The four friends sat in Lewis's boat, facing each other. The boat was still on land inside the cove. The girls were still recovering and winding down from their adrenaline rush, and the cove was a nice secluded spot for them to rest and talk before rejoining the world.

Cleo could only stare, while Emma said, "I'm sorry. You did what now?"

"I drove a motorcycle off Dead Man's Cliff."

Rikki remembered the wind whipping wildly past her face as she sailed off the cliff. Which reminded her: she pulled her locket out of her shirt. I certainly did the smart thing by keeping this little silver beauty tucked away while all that was happening, she thought.

Lewis, Emma, and Cleo blinked in stupefaction. Rikki's words simply didn't register.

"I think the bike hit The Claw. I'm not sure."

More blinking.

"Damn shame. It was a vintage Harley. A really sweet ride."

Lewis finally found his voice. "Are...you for real?"

"For really real."

"O...kay," Emma said.

"You seem pretty casual about it," Cleo said.

"I don't think I've really processed it," Rikki said. "I'll probably have nightmares about it for the rest of my life."

"And you're unharmed?!" Emma asked.

Rikki gave herself a quick onceover. "I seem so."

"And...this was something you had to do?" Cleo asked.

"Well, I certainly didn't want to do it. He had a gun, and I still can't aim my lightning! I had to make it past all those rocks beneath the cliff! I didn't have a choice."

"Rikki, you should be dead!" Lewis exclaimed.

"Wow, thanks a lot," Rikki said. "Love you too, Lewis."

"No, I-" He closed his eyes in exasperation, trying to sort his thoughts into proper words. "I mean, that's impossible! You made it past every single rock and reached open water?!"

"Yeah."

"How fast were you going?!" Lewis asked.

"I don't know!" Rikki was irritated that she had awoken Scientifically Obsessed Lewis. "I wasn't watching the speed. I had a lot going on!"

Lewis looked distracted, and began muttering slightly. He seemed to be doing math in his head.

Rikki sighed, and for the sake of friendship, tossed Scientifically Obsessed Lewis a lifeline. "I hit the water as a mermaid, if that helps."

"How did you pull that off?!" Emma asked.

"Not on purpose. Drove through a puddle. It splashed me."

"You drove a motorcycle with a tail?" Cleo asked, her eyes bugging out.

Rikki rolled her eyes. "I changed in mid-air!"

"The fact that you're a mermaid is the only thing I can think of to explain your survival!" Lewis said, shaking his head.

"Lewis, cliff divers exist," Rikki said. "They go off cliffs into water every day just fine."

"Yeah, vertically," Lewis said. "They don't drive off cliffs fast enough to clear a field of rocks the size of a football pitch at the same time! And that's an extreme sport; they already hit the water at the very limit of human tolerance. You hit the water way, way faster than that! You had to have been going so fast, you would have been arrested for reckless driving on a highway! No." He wagged his finger at her in astonishment. "You did something impossible. Mermaid magic is the only explanation."

"Another benefit of having a tail," Rikki said.

"Another benefit of the moon pool's protection, it sounds like," Cleo said.

"Or pure luck," Emma said.

"Or pure talent and skill," Rikki said, with a small smile and a slight flourish of her hands.

Emma and Cleo mock-glared at her.

Rikki asked, "So, how did you make the water police answer your beck and call?"

"You first," Emma said. "What happened at the junkyard?"

"Why do I have to go first?" Rikki asked. "I asked you first."

"Because we said so," Cleo said.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Rikki said.

"Fine," Emma said. "Because we outvoted you two to one."

Rikki rolled her eyes.

"When you left us, you very conspicuously did not have a motorcycle in your possession," Cleo said. "We know, because we would have seen it, and we probably would have said something about it. Somewhere between then and now, a motorcycle adopted you. You returned with a motorcycle."

"Sort of," Rikki said. "It's in bits now."

"Wwwwwwwwwwwhatever," Cleo said. "We need the deets. Spill."

 

The M. Coburn was anchored fifty feet from the Otter Way, while the S.K. Ridley was rafted to the Otter Way's port side, also anchored. Two more police cruisers were anchored nearby.

Aboard the M. Coburn, Constable Henderson was facing the most unusual situation of his career as he questioned Mason and Burt. Eddie was aboard the S.K. Ridley.

