Gone.

Stars

The sun rays beat down on Taylor's face, warming her as she shut her eyes and basked in the heat. She lies back on her elbows and extends her neck, maximising the amount of skin exposed to the warm sun. The lush grass underneath her fingertips felt soft to touch, although she was more than aware of the imprints she would have all the way up her forearm when she got up.

Suddenly, a sharp splatter of freezing cold water sprays over her, causing her whole body to instinctively flinch away as she lets out a high-pitched squeal. In a split second her serenity was shattered. The girl moves so fast that her sunglasses fly off her head as more splashes of water land on her bare skin.

"Karlie! Stop it! It's freezing!" Her breath gets caught in her throat as another tidal wave of ice water causes her to gasp. She manages to make it to her feet and locate the culprit.

Karlie was floating at the edge of the lake, using her long arms to splash the water. For the second time in a minute, Taylor's breath gets caught in her throat. Karlie was wearing a matching black bikini set emblazoned with diamantes at the hem that left little to the imagination and the droplets of water sprawled over her tanned skin caused tiny spots of sunshine to reflect off of her toned abs, giving her an almost heavenly glow.

Without thinking, Taylor runs straight ahead towards her girlfriend, jumping into the water like a cannonball. Her head goes underwater as she bounces off of the bottom of the lake slightly, the body of water had slowed her down sufficiently before so luckily it didn't hurt. When she resurfaces, she flicks her hair out of her face only to see Karlie drenched in water, her arms shrugged and her mouth in an 'o' shape.

Taylor lets out a genuine laugh. She laughs harder than she had in a long while as Karlie attempts to splash her back. Taylor fights her way through the sheer force of the water headed her way to wrap her arms around her girlfriend's neck. She jumps up slightly to wrap her legs around the girl's waist. Karlie grips Taylor's thighs to keep her in place as they grin at each other, soaking wet and their foreheads touching, lips mere centimetres apart.

Just as Taylor starts to lean forward in order to connect their lips, she gets dropped back down into the water. Suddenly, the icy coldness spreads all over her body once again. When she comes up for air Karlie is nowhere to be seen. She cries out her name, but there is no reply.

The girl begins to panic and she climbs out of the water to look around frantically. She didn't know where she was. There was no one around. "Karlie!" she calls, becoming more panicked. "You can't leave me, Karlie! I love you," she starts to hyperventilate as her breathing becomes shallow and desperate. "We didn't have enough time," she sobs, "please don't leave me."

"Taylor!" a voice says urgently. "Taylor!"

Taylor's eyes flash open, confused and dazed. She panics and sits up in the bed, still hyperventilating.

"Sweetie, it was just a dream. It's mom. Calm down," Andrea comforts as she embraces her daughter in a hug. Taylor had her head in her hands. "Breathe with me. Like we used to do." Andrea takes Taylor's hand and places it on her chest.

The girl tries to match her heart rate and breathing pace with her mother's. She focusses hard and eventually her shallow breaths come under control and her mother wraps her back up in a hug.

"I'm here now, baby. Do you want to talk about it?" she offers.

Taylor shakes her head quickly whilst trying to choke out a 'no' as she continues to cry into Andrea's neck.

"That's okay, we don't have to," she replies as she runs a hand through her daughter's hair, knowing it was a sure-fire technique to calm her.