Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Patricia laid on her bed, holding her phone above her. She once again found herself staring into the dim glow of her phone as she had many times before. And, much like those previous times, she had the same discord chat open, scrolling through old messages.

It was pretty much routine at this point. Lay down. Open phone. Look through her chat with Marie for a couple hours in the vain hope she'd find something, anything new. Thus, she scrolled back to the messages from the month of May, and, as customary in this routine, began reading.

MaidofDesire 05/12/2024 1:25 PM
I know you're still not awake yet, and I know when you do wake up they likely won't give you your phone back for some time, but I felt like I should text you anyways since it's unlikely I'll be able to visit you in the hospital anytime soon.

MaidofDesire 05/12/2024 1:27 PM
I wanted to let you know that I spoke with our caseworker today. They gave me a new placement. I tried to get them to place you with me, but they don't know when you'll be out of the hospital.

MaidofDesire 05/12/2024 1:28 PM
I'm nervous, Patricia. I wish you were here.

MaidofDesire 05/12/2024 1:28 PM
I probably won't be able to visit you again for some time. I hope you wake up soon. I miss you

May was four months ago.

Those were the last messages Marie ever sent to her.

The moment Patricia got her phone back, the very first thing she did was respond to her.

Peacock 7/3/2024 3:42 PM
hey

Peacock 7/3/2024 3:42 PM
I just got my phone back

Peacock 7/3/2024 3:44 PM
i woke up last week. getting released 2day. somehow healed pretty well, all things considered anyway. still had most of my bones in my legs broken lol.

Peacock 7/3/2024 3:45 PM
i also got a new place. met him today. seems nice for a 🐷. was kinda hoping i woulda been placed with u but whatever. I hope they r nice

Peacock 7/3/2024 3:59 PM
srry if ur busy.

Peacock 7/3/2024 8:56 PM
lot busier than i thought. too busy studying? well, get back to me soon.

Peacock 7/4/2024 10:27 AM
r u okay marie?????

Peacock 7/4/2024 10:56 AM
ur not mad, r u?

Peacock 7/4/2024 1:32 PM
umm.. i just got released. pls respond, k?

Peacock 7/4/2024 1:40 PM
im worried about u

Peacock 7/4/2024 5:42 PM
i hope ur ok

Peacock 7/4/2024 11:22 PM
gn. pls be okay. pls tell me that u r ok.

Peacock 7/5/2024 9:23 AM
gm. im worried marie. idk if u h8 me now, but pls at least lmk that ur okay.

Peacock 7/5/2024 9:42 AM
idk what i did

What follows are even more texts, at least 100 of them, becoming less frantic, and more mundane as time goes on, mostly with Patricia sharing her art and telling Marie about her day, with no response, her messages usually ending with some variation of a “pls talk to me” or “i hope that ur okay.”

If Marie truly was mad, at least she hadn't blocked her.

Why would she be mad though? It wasn't as if Patricia could find a reason why her best friend was mad at her, or even a reason that might be the case.

Her scrolling was only interrupted by a light knock on her bedroom door.

“It's unlocked!” She shouted.

The door opened to her foster father, Benjamin Birdland (though Patricia just called him Ben, he seemed cool with that, for whatever reason. He wasn’t very uptight… which was strange, especially since he was a member of law enforcement, a group Patricia justifiably didn't like very much,). He opened the door a bit and leaned into the room a bit.

“Hey Patty,” he was still in his uniform, meaning he likely just got home, “I noticed the light was on in here so I'm pokin’ my head in to remind you that school starts tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah” Patricia let out a heavy sigh, “I know…” Summer vacation was over already, and, like every time she moved back in elementary school, this meant yet another school to start at and not knowing anyone. Not that she really minded, she didn't really have many friends at her old school anyways barring Marie. Besides, it's high school, basically everyone was starting at a new school anyways, so it probably wouldn't be too bad.

