"Shamira, are you awake? Please say something." Clara didn't hear words, but she heard the bed next to her creak. Her hand was shaking as she reached across the thin dark divide that separated them.

Shamira cringed away. She did not want to be touched. Broken things should never be touched, because you cut your fingers on them when you try. In her efforts to get away from Clara's encroaching hand, she unbalanced the gurney, sending it and herself toppling to the ground.

"Shamira?!" Clara shouted, unable to see in the total darkness that had been created for her friend to heal. She slowly slid out of her own bed,...