don’t let the bed bugs bite
Rio reappeared at Agatha’s door as soon as she could, a daisy in her hand. She found Agatha’s knife to her throat again.
“Hi.”
“Hey.” She lowered the knife, limping back inside. “Welcome back to my humble abode.”
“How long has it been?” Rio followed her into the cottage.
“It’s still the same day. So not long.”
Rio glanced at the booby traps Agatha had set up. “I thought I told you to stay off your feet.”
“You told me to stay here.”
“You got impaled by a tree branch. Staying off your feet was very much implied.”
Agatha opened her mouth to argue, then sighed. “I just wanted to feel safe, you know?”
Rio watched her, the afternoon's impact on Agatha hitting her just then. “I can stay here tonight if you want.”
Agatha turned to her. “But… what about your job?”
“I think I’m good for a night. How long is a night?”
“A couple hours.”
“How long were we together today?”
“A couple hours.” Agatha smiled. “Thank you.”
“You already thanked me.”
“Still.”
Rio smiled back. “You’re welcome.”
—
That night, Rio just watched Agatha as she slept. She didn’t have to sleep, nor did she know how to. She just watched Agatha. It was cute how she drooled in her sleep.
Even though Rio didn’t really understand time, she knew it didn’t take long for Agatha to start whimpering.
Rio immediately sat up. “Agatha?”
Agatha kept whimpering, restless in her bed.
“Agatha?”
Rio put her hand on Agatha’s arm, and she slowly quieted down.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”
She didn’t know why it helped, but she was just glad Agatha was okay.
Agatha went back to sleep, and Rio leaned back on the headboard, closing her eyes. Ancients, she was exhausted. The weariness hadn’t hit her until then. She just sat with her eyes shut. Maybe being able to sleep wouldn’t be so bad.
Then, Agatha started whimpering again.
Rio put her hand on Agatha’s arm once more. “Agatha?”
This time, Agatha didn’t quiet down.
Her whimpering just got louder.
“Agatha!” Rio sat up, trying to shake her awake.
Agatha shot up, crying, and repeating “They’re dead!” over and over again.
“Who’s dead?”
Agatha didn’t reply.
“Agatha, who’s dead?”
Agatha stopped crying for a few seconds and turned to Rio, the corner of her lip twitching, until she put her head on Rio’s chest and continued crying. “I killed them. I killed her.”
“Shh, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Y–yes, it was.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“I killed her. I killed…”
“It’s okay. You did what you had to to survive.”
Rio held her as she cried until her eyes closed again.