“No…no, no, please no.”

I heard the broken voice, felt the warm grooves of her hand, but my eyes remained shut. I could not move. I could only listen.

“Amy…baby, I’m so sorry.” It’s her voice. “I’m so so sorry.” What happened? What is she sorry for?

It comes back to me slowly, like a wave washing over me. The car ride with Clara. The accident. The surgery. The feeling like I was floating above my body, and then the slow shift back into it like a puzzle piece.

“Amy.”

Clara’s warm hand sharply contrasted the cold underneath me.

“Amy, what will I do without you?”

Was I lying on a table?

“What will I…?”

She couldn’t go on, she could only sob. I was on a table. She said “without” me…she thought I was…

Clara. Clara.

I couldn’t say her name, I couldn’t move, only listen to her pain. I had to do something, I had to show her I was alright.

I screamed her name inside my head, I willed my fingers and toes to move. Clara only wept, stroking my hands and face. My heart pounded uselessly, silently in my chest.

Oh. My heart.

Clara, touch my heart. Place your head against it like you always do. Please, please.

“Clara.”

Was that me?? Did I just say that?

“Feel her heart, Clara.”

“Who are you?”

It was not me. Someone entered the room. They had an oddly familiar voice.

“You will learn soon enough who I am. But first, feel her heart. Press your ear to her chest.”

I had no idea who this was, but Clara listened to them. Her warm head fell against my heart like it did so many times before, on cold nights and before sunrises and during long days. Instinctively, as if something were pulling me to her, my hand rose and came to rest against her hair. My fingers shifted against her almost on their own accord, moving through the motions they knew so well even when I couldn’t do them.

“Amy?” Clara’s head moved against me just as my eyes fluttered open, entirely on their own. I tried to smile at her, but before I could her arms were around me, and we held each other close.

“How is this possible?” She asked. I did not know.

“I will tell you, but we have to go.” The person next to us snapped their fingers and then I was up, walking with my arms still around Clara for support. “I revived you, or I harnessed Clara’s energy in order to revive you. It’s a long story. But we have to go now. There are some who would prefer Amy to be dead.”

Suddenly we were moving, and confused, but Clara was with me and she knew I was alive, and somehow I had been brought back to her. For the time being, that was all I needed.