“Marie again?” Ben asked, seeing Patricia holding the phone she had been looking at a moment earlier. Patricia responded with a curt nod as she sat up.

Ben took a few steps into her room and sat on the edge of her bed. “Look kiddo…” Ben began, “I've been trying to get into contact with your caseworker, but I've been told that she legally can't tell me where she is-”

“Of course that bitch gave him the ‘ol runaround.” Patricia thought to herself. She never really liked her, just another shitty adult here to flex her authority over her. No different that the piece of shit who-

“-but she says she has been working on arranging a chance for you to visit soon.”

“She's probably full‘a shit then.” Patricia responded, putting her phone on her nightstand.

Ben sighed and shook his head, Patricia figured he'd chastise her for her language, but he didn't. “I'm sorry… I wish there was more I could do…”

“It's fine.” a dejected Patricia muttered. “Whatever.”

Ben looked like he was going to say something when he let out a heavy sigh. He stood up from the end of the bed and began heading towards the door. “Try not to stay up too late, okay?”

Patricia didn’t respond as Ben exited the room, the door closing lightly behind her foster father. She picked up her recently put down cell phone, unlocking it to gaze once again on her discord messages. She might as well send another one before she goes to bed. There wasn't any harm in that. Maybe she’ll finally respond?

Peacock 9/1/24 9:49 PM
hey. school is starting tmrw.

Peacock 9/1/24 9:49 PM
starting at a new school apparently

Peacock 9/1/24 9:50 PM
i always thought we’d be at the same school until we graduated

Peacock 9/1/24 9:50 PM
it sucks. i wont know anyone

Peacock 9/1/24
not like it matters anyways

Peacock 9/1/24 9:50 PM
id try to get out of going but i doubt i could cook up a decent excuse

Peacock 9/1/24 9:50 PM
i hope ur ok

Peacock 9/1/24 9:51 PM
gn

Patricia stared at her phone for a second, hoping to see if Marie would begin typing.

...

...

...

She did not. Oh well. It's not like she would respond anyways. With a sigh, she put her phone back down, plugging it into the charger before carefully folding her glasses and placing them on her nightstand.

Sleep did not come quickly, her thoughts still drifting towards Marie.

It was about 11:30 at night. Patricia was resting her head on the couch’s armrest as Marie had her hand in the popcorn bowl between them. They had been staying up late watching some movie that Marie liked, not that Patricia remembered the title or the plot of it, except it was one of those extremely cheesy slasher films Marie had stumbled upon playing on some random cable channel late that night while browsing through the TV guide earlier, and since it wasn't a school night, they both had asked for Hilgard’s permission to stay up late, which was granted.

“Ya know, somea these effects are prettty bad.” Patricia muttered after watching some guy's head literally explode.

“These effects are practical.” Marie said, “They didn't have as much to work with back then, so they had to make do with what was available. If I recall correctly, this movie won an award for it's effects when it was released.”

“Rrrriiiggghhhtttt…” Patricia said, “I'll take your word for it then.”

“You don't believe-”

Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden and loud crash that came from the direction of the back door, though, at first, Patricia assumed it was a part of the movie.

“Huh, I wonder what-”

Patricia couldn't get that thought out, as it was immediately interrupted by her guardian, coming from the kitchen.

“Hey! Who are you get ou-”

The sound of a gunshot interrupted that thought. Then another.

Patricia seemed to black out for a moment, her fight or flight response activating and drowning the rest of the world out. She barely even registered that Marie was clinging on to her tightly, as she began to sprint to the door.

She didn't quite get there.

“Hold it girlies” A voice said, accompanied by the sound of a gun cocking. A wave of fear washed down her spine. “Turn around. Both of you. Nice and easy.”

Trying her best to remain calm, Patricia slowly turned around, keeping an eye towards the door for escape. She got a good look at the man… a look that would haunt her for a very long time.

“O-o-okay.” Marie was shaking badly as she turned. “Pl-please don't hurt us.”

