I shut my eyes. "This won't hurt, right?"
"It shouldn't."
I tightened my grip on the chair. "Promise?"
"I would if I could."
I open my eyes just a crack. "Y'know, sometimes lies aren't a bad thing."
The smile. "It'll be over soon, okay?"
I nod. "Okay." I lift my hand to make room for the hand I wish was there to hold.
What if?
The fear. Then the thought.
---
Fear.
Then light.
I'm surrounded by white. Familiar white. I shut my eyes, wanting it to go away. But though I can't see the familiar color, I can smell a familiar smell. I feel my heart stop, as I feel a familiar brush against my arm.
It can't be.
The thought. Then the nod.
---
"How's she doing?"
"She'll be fine. Just keep watching, make sure nothing gets out of hand."
The nod. Then the silence.
---
I open my eyes. I was right. It wasn't.
The white and the smell and the brush against my arm are all gone, replaced by an empty field. It's late, and nobody's around. I sit down and fold my hands behind my head, watching the stars. I turn my head over, just in time to see a familiar form vanish from where it lay next to me.
The silence. Then the tear.
---
"How much longer?"
"I'm not sure. She still seems to think -"
"She has to give up eventually."
"Will she?"
The tear, then the whisper.
---
I hate the feeling of not being alone. Having to function in your proper habitat while being watched, it hurts. Not a sharp-pain-paper-cut hurt, a dull-arch-in-the-small-of-your-back hurt. And I know, as I stare into those two green-brown portals, that I am being watched.
"I'm sorry." I whisper.
"Don't be. There's nothing to apologize for."
"I didn't want to. They forced me to, and..."
"Shh."
The whisper, then the tear.
---
Fin