"Hey Lukas, let's play a game." Jesse sat on the edge of her bed, the sun streaming through the windows, signifying a bright and early morning. He shifted, signaling that he heard her, throwing off the sheet, but still continuing his slumber.

"There's only so many hours in a day, you know. You spend half of them sleeping, there's even less." She grabbed one of her two pillows, and threw it firmly at his chest. His response was a stifled grunt as he rolled onto his back.

"Urgh." He groaned tiredly, letting out a stream of air through his nose.

"You're so boring, get up already." She dragged, sighing. "It's almost ten o'clock! You sleepyhead. I've been awake for hours, you're lucky I didn't wake you up sooner."

Lukas let out one final groan. He knew she wouldn't stop talking even if he wanted her to, so he began to shake himself awake.

"Fine, fine. I'm up." He yawned, pushing himself upwards again and sitting with his back against the wall. He felt the urge to rub his eyes, but he didn't want to ruin the new set of bandages which fit nicely and comfortable around his head. "What game do you want to play?"

Sensing some excitement, he noticed a shift on her bed as he heard it squeak. Something scraped the floor, the sound of something light hitting a surface. He moved himself so that he was facing her, legs swinging off the edge. He felt part of the plastic table hit his ankle, so he adjusted himself accordingly.

"Cards!" She pronounced proudly, now shuffling the deck. "And before you say anything, I know you can't see you dummy."

Slightly offended (not really), Lukas raked a hand through his hair, pushing it towards the side, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm splitting the deck, so we'll each have half. A set of black and red each." Shuffle shuffle. "The symbols won't matter for this game, only the color and number. Or letter, whatever."

He caught her setting both halves of the deck in front of him on the table. Outstretching his arm, he reached for a card.

"No!" She practically screamed, "don't mess up the stack!"

His hand froze, hovering slightly above it, more or less, before he apologized and set it back down on the table.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I'll pick a card from my stack. I'll tell you what it is, and then you choose a card from your stack. If you get the matching card, you win." She finished breezily, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

"How am I supposed to know what card to choose? Even if you tell me it won't matter, it will still be completely random. You're leaving this all up to chance. This is unfair. I should've stayed asleep." He rambled on, about to get in bed again until a cold hand grabbed his wrist. A chill crept up his arm.

"I don't think so, you're playing now or I'll tie your wrist to the table and we'll see how long it takes you to break out." She beamed, cheerfully, before letting go of his wrist. Lukas hesitated, before sighing briefly and shaking his head, somewhat of a smile curving his lips. He had no idea why.

"Fine, I'll play. I'll play."

"Good." Her tone whisked with satisfaction. "Okay, I'll start."

Slip.

A card was taken from the top of the deck.

"Black, seven." She stated. "Your turn. You can pick up your deck and feel around for it."

He knew there was no point, but he played along, for her sake and his, feeling around for the stack and upon finally hitting it, grabbed it and began to hopelessly search with his fingers through the cards. Fwip, fwip, fwip.

The cards bent and straightened in his hand. He pulled out a random card and showed it to her, hoping he was showing the right side.

"Um, this one?" He guessed effortlessly, shrugging.

"Nope."

He wasn't surprised.

"Here, let's make this easier. Pick another." And so, he picked another card, frowning.

"This one?"

"No."

"I don't know, this?"

"Uh-uh."

"How about-"

"Definitely not."

"What about-"

"Flip the card around."

After about fifteen cards or so with apparently no success, Lukas was beginning to get annoyed. Maybe even a tad frustrated. This just proved how useless he was without his vision.

"Are you guessing, or asking me a question?" Jesse perked up suddenly, as he pulled out another card.

"What do you mean?" He asked, puzzled. "Aren't they the same thing in context?"

"If someone was about to do something bad, would you ask them if they wanted to do it or would you tell them not to?"

"This is a card game Jesse. This is completely different-"

"Is it?" Her voice was steady, calm, collected. She declined another one of his cards. "If you're going to give such weak answers, then what's the fun in playing?"

"What do you mean, 'weak answers?'" Lukas asked incredulously, expression strained, "I'm just guessing cards!"

"Yeah, poorly." Jesse quipped. "Tell me if it matches Lukas. Be assertive. People will take advantage of people like you, people like us."

He had five remaining cards in his hand, lying gently on his lap. His other hand clenched unknowingly into a fist. His mind raced, but he was nothing but silent. He let her get to him again.

"Now, what card will you choose?"

He pulled out the center card with no hesitation.

"This one. This one is black seven."

"See? That wasn't that hard."

He didn't know why, but for some reason, some peculiar unknown reason, he felt the teeniest bit relieved.

*

She was humming that song again. The one with the steady beat that grew soft when you were into it. He listened easily, half of his arm under the pillow, trying to get warm under the covers. He hadn't moved since, still awake in the night.

"Hey, Lukas?" She didn't wait for his response. "Can I tell you something?"

He urged himself to move, turning, body facing the ceiling, letting her know he was listening.

"What is it?"

She paused, unusually for her. Always set on her answer right on the spot, for once she seemed unsure of herself.

"There's something wrong with me." He didn't expect that, not at all. She said it lightly, as if it were a normal topic in a normal conversation. "That's why I'm here."

He felt he was barging in on some private matter, some secret he wasn't supposed to know about. Something he didn't mean to hear. But he couldn't say anything, nothing would come out of his mouth.

"Sometimes, I can't fully control my legs. It was alright at first, I got help. But now...now it's worse. I couldn't stand up without crumbling to the floor. They had to run a bunch of tests on me and stuff."

She let out a large, shaky sigh, which turned into a small, affable chuckle.

"I don't mean to make you worry though, so please don't. I'm okay. I can sense it in that silence you're giving me."

"They can fix you, right?" He asked immediately. "You won't be like this forever."

A slight pause.

"We can't change the cards we're dealt with Lukas, just how we play the game."

"Why are you so damn cryptic?"

Jesse laughed. Pure, genuinely. And somehow, there was a small weight lifted off his shoulders, even if it were just for a second, he felt free of the burden. Felt free of the problems they both had. A small smile plastered on his face.

"Goodnight Lukas," it was the last thing she said before returning back to singing softly. He knew better than to interrupt her, so he stayed silent, letting her words and her singing drift him to sleep.