She pressed her bony fingers into his as he slept and stared up at the ceiling in the dark.

All this time of fretting over his insomnia drags left her with no recourse for her own, nor any way to really broach the issue at hand that didn’t feel awkward as it sat heavily on her chest.

She was embarassed. By it. Really.

How her cortisol spiked when she thought about it. What it’d really kick off if her darkest dreams were to come true. How much blood would be spilled? And would it even be enough? Would the madness left behind in its wake be a whole other unholy ring of hell they hadn’t fully considered? Or would anything- anything…be better than the here and now that in that instance would instantly, gleefuly…finally become before.

Her palms began to sweat as her mind raced deliriously.

“Stop thinking about it, your heart is racing-” he yawned. “don’t let it give you high blood pressure.”

“it’s such an easy dream, though,” she sighed. “Such an all-encompassing, easy-peasy, everybody eats…kind of …dream-”

He yawned again and pulled a second duvet over them both. “Yeah, but you know how those instances never end up the way they start off looking like they’re going to- I… know you’re on edge, this could truly be it, but if you don’t let yourself sleep…if it is, you’re not even going to get the full impact of it. Come on~ rest with me. We’ll…find out in the daytime like the rest of the Noobs.”

“I know you’re right,” she muttered. “ I just really hope he’s-”

“I know. You know you’re not the only one. Most of us do. You…know that. & when all is said and done, the culling of those in cahoots, intact and on their knees in capitulation will come swiftly-if he is-” 

She turned off the round the clock coverage she’d been hate-watching on mute and rolled over to look at the one creature comfort she’d kept through this entire nightmare that had made her feel right as rain regardless.

“You and that golden watch,” he chuckled sleepily. “I still don’t fully get how you got a watch from deciding to retire when you hadn’t had a normal job in years, but if you like it, I love-”

“It’s not about what the watch is right now,” she whispered, sitting up in the dark to gingerly toy with the golden watch with the black face in the dark. “It’s about what they once were given out as a token of appreication, to signify-”

“I’s retired,” he laughed.

“I’s retired.” she concured.

“You think he’s dead yet?” she whispered furtively.

“Nooo~ No I don’t- there would be harbingers everywhere, with trumpets, making it all plain… if he was.” He kissed her on her forehead.

“How about now?” she murmured groggily.

“ Are we there yet~?” he mumbled against her crown, shorthand for the equivalent of what she was really doing that was picked up and put back down by her.

©AngelBrynner 2025