"What do you mean, you don't know what the explosion was?" Constable Henderson asked. He had to admit, the handcuffed men seated before him looked genuinely mystified.

"I'm tellin' ya, we don't know!" Burt said. "I mean, yeah, we had a bomb."

"You don't have to tell him anything," Mason said.

"That family heard everything we said, and knows every detail of what we were gonna do," Burt replied. "Nothing that happened on that boat's a secret. Except the spooky part!" He looked at the policeman. "As the Almighty as my witness-"

"Oy, careful with that one," Constable Henderson warned him.

"-we don't know how that bomb got in the sky! And we don't know why it exploded!"

"It's the truth," Mason said. "We have no clue how that could possibly have happened!"

Constable Henderson eyed the men carefully. As a policeman, he could generally tell when people were lying, and each of these yoyos seemed on the level. He also knew hardened – and, almost certainly, repeat – criminals when he saw them. Yet clearly, something had spooked these tough guys to their core.

Interesting.

He checked his notes. "And this...incident on shore. You saw someone jump off the cliff?"

"We saw someone ride off the cliff on a motorcycle," Burt said.

Burt and Constable Henderson stared each other in the eye for a full ten seconds. Burt did not flinch.

Constable Henderson merely gave the tiniest rise of an eyebrow, and even that may have been Burt's imagination. The policeman began writing. "Can you describe this person?"

"I only saw the last moment of it," Mason said. "I saw a motorcycle hit a rock, and a person hit the water. It was over in the blink of an eye. I didn't see a face or anything like that."

"Young blonde girl, I think," Burt said.

"You think?" Constable Henderson asked.

"It was fast, and I wasn't expecting it," Burt said. "Poor thing must be dead. Bike crashed on the rocks." He looked bewildered. "Bizarre."

Constable Henderson sighed. Now they'd have to search for a body. As if this case wasn't strange enough.

 

As the girls swapped stories, the one who seemed to get the most emotional was Lewis. His face grew tight as he listened to their tales.

"Wow," Cleo said, as they all stepped out of the boat so Lewis could shove it back into the water. "I can't believe we just took down a ring of car thieves! In a single afternoon!"

"I know," Rikki said. "I feel mighty."

"Well, we certainly accomplished what we promised ourselves last night," Emma said.

"What was that?" Cleo asked.

Emma smiled. "That we'd find some way of ending our three-day weekend with a monster blowout we'd never forget!"

"Ha!" Rikki laughed. "Mission accomplished, with style!"

"Yeah, but how are we gonna top this next weekend?" Cleo asked.

"Let's not try!" Emma exclaimed.

"You'll always top yourselves," Lewis said as he pushed his boat mostly into the water, leaving just a bit clinging to land so he could board it again. But he said it quietly, thoughtfully, with a gravitas they hadn't been expecting.

"What do you mean by that?" Emma asked.

"Don't you guys get it?" Lewis asked, mildly exasperated. "Were you not listening to yourselves?"

The girls traded puzzled looks.

"You saved people's lives today!" Lewis said. "An entire family, with young children. And the people in the surf off Weylan Beach. And you did it because you're you!"

"Yeah, we have mermaid powers," Rikki said. "Great responsibility and all that."

"No!" Lewis almost exploded, turning away with his eyes closed in exasperation. "I mean, yes! But not that. You still don't get it. It wasn't just the powers, it was you! You saved those people because you're clever, intelligent, brave! You think quickly, and find solutions other people wouldn't. You put yourself in danger to save others. I mean...can you imagine someone like Miriam with mermaid powers? Or Nate? I can't. The mind boggles! But you..."

He looked at them, imploring them with his eyes to understand. They stared at him, transfixed.

"Do you need any more proof that the moon pool chose you?" he continued. "Do you need any more proof that it made you mermaids for a reason greater than yourselves? It chose you, specifically you, because you are good. All three girls who were granted mermaid powers just happen to be brave, clever, and compassionate people, who care about saving others! And I refuse..."

He actually began to get a little teary, his face working with emotion as he faced his three friends.

"...I refuse to believe that's some gigantic coincidence." Lewis took a deep breath. "Don't you see? You're not amazing because you're mermaids."

He looked each girl in the eye.

"You're mermaids because you're amazing."

The girls stood there, staring at Lewis, his words somehow rearranging their hearts and their thoughts in one fell swoop. The only sound was the sea, and the wind rustling past the cove.

