>>5280604“Ready?” You ask, the light of your Neurotic Halo shining back at you from the chrome surface of the Silver Key.
“Wait…will I dream?” Sam suddenly asks over her shoulder.
“Not if you don’t want to.” You reply over your own. “I mean, we *might* still dream, but we wouldn’t remember it unless you wanted to.”
“So, dreamless-ish?” She mutters, before turning to you fully . “I like the sound of that.”
“One dreamless-ish sleep, coming right up.” You giggle, half-delirious with exhaustion as the Key thrums in your hands.
“G’night, Shu.” She murmurs.
“Sleep well, Sam.”
…
…
…when your eyes flutter open, you feel like someone’s stuffed your body with rocks in the best possible way. You’re heavy in the way that only complete and total relaxation can achieve, and with your eyes still feeling like they’re welded shut you roll over, expecting to bury your face into a head of
Short
Wavy
Pixie
Red
Auburn
Black
hair, the echoes of something like a half-remembered dream taking flight when you reach out to empty air. They should be there. She should be here. Where’s-?
“Sam?” You ask the words coming out dry and scratchy from your still-raw throat, the minutes before you went to sleep flooding into your mind, hydrating your senses like someone took a sledgehammer to a fire hydrant. You scan the room, your eyes still adjusting to the dim as you realize she’s-
“Still here.”
She’s sitting in the same chair you occupied when you spoke with Charon, then Ozmas—each about the other. She turns in her seat, leaning on her elbow and cocking her head at you as you sit up. “Thought about heading out when I woke up before you, but I was informed that would’ve been a ‘dick move’, so…yeah. Gotta say, girlfriend numero uno’s one hell of a ballbuster.”
“Yeah, she’s…she’s something else.” You chuckle, glancing at the door before turning back to Sam. “How long were we out?”
“Eight hours, give or take.” She replies, and when you startle up she raises a lazy hand to settle you back down. “If something had happened, don’t you think they’d have woken us up?”
“...Fair point.” You admit, rubbing your eyes with the back of your chitin-less hand. “You sleep okay?”
“Yeah...it was nice.” She mutters, shrugging as a mischievous grin crosses your face.
“Cool, cool…so which of us was the big spoon?”
“Tch…me, obviously.” She fires back with only a second’s hesitation.
Oh, she’s such a liar….but Sam doesn’t give you the chance to call her out on it before she quickly changes the subject. “Look, I don’t wanna overstay my welcome. Like I said, I tried to leave, but…and they’ve got this whole thing, so…”
“No, it’s okay. Are you still going to go see Samantha?” You ask, hopeful.
“...yeah. Yeah, I am.” Sam replies with a certain weight behind her words. “And you?”
(Continued)
