled her away from the bed to face the back curtain. "Like I'm going to haul myself all the way over here just to squeeze a bit of cash out of you," she said with a scoff. As if wounded by the severity of her own tone, Cadence turned around and rubbed her face to calm herself. "No, Flo. I came out here to see you and find out if you needed anything. But if you'd rather spend the whole time sulking at me, then that's fine too. Nothing like business as usual, right?"

    For a moment, something like shame pushed Florence further into the confines of her blanket. Her eyes peered over the top of her blanket, picking out Elise in the corner of the room. "And what's this one doing here?"

    "Her name is Ellie, asshole," Cadence hissed, showing her anger like she never had done while defending herself against Florence's attacks. "And she's my friend, because some of us actually have those. Didn't you want me to find more 'decent' people to hang out with?"

    "I've been doing my best to help Cade through this rough patch," Elise said with as gentle an air as she could manage under Florence's prying gaze. She held her bag close to her side, and the sample and book she had brought with her seemed to grow heavier the more she remembered their presence. "And I want to support you too, Florence. If you need something to get writing, I can look into it for you. And if you want to take a break, we can work that out too. That's what I'm here for."

    A long silence followed, broken only by the crinkling and sloshing of Florence's plastic cup as she took a sip of water. The author's attention returned to Elise's form after she choked the tepid fluid down. "Is that it? Some good you are."

    Elise's legs threatened to buckle under the weight of her surprise. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

    "I didn't ask for you to witter my ear off with trite drivel, girl." As her joints audibly clicked, Florence lifted her other arm from its sedentary position beneath the blanket. Her body shook under the strain, yet she pushed through the discomfort to aim a bony finger right at Elise's face. "Who do you think you are? I've been publishing since before you were born, and I put up with a world of shit from my family just for writing for even longer. I don't need you to lecture me about what I do and don't need to do my job."

    "I know, Florence. I remember hearing how hard your family made things for you when you were starting out," Elise said, suddenly uneasy in the close confines of the bedside. The curtain offered privacy, yet it also shut all but the hottest, thinnest air out of her reach. "I just want to help, without any lecturing. You don't have to do it all on your own, you know? Getting your stories on paper and out in the world doesn't have to be this big battle anymore."

    "Of course it does. That's just how writing is," Florence spat with enough power to fill the tiny space with fiery heat. "Some books are a pain, but that doesn't mean I can't get them done. And I'll tell you something else – it definitely doesn't mean I need some self-important little gobshite bossing me about!"

   With stomping steps, Cadence seized the end of the hospital bed's frame. "Chill the hell out, Flo! Ellie's not forcing you to do shit, damn it."

    Biting back her growing frustration almost drew blood from Elise's tongue. A slight metallic taste filled her mouth, its bitterness adding an extra strand of venom to her words. "I've never bossed you about. All I've done is try to get your ideas flowing and help you pick out the good ones – when you bothered to share any with me, that is!"

    "I don't need your bloody validation, brat. I wrote by myself perfectly well for years and years, didn't I?" As she reeled her arm back inside her blanket, Florence scoffed a curse under her breath. The scepticism she found in both girls' gazes in front of her took a toll on her confident front, however, and she soon spoke again with a desperate vigour. "I can still do it just fine, I'll have you know. Just look at my last book!"

    "Your last book?" Elise repeated, her furious tongue raging too far ahead of her mind to stop. "Oh, you mean the one you stole?"

    The frustration that flooded Elise's body evaporated as soon as she finished speaking. In its place, a chilling dread swept in and bit harder with every pulse of shock from both Florence and Cadence's eyes. "You've got some bloody cheek, girl!" Florence cried. "Comes to something when some lying brat can storm in and –"

    "Fuck off, Flo. Let someone else talk for once," Cadence interrupted, turning to meet Elise's stunned eyes. "Because it sure looks like Ellie has something to share all of a sudden. Nothing worth giving me a heads-up about, though, obviously."

    Elise could not take her eyes off her friend's face. "I wanted to, Cade, but –"

    "Just spit it out, Ellie." Folding her arms, Cadence's eyes lost their usual amiable sparkle. "What the hell haven't you told me?"

    Thoughts fled from Elise's grasp. Restrained by her own electrified nerves, she stood stranded in a shrinking cell, her last hope of freedom fleeing in her friend's hostile gaze. She had buried a secret in her heart, and now she had to slice her chest open to dig it up.