Cleo finally walked forward and hugged Lewis. It was the least she could do after being reminded why he was the world's most awesome boyfriend. He hugged her back.

"Lewis...you are such a dork," Rikki said, but she was grinning from ear to ear as she said it. Emma was also smiling.

Still in Lewis's arms, Cleo smiled at Rikki and said, "But he's my dork. Go find your own."

They all laughed.

Lewis and Cleo exchanged a heartfelt kiss and a final hug.

Then Cleo let go of Lewis so he could push his boat into the water the rest of the way. He did so, smoothly stepping into it at the same time. He sat and started the motor.

"See you back at the marina?" he asked the girls.

"We'll be there before you," Emma said.

"Unless we pause to frolic on the way," Rikki said.

"No frolicking for me," Cleo said. "I'm wiped out. And I'm hungry."

"Yeah, let's just head back," Emma said.

"Lewis, I actually probably won't see you until tomorrow," Cleo said. "I mean it: I'm about done for this day. I'll text you tonight, okay?"

"You can't. I still have your phones and Emma's purse."

The girls looked slightly disappointed and annoyed, but not at anyone in particular.

"If I don't see you tonight, I'll give them to you tomorrow at school," Lewis said, amused. "Or you can just ride back with me in the boat."

"No, Emma's right," Cleo said. "Your boat's too slow, and I'm starving! So just go, and I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Love you."

Lewis nodded and waved. The girls waved back, and Lewis took off.

They watched him go. Then, without needing to say anything, thinking with one mind, they walked out onto one of the rocks by the inlet's entrance.

The day was just beginning to head into its sunset phase. The salty sea wind was brisk, but not too strong. It was an end-of-a-hard-and-honest-workday wind, and it felt oh so good on their skin.

The girls looked at the police boats in the distance. The constables were no doubt wrapping up their business with the gang of thieves, and with the Laveas.

None of the girls spoke. They didn't need to.

 

Constable Henderson went up on deck to think a moment. It had truly been a bizarre day.

He looked sourly at Dead Man's Cliff and at the maelstrom beneath it, wondering what to make of the wild tales he'd just heard. Burt and Mason claimed to have witnessed someone ride a motorcycle off the cliff. Sounded like a twisted fantasy, but Constable Henderson believed that they believed they were telling the truth.

And the mid-air explosion. What were they to make of that?

Constable Henderson's eyes roved along the coast, as if looking for answers. He suddenly noticed three vaguely-people-shaped dots half a mile south, at the water's edge, just standing there.

A strange tremor ran through him. He couldn't explain why. In his mind, he could swear he began to hear a strange, lilting lullaby, a woman's voice, the voice of some haunting soprano.

The binoculars were just a few feet away. They were highly expensive and extremely powerful. On instinct, he grabbed them and took a look.

Three teenage girls stood on a rock by an inlet. They looked perfectly ordinary, yet, at the same time...didn't, somehow. They stood with confidence and quiet authority, staring right back at him with solemn faces, as if they knew some deep truth he didn't.

The eerie singing continued to echo through his mind.

Just as he noted the matching lockets, he began to feel a little dizzy. It almost seemed as if he was circling the girls from an enormous distance at insane speed, the ocean in front of the girls and the land behind them sliding in opposite directions as they stood in the center, just watching him. He stared, transfixed, as that voice wailed its soft lullaby, and the long-distance sunlit seascape sped past these girls, even as they remained motionless, in the center of all things.

Constable Henderson lowered the binoculars and shook his head, reorienting himself. He quickly rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. The strange song faded, and suddenly, he couldn't remember how it went.

He raised the binoculars for a second look.

The girls were gone.

Constable Henderson slowly lowered the binoculars, looking thoughtfully at the place where the vaguely-people-shaped dots had been. He felt like he had just seen something perfectly ordinary, yet also deeply profound. He couldn't explain what, or why.

Constable Evans popped his head out from the cabin. "Hey, ready to roll?"

Constable Henderson shook his head, as if to clear it. "Yeah," he said quietly, trying to shake off the odd feeling. "Yeah, let's get outta here."

He took one last look at the empty coastline. His face, strangely, was that of a man at peace, and with an admiration of nature. He let out a mild Heh to himself, as if gently accepting there were some things in this world beyond his understanding.