The man chuckled and took a few steps towards the pairs his eyes locked on Marie. He put his gun in pocket and kneeled down in front of her. He rubbed her head, brushing her hair out of her eyes. Patricia wanted to vomit.

“I won't hurt you… much. Just be a good girl and do what I say.” The man rubbed his hand along Marie's cheek. “If you don’t, then things will end badly for you, understand.”

Marie gave a little nod as tears tell from her eyes. Fuck this. Patricia wasn't going to let that happen.

“And you-” the man was about to turn his attention to Patricia, only to get punched in the face by the small girl.

“DONTCHA FUCKIN’ TOUCH ‘ER!!” Patricia shrieked.

Her punch evidently didn't do that much damage. The man stared at her for a second, then started to laugh. Laugh? Why was he laughing?

“Oh what's this? We have a feisty one.”

Grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, the man slammed her into the wall, the impact being so hard it caused a nearby painting to dislodge and fall to the floor.

“I’m going to have fun breaking you…” the man said, a strange tinge of glee in his voice.

Patricia was working on pure adrenaline at this point, her body seemingly acting on its own. “Run!” Is what Patricia shouted, moments before she sank her teeth into the man's arm, causing him to loosen his grip around her, giving her just enough leverage to slip out of his grip and fall on the floor. She scrambled between his legs in an attempt to flee

“You…little…shit.” Blood dripped down the arm from where Patricia’s mouth had just been. It seems that he was bitten good.

With his attention firmly focused on Patricia, and a moment of hesitation, Marie bolted out the front door, leaving Patricia alone with her assailant.

Wasting no time, Patricia attempted to scramble up to run, but she was stopped a moment later by her assailant’s leg, causing her to trip straight into the coffee table. A sharp pain was felt in her torso as she rolled onto her back, something definitely broke.

And there she was, on the ground and looking up at the intruder, is ugly face smiling… smiling… as he looked down at her.

“Looks like you're going to need to be punished…”

He lifted his boot, and proceeded to bring it down on her limbs, again, and again, and again, and agai-

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

Patricia let out a scream as her eyes shot open. In a panic, she glanced around her bedroom, in a desperate attempt to find Marie, her heart beating out of her chest, her breathing fast and heavy. It took a moment to register that she wasn't in any danger, and she was safe. She slowly came to realize where she was, that Marie wasn't here, and what had transpired since that faithful day. Her breathing slowed as she calmed down.

This wasn't the first time she's had that nightmare, and it wouldn't be her last either.

Her arms and legs began to hurt again, as they tend to do, it is unlikely that the physical trauma from that would ever heal fully, but at the very least, she could be having a worse time with physical rehab. While she tried not use them too much, she did have a prescription for oxycodone, which, when she did take it, helped a lot, but… Patricia knew all too well about the consequences of overuse.

“Fuck it.”

Reaching over to her nightstand after a bit of mental debate, she picked the bottle of painkillers and twisted the cap off, incidentally catching a glimpse of her alarm clock in the process, 4:07AM.

Dumping out two pills into her hand, she popped them into her mouth before washing them down with a room temperature glass of water sitting for the past 8 hours. It didn't feel great having to rely on pain medication just to function on a basic level. If she didn't have to go to school in a few hours, she'd likely have been able to just tough the pain out. All she would have to do was just lay in bed all day, something that she had done several times before, and probably watch some Annie, and limit her movement. The pain would eventually subside a few hours later, when her body decided it was time to stop hurting. The one harsh reality of the school year starting is that she couldn't avoid having to take painkillers by simply waiting out her pain anymore, she actually had to go places and do things. And that terrified her… she didn't want to become dependent on these things. The last thing she needed was another addiction.

Trying to purge the thought from her mind, she laid back down on her pillow and shut her eyes, hoping to get some sleep before her alarm went off. Unfortunately, her body had other plans.

The thought of a secondary chemical dependency could wait, for now, she had to satisfy her primary craving.

