talk
Rio sat cross-legged on the bed and buried her face in her hands.
Agatha came over after lighting the candles, rubbing her back. “Everything alright?”
“I don’t know, I just—“ Rio sighed. “How do you deal with this?”
Agatha sat down next to her. “I just ignore it, really. I know that’s not healthy, but… Plus, I don’t think it’s exactly the same thing.” She paused, watching Rio. “Maybe tomorrow, I can stop by the library and find something that might help.”
“Sounds great.” Rio let herself fall onto the bed, covering her face. “I just want this to stop. I’m just tired of this pain, and fear, and...” She sighed.
“I know.” Agatha lay down next to her.
“That’s worse.”
“I know that, too.”
Rio turned to Agatha, meeting her opal blue eyes before kissing her.
—
Agatha carried the books she had found back to the cottage. She had grabbed anything she thought had even the slightest chance of helping. She hadn’t approved of Rio going back to work so soon, but the afterlife had called. She made Rio promise she’d call if she needed to, but Agatha still worried.
Rio came back that afternoon, right as Agatha was going through another book.
“Welcome back, my love.” Agatha set the book aside, hugging Rio.
“Hey.”
“Was everything alright?” Agatha let go, leading Rio back to the couch.
“Mostly. My, uh, my hands shook, kind of. But nothing as bad as the other day.”
Agatha took Rio’s trembling hands. “They’re still shaking.”
“Oh, hold on.” Rio reassumed her true form for a second before making her humanoid one come back. “All better.”
“No, because that just fixed the symptoms. The cause is still there. Luckily, I’ve been doing some research.”
“Did you find anything?”
“As a matter of fact, I found 2 solutions.”
“That’s amazing!”
“One is called Trephination, aka I’d drill a hole into your skull.”
Rio paused. “I’d rather… not do that. I don’t think we could anyway.”
“Me neither. The other one is just… talking.”
“Talking?”
“Yeah, like you tell me about stuff.”
“Like what?”
Agatha shrugged. “Anything that might be traumatic, I suppose.”
“Um, okay.” Rio patted her lap. “How do we start?”
“I don’t know. Just… start talking, I guess.”
“About what?”
“Uh, yesterday, for example. When you reacted to the fireworks. Why do you think you reacted like that?”
Rio shrugged. “I mean, I know they were just fireworks, but that’s not what I heard.”
“What do you mean?”
“I, uh, thought I heard gunshots.”
Agatha paused to consider. “...And that scared you?”
“I–I think. I don’t know.”
“You do know they can’t harm you, right?”
“I know, but they can harm you, and I've seen so many people die like that, and… you’re– you’re my life, Agatha.”
Agatha put her hands on Rio’s shoulders. “I’m not going away that easily, okay? I’m here for a long, long, long, long, long time, and you’re not getting rid of me that quickly.”
“You’ve said that before.”
“And I meant it. Is this also why you panicked the other day?”
“I think so, I just–” Rio leaned back on the couch. “I don’t know.”
Agatha put her hand around Rio, making her lean on her shoulder. “You worry too much.”
“Do I? You’ve gotten hurt so many times since we met. You just got shot in the heart. 4 days ago.”
“Well, I mean, firstly, it just grazed my heart, and second, I’m fine now.”
“But I still don’t want you to get hurt.”
“That’s very sweet of you, but that’s part of life.”
“What do you mean?”
“We get hurt. That’s part of living.”
Rio considered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Agatha chuckled, making her wince. “It will, in time.”
Rio’s hand glided toward Agatha’s chest. “How’s your bullet wound?”
“It’s okay. Still hurts, but it’s fine.”
Rio put a marigold behind Agatha’s ear. “I just want you to be okay.”
“I know.” Agatha stroked her hair. “I don’t have a great track record, though.”
Rio scoffed. “I’ll say. You’ve been hurt… how many times since we met?”
“Uh, I don’t even know. I stopped keeping track after the 4th one, to be honest.”
Rio twirled Agatha’s hair. “Maybe you should be grounded.”
“Then what’s the point of anything?”
“…You’d be alive.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t be living.”
Rio paused. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Being alive means that you're letting life happen to you. You exist. That’s all. Living is experiencing life, making choices, enjoying yourself… you know. Living.”
“Huh.” Rio considered. “I never thought of it that way. But don’t you have to be alive to live?”
“Well, yeah, but what’s the point of being alive if you aren’t living?”
Rio stopped, thinking over what Agatha had said. “I still don’t want to lose you.”
Agatha chuckled. “I don’t really want to die, either, but there’s no point if you aren’t living. And if you’re not allowed to, you gotta have hope.”
“Is that what got you through?” Rio met Agatha’s ocean-blue eyes. “Hope?”
“Yeah. But it pays off. I have you now.”
“You’ve gotten hurt because of me so many times.”
“No, I’ve survived getting hurt thanks to you so many times.”
Rio readjusted herself in Agatha’s lap. “You’re too forgiving.”
“Only ‘cause none of it’s your fault.”
“It kind of is.”
“It definitely isn’t.”
Rio smiled, putting her head on Agatha’s lap and closing her eyes as Agatha stroked her hair. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”