He headed inside.

 

The girls walked through the marina as it slowly refilled with its usual population of boats. People returning after a hard day's work, or pleasure, or searching for the Laveas, or any combination of those. The news had begun to travel, though reports conflicted wildly. Everyone understood the main point: the family was found and safe. Also, the car thief gang had been arrested. All details on the late night news.

The girls strolled by the El Sea, which had moored just a few minutes earlier. They greeted Don Sertori as he came off his boat.

"Hi, Daddy."

"Heeeey, there's my Jewel of the Sea!" Don gave his daughter a massive hug. "How was your day?"

"Oh...rewarding," Cleo said. "But tiring."

"Yeah, I'm pretty knackered myself," Don said, looking at all three girls. "Hey, did you hear the news? They found that family alive and safe."

"That's awesome!" Emma said. "Did you spend the day searching for them?"

"We did," Don said. "We didn't run any nets, we just searched. Financially, a loss. But...worth it."

"It was the right thing to do," Rikki said. "You're a good man, Mr. Sertori."

Don gave Rikki an odd look, seeing her in an enlightened way, and remembered Harrison's description of her character. Suddenly, whatever the girls' big bad secret was...he wasn't so scared of it anymore. "Thanks, Rikki," he said, smiling.

"Are you headed straight home?" Cleo asked her father.

"Yeah. I went shopping a couple days ago, so we have food at the house. Thought I'd just fix us some dinner."

"I'll come with you," Cleo said. "I was up at seven this morning to go to work, and I am beat. And starving!" She yawned. "I think I'll even be out before the sun is." She paused, then said, "It's been a heck of a weekend."

"Well, come on home," her father said. "We'll get you some food, and you can hit the hay."

"All right," Cleo said. She looked over her shoulder at Rikki and Emma, then turned to face them completely and spread her arms, motioning them in for a quick huddle. They obliged. Her father stood a few feet away, seeing they needed some privacy.

"Hey," Cleo whispered. "Are we good?"

Emma and Rikki knew exactly what she meant. They had all said a lot of things to each other that weekend. With the sun going down on its final day, the time had finally come to ask that question.

Emma and Rikki smiled, and they were smiles of purest joy, friendship, and – above all – peace.

"We're more than good," Emma said.

"We've never been better," Rikki said, looking at Cleo, then at Emma.

Emma said, "You know, when you asked me, Hey Emma. Want a ride?" Emma smiled and nodded, her eyes wet. "I'm glad I said yes."

Tears hit Cleo's eyes.

The girls hugged. Tightly, and for a long moment.

Cleo's father watched, while trying not to watch.

A secret binds Emma, Cleo, and Rikki, Harrison had said.

Well, Don Sertori still didn't know what that secret was, but he saw what was right in front of him, there on that marina pier. And he saw it not just with his eyes; he saw it with his heart. A love; a friendship; a deep bond. And there was nothing fake, nothing cultish, nothing dysfunctional about it. Just friendship, and sisterhood, in its truest form.

He suddenly realized how lucky Cleo was to have found friendships that deep and true.

The girls parted with smiles of farewell. Then Cleo hooked arms with her father, and they walked home.

 

After Cleo finished the dishes, she said, "All right, Daddy, good night. I'm headed to bed."

"Good night, Jewel," her father said.

Cleo said, "You might see my light on for a little while yet, because I have a couple things I still need to do. But rest assured, I am sleeping soon."

"Yeah, that's no problem," her father said. "You'll be fresh in the morning for school."

Cleo wearily dragged herself upstairs, entered her room, closed the door, and put away her gloves (Kim hadn't found them yet!). She reached for her phone to text Lewis, then remembered she was without it until tomorrow. She grabbed a spiral notebook and a pen, sat on her bed, and flipped the notebook open to its first blank page.

She began to write.

It was slow going. Poems always were with her. She tried different phrases, crossed them out, and sometimes tried to un-cross them out. On another page she wrote columns of words which rhymed, looking for inspiration.

She didn't know exactly why she had to do this tonight, she just knew it was so. Even though she was exhausted, she could not, would not, go to bed until this poem was finished.

It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to achieve a final product, then another fifteen minutes to rewrite the poem neatly onto a fresh page. Since she was such a huge fan of pop music, she realized she had written the poem in the same style as song lyrics. But that was all right. It was her poem. She could do what she wanted. And the good news was that she didn't think it sucked! In fact, she didn't think it was bad at all.