Nicotine.

She sat up again, her painkillers just staring to kick in, and turned to the edge of her bed, grabbing the purple cane, something she has had to get used to ambulating with lately, the graveness of her injuries leaving her gait unsteady.

Slipping her feet into her slippers, she stood up. Truth be told, it was a miracle she could even walk again. Apparently, doctors had even discussed the possibility of amputation…

Not bothering with putting on her glasses, Patricia grabbed her cigarettes and her lighter with her free hand and made her way towards the back porch, careful not to wake her foster parents or her foster siblings up. Ben and Irene didn't like that Patricia smoked, but it wasn't like they could stop her from doing so.

As shocking as a soon to be 9th grader with a habit is.

In truth, Patricia understood the consequences of addiction way too well. It seemed to run in the Watson family. Her father, who she never met, is currently on year 12 of a 30 year sentence for drug trafficking, and her mother died of a heroin overdose when she was 7, which is how she ended up in the system.

Patricia picked up her first smoke when she was 9, in the home she was in before she was sent to Hilgard's. One of her foster siblings, a boy in his kid teens, offered her a cigarette to try, which she took him up on. It tasted bad at first, a lot worse than she imagined, but then she felt mellow, calm, and relaxrd. Then she felt like she looked cool and more adult doing it. She asked him for another one the next day, then for another one the day after that, and before you knew it, Patricia had an unhealthy coping mechanism, one that had increased in tandem with the amount of shit she had to cope with.

Though, she didn't smoke as much as she did now at Hilgard's, and Marie was always one to try to hold her accountable and attempt to get her to stop. Maybe it was being validated in her gender and feeling safe for once (she couldn't believe she let her guard down) that relieved some of it. While the task of acquiring would prove challenging at times, she always found a way to slip out and try to recruit an adult to buy her some. The things people would do for $5 would never cease to amaze her.

Opening the screen door, Patricia took a few tentative steps out the back door. Carefully sitting down on the back step and setting her cane against the steps next to her. She pulled a cigarette from the pack and lit it with her lighter, bringing it up to her lips and taking a drag. The first rays of the morning sun peeked over the horizon, crickets chirping, the sound of an engine in the distance came out of focus as that sweet, sweet nicotine hit her lungs.

It was so peaceful, so beautiful.

She couldn't help but wonder what Marie felt right now.

Chapter Text

“I coulda taken the bus, ya know.” Patricia said, her gaze fixed outside the window of Ben's car, watching the scenery pass by.

Ben “offered” (though in Patricia’s opinion it was more like insisted) to drive her to school. She could have gotten to school herself. She wasn't some helpless child, you know. Considering that this so-called “offer” was only extended to her, and not Logan and Harriet, there was clearly some kind of an ulterior motive on Ben's part.

“Don't worry about it,” Ben responded, his eyes glued to the road in front of him, “It's on my way to work. ‘Sides, it will give ya plenty of time to eat somethin’ when you get there.”

Patricia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that suggestion, “Who said I needed to eat somethin’? I'm not hungry.”

“Maybe you should try to eat somethin’ anyways” Ben suggested, “They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It's hard to learn on an empty stomach, ya dig?”

Of course he would pester her about eating again, right on cue. As far as she was concerned, she ate more than enough, and didn't usually feel hungry. If anything, she chalked up the concern about her naturally low appetite to her bitch of a case worker, putting some bullshit in her file about how she didn't eat enough since her birth givers barely bothered to feed her. And yeah, that did suck, but she was a child then. She's 14 now, basically an adult anyways, and would it really hurt if they trusted her to take care of herself a bit more?

“Fine.” Patricia sighed, leaning back into her seat, mostly agreeing only to get Ben off of her case. It's not like he could follow up with her once she got to school.

At the very least, it wasn't a squad car, apparently police officers weren't allowed to drive those home, not like in the movies. Ben was, however, in full uniform, meaning that her peers