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It was already late in the evening by her standards and Camilla was almost asleep in front of the TV when she heard something. She looked around and saw Amity in her blue shirt and black pajama shorts. She looked uncertain and just said, "Hey. I...I didn't mean to wake you up.". Camilla looked at her. "Amity, what are you still doing here at this hour?" she asked worriedly. Amity looked down and answered "I can't... sleep properly.". "I'm not surprised," Camilla replied. Amity looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked. Camilla calmly replied, "You've been absent all day. I mean, you kids have all had moments like this, which is understandable given what you've been through, but you've been somewhere else all day today.", she pointed next to her on the sofa, "sit down and tell me what's going on, Amity.".
Amity sat down next to Camilla. "It's nonsense really," she began, "it's just about my siblings, you know, Edric and Emira?". Camilla nodded and asked Amity to continue. "Well," Amity cleared her throat, "today would be their... their birhirhirthdayhay." As Amity was about to say "birthday", she burst into tears and began to sob, but continued, "And I don't even knowhow if... if... they're still alive.". At the last word, Amity's voice went up and broke away in sobs. Camilla bent down and took Amity, who was now crying without inhibitions, tightly in her arms and kissed her forehead. "Pequeño gatito, todo irá bien.", Camilla said full of kindness, "Amity, when it was clear that Manny would never get better, do you know what I did - besides some formal preparations, of course?". Amity wiped away tears as best she could and shook her head. "I never thought about what it would be like if he died," Camilla continued, "but I lived in the now, and then when it was so bad the last few days that you couldn't talk to him, I thought about how nice it was first with him and then with Luz and him. I didn't give a thought to what would be once he was dead. When I was at home and the phone rang, I didn't think that it must be the hospital. Because it didn't matter. I couldn't do anything about the situation, only make myself more miserable. And even if it's not the same. You can't make up a horror story every time you think about your siblings. The last time you saw them, they were alive and well, right?". Amity nodded. "So" Camilla continued, "you have to cling to that moment and all the other beautiful ones with them. You don't know what happened over there and is happening right now. Maybe even it's not as bad as you all think. And even if it were, there's nothing you can do about it from here either. But if you constantly drive yourself crazy out of fear for them, you won't succeed either and you'll lose your grip on the here and now. You will find a way back and then you will find them and hug them and cry with joy and they will hug you and cry with joy because they were just as worried about their beloved little sister."
Amity looked at Camilla. "And if it is not so? If something did ha... happen to them?" she asked. Camilla looked down: "Then you can't change it either, but you may have overwritten the beautiful moments with your fear and uncertainty here. You don't know what will happen, don't tell yourself to be unhappy, but hope for the best and look forward to seeing your siblings again. But by all means don't grieve for them while they might still be alive. And believe me, the chances of them being alive in whatever circumstances are greater than the other. From what I've heard from Luz, they're both pretty good un a lot of things And pretty badass. And pretty cool." she winked at Amity, "I guess it runs in your family." Amity smiled for the first time that day, slowly looking convinced, and nodded. "That goes for your dad too.", Camilla pointed out firmly, "Don't look at me like that, when you talk about him, I know you love him a lot too.". Amity snuggled up to her, closed her eyes and asked, "Camilla, would you mind if I stayed with you tonight? Just this once?". "That's all right.", Camilla replied, "I'll get a sofa cushion and a wool blanket and we'll stay here tonight. And if it becomes necessary again, it wouldn't be just this once, ok?". "Thank you," Amity murmured already slowly falling asleep.