The gentle touch of Astrid's smooth hand was a warm wall against the night. The fingers were so tiny, but in that cave they were strong and beautiful bars that would keep everything but the light out. Already it helped a little. The black iris on the unblinking eye relaxed and widened into a gentler round shape from the thin slit that it had been. The boy's voice wavered with relief as he spoke, "Yes. Thank you..." He would have closed his eye and to enjoy the sensation of touch to the fullest, but that was of course impossible. Instead the eye rolled to look up at the girl's features, twitching every now and then as it soaked in her face. An idle thought passed his mind. Too bad that she isn't smiling.<br/><br/>If he could not dream then Calden would at least fill his vision with the next best thing. He had come to know this angle of her face very well. On those nights when she had not in her unconscious slumber pulled the veil over his eye, Calden had spent most of the time just looking at her. Yet when she asked what was wrong, he could not keep his mind away from that sensation of wrongness that made it feel like his sanity was tip toeing on the edge of a knife and below lied madness. No friendly face or word could stay it off forever.<br/><br/>He did not have to search long for the answer and it came out accompanied with the exact same emotion of fear that he attached to this state. "No," he answered to the first question and quickly continued, "Just keep your hand on. I hav- haven't felt anything. I try to forget. I thought I did, but these nights are bad." Although Calden had never had problems speaking his voice stammered as he struggled to keep the tears from flowing. "I don't know. Am I going to be like this forever? I can't do it. I can't even remember how to move anymore. It's just so empty in here. Help..."