When Allison opened the door, she refused to believe her eyes. "Carmen . . . ?"

Carmen gave her packet to her mum and walked over to Allison, wrapping her into a tight hug.

Allison stood shocked for a moment longer, and then wrapped her shaking arms around Carmen, a sob ripping through her.

"This can't be real," Allison managed to get out through her blubbering and crying.

Carmen laughed, pulling back to wipe her tears. "Eighty six days."

"The longest we've ever been apart," Allison said in a sort of cry-laugh.

"Why did you bring me a present?" Allison asked, focusing on the gift in Carmen's mother's hands as she walked away to give them privacy.

"Didn't notice your messages said read?"

Realisation dawned on Allison, and she looked ashamed. Carmen hugged her tighter, telling her that it's okay.

"But I was so selfish."

"No, you weren't, Allison. Don't worry now, we can't change the past. And I'm here now. I'm fine."

On those words, Allison pulled away from Carmen's embrace and studied her head, the small healed cuts on her face, the fading bruises.

"Does it hurt?"

"Surprisingly not." Carmen laughed.  "Are you okay?"

"You mean . . . ?"

"Everything. You okay?"

"You were the only missing piece, Carmen. All is well now," Allison said, smiling.

"Hey, I'm the poet here, not you."

They laughed, hugging each other again.

"I've had eighty six days to practice."

"I bet you spent them doing homework."

"Speaking of homework, you have a lot of catching up to do."

Carmen groaned. "Kill the mood, Allison, why don't you?"

"I'm a professional," Allison said, laughing.

"You two gonna hug on the porch the whole day?"

They let go of each other then, smiling.

"Come here, Carmen. How're you feeling?"

Allison's mother drew her into a hug, telling her that she was happy to see her smiling face again.

"I'm sure Allison's explained everything already."

Carmen laughed, sharing a look with Allison. "Yeah, she has."

Leaving the mothers in the lounge, they went to Allison's room, laying down on the bed.

"So you've seen the messages?"

"Yeah. I'm really sorry about your dad."

"I actually don't care. Really. I'm not bothered at all."

"Did you speak to your mum? I mean, you did, but did she explain?"

Allison sighed. "I did . . ."

"And?"

"So." She rubbed her hands together nervously. "When my parents were happily married for one year, dad met up in an accident. He wasn't in a coma, but he had really severe injuries. Mum was always so worried about him and constantly cried because she couldn't imagine living without him. She almost went into a depression, but her mum sat her down and spoke to her.

"She said that mum shouldn't grieve over something that hasn't even happened. In mum's case, it was dad dying when he was only in hospital.

"Mum said that then she realised that she needed to carry on with her life even though dad was in hospital. Sure, she could feel worried and all, but she shouldn't allow herself to become depressed.

"She . . . she said I was doing that." She took a deep breath. "She saw herself in everything that I was doing. She told me that she didn't want me to make the same mistake she made. That's why she didn't want me to see you too often. She said she noticed the deep sadness on my face when I'm with you in the hospital, so she thought lessening my visits and time would prevent it.

"So I told her that I understand, but she should've explained it to me instead, and she agreed that she should've."

"Oh my word, Allison."

Allison smiled at Carmen. "I appreciate what she did now. God knows what would've happened if I carried on in that same way."

And for the billionth time, they hugged again. "What's with all this hugging?" Carmen laughed, making Allison hug her tighter.

"What about all those times where you were really sad?" Carmen asked, a little worried.

"I'm so ashamed of those days." Allison sighed. "Some of the days, it was just like my mind took a turn of its own and I had no control over it. I had started thinking in a really dark way and I didn't know why. But I'm okay now. I'm me. I'm normal."

"I guess this was an experience for us all."

"Indeed, it was."