~Friendship~

Life was nothing without friends. That was the jist of what she had told Quine, and he had done his best to argue with her. Except that he couldn't, not really, because she knew better. So what if she wasn't as old as him? She still knew, knew with the painful certainty of one who has learned too much too fast, that there was no point to living if you did not have friends.

In this here-and-now, she had them. They were with her now, talking to her, trying to get her to smile. She didn't feel like smiling, but they wouldn't give up. That was very much a friend-like thing to do; part of what she had tried, not very successfully, to teach Quine. A friend could always be counted upon to be there for you when you needed it most. Friends were the glue that held the universe together, the light that guided your steps through the darkness.

He was hurting too, she was sure of it. Like her, he must also have known a time when there were no friends. Only darkness. Pain. Suffering. If only she could show him what it meant to be a true friend. If only.

They were calling her still. Trying to coax her out of the darkness to which she'd fled. Though loathe to leave its comforting embrace, she reluctantly turned her attention to the outside world once more. After all, they were her friends, so she should at least try for their sake.

"I'm fine." she assured them. But she wasn't. Not really.

Back to Writings