Not that she would ever let anyone read it. Probably. Maybe. We'll see, she thought.

Once the poem existed in its final form, she reread it with pride.

 

I've got a special power
that I'm not afraid to use.
Every waking hour
I discover something new.

So come on, this is my adventure! This is my fantasy!
It's all about living in the ocean, being wild and free!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl,
I'm from the deep blue underworld.
Land or sea, I've got the power if I just believe!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl,
I'm from the deep blue underworld.
Land or sea, the world's my oyster, I'm the pearl!
No ordinary girl!

We've got to stick together,
'cause the best things come in three.
I want it to last forever,
all the magic and fun at sea.

So come on, this is our adventure! There's no telling where we'll go!
All I want is just to live amongst the H2O!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl,
I'm from the deep blue underworld.
Land or sea, I've got the power if I just believe!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl,
I'm from the deep blue underworld.
Land or sea, the world's my oyster, I'm the pearl!
No ordinary girl!

Come along, it just gets better!
So much to do and just so little time.
'Cause it all depends on whether,
you wanna leave the land above behind!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl,
I'm from the deep blue underworld.
Land or sea, I've got the power if I just believe!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl,
I'm from the deep blue underworld.
Land or sea, the world's my oyster, I'm the pearl!
NO ORDINARY GIRL!!!!

 

Looking it over, Cleo threw in one final embellishment. She underlined the word three in the fifth stanza. Then she drew an arrow from that word to a large heart which she drew in the white space to the right. Inside the heart, she wrote four scattered words: Cleo; Emma; Rikki; and Yay! Also inside the heart, she drew a mermaid tail, and drew a smiley face next to the Yay!

She proudly titled it "No Ordinary Girl," then neatly wrote by Cleo Sertori beneath the title.

Satisfied, she closed the notebook, and set it and the pen on her dresser.

With that done, she finally allowed the exhaustion to overcome her. And this exhaustion wasn't merely physical; mentally and emotionally, she was just wiped out. She sat on her bed and closed her eyes, her body just sort of collapsed in on itself. For almost a full minute, her mind drifted among islands of thought, but made shore on none of them. She was too tired even to go through the motions of going to bed.

She missed her mom. A small sob burst from her, but then the pain faded almost as quickly as it had appeared, and she was still again. And oh so tired.

Cleo thought about everything which had happened that weekend. It had begun with a storm and ended with sunshine, in more ways than one. She thought about Emma, and her idea that there was a normal Emma in an alternate universe who hadn't accepted a boat ride from a friend one fateful day. And if one believed in alternate universes, then Emma was probably right: somewhere, there was indeed another her, another now.

Inspired by that thought, Cleo suddenly realized she needed her favorite song, by her favorite singer. And she wanted the simple, acoustic version. And she didn't want headphones; she wanted the music to drift through the room, through her entire being, like a song should.

She looked for a certain CD, found that it was already in the CD player (duh), advanced it to a certain track number (she knew all of them by heart), and hit Play.

Pleasant guitar music filled her soul.

It was only just the other day, that all this felt so real, like nothing could go wrong.

Cleo looked at her mirror, around which she had placed small photos, drawings, and stickers through the years, ever since she was old enough to do so. Her little photo album, greeting her every morning and evening. Her eyes drifted over photos of herself as a child. Photos of herself with her parents.

It was like a never-ending dream. Nothing ever changed, for so long.

With sad acceptance, Cleo looked at a photo of herself with her mom. It used to be one of her favorites.

But now you've gone away,

A single tear drifted down her cheek.

and I've tried turning the page.

Emma stood alone at the marina, near the outer end of a pier, facing the shore. She watched from about thirty feet away as police and paramedics gently ushered the Lavea family off the rescue boat and onto the pier. The golden glow of sunset wrapped land and sea in its embrace, as if the universe itself acknowledged what a good and hardworking day it had been.

The family was wrapped in blankets provided by the paramedics. Mr. Lavea took care of the two older children, holding their hands. Behind him, Mrs. Lavea carried the toddler at her chest, so the little boy was looking back down the pier, over his mother's shoulder.

And it's just not the same.

Emma was close enough to hear Mrs. Lavea speak to the police.

"I'd given up hope," she said, fighting back tears as an officer gently escorted her. "I really thought we were all going to die. But then a miracle happened! Someone must have been watching over us!"

Emma was spellbound. Tears formed at her eyes.

But I'm breathin' in, and I'm breathin' out.

"Somehow, we're safe and my babies are alive!" Mrs. Lavea continued. "But I don't know how it happened!"

"Sometimes, the universe just gives us a miracle, ma'am," Constable Henderson said. "It's beyond me. I only know it's true."

As they spoke, Emma was slowly overwhelmed with the powerful understanding that she, with her magical curse and gift, was part of the miracle which had saved these people's lives. She recalled Lewis's words, and began to weep.

I'm wide awake but I can't hear a sound.

Looking back down the pier over his mother's shoulder, the three-year-old boy was the only one who noticed Emma. He recognized her, and his face split into a wide grin.

Emma smiled back through the tears streaming down her face, and put a finger to her lips in a shhh gesture.

Though I'm breathin' in, I can't think about,

The boy laughed and beamed at Emma with purest joy, his arms bobbing up and down in happiness, so full of life!

It was one of the most precious things Emma had ever seen, and her heart melted. Weeping openly, she laughed, grinned back, blew him a kiss and waved goodbye.

Finally, she understood.

another you, another me, another now.

Emma sat alone on the beach, her arms around her knees, watching the ocean fade to night. The last golden rays of the sun setting behind her comforted her, and reflected in shifting sparkles off the waves rolling to shore.

Where do I go from here? I've never felt so strange. I've never felt so torn.

Rikki appeared, kneeling in front of her.

"Hey," Rikki said softly. "There's something I need to say, and...I gotta say it before any more time goes by. I'm really, really sorry you had to give up your swimming dream." Rikki's face was tight with emotion. "I don't pretend to understand how much it hurts. But I understand that it does, and I care, and I'm here for you. However you need me to be."

'Cause ever since you came my way, I've learned to live by you. And now I'm on my own.

Emma smiled. "Thank you, Rikki." Emma looked over her shoulder at the ocean. "But I think I'm finally okay with it. I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'll always grieve it, but some things are more important...and a lot more rewarding."

Rikki smiled.

I know I need some time,
to leave all this behind.

"And you know what else?" Emma asked, looking at Rikki. "If we'd never become mermaids, I'd never have known your friendship, one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever been given."

'Cause I'm still hanging on.

Rikki's smile deepened. She gently reached out and held Emma's locket in one hand, held her own locket in the other, leaned forward, and gently clicked their lockets together.

Emma laughed, and they hugged.

But I'm breathin' in, and I'm breathin' out.

After a moment, they pulled apart, and Rikki said, "Maybe you're not on the swim team anymore, but..." She held out her hand. "Do you want to race in a different way?"

I'm wide awake but I can't hear a sound.

"I'm not in the mood for a race. However...I'm definitely in the mood for a swim!"

She took Rikki's hand, and they headed for the water.

Though I'm breathin' in, I can't think about,

Rikki and Emma walked into the ocean. At nine seconds, they dove in.

another you, another me, another now.

They swam along the reef, playing with dolphins.

I'm sitting here all alone. Don't wanna move, nowhere to go.

Wearing her pajamas, Cleo stood in front of her mirror. She thought about Louise's words of wisdom.

"Trust the magic," Louise had said. "It didn't choose you just to let you down. It will always give you a way forward, if you have the courage to take it."

Cleo took down a small photo showing herself smiling and playing as a happy six-year-old girl.

'Cause nothing's real. I just wanna hide, 'cause you're not here.

She held the photo for a moment, smiling at it, her face full of joy, yet bittersweet and melancholy.

Then she slowly brought it to her lips and, so softly, kissed the photo, as if saying hello or goodbye to the little girl she once was.

But I'm breathin' in, and I'm breathin' out.
I'm wide awake but I can't hear a sound.

Cleo tenderly placed the photo back in its place.

I'm breathin' in, and I'm breathin' out.

She turned on her bedside lamp, turned out the overhead light, and pulled back the covers.

I'm wide awake but I can't hear a sound.
Though I'm breathin' in, I can't think about,

She climbed into bed.

another you, another me, another now.

With a smile of acceptance and peace, Cleo turned out the lamp, sliding her room into darkness.

Another you, another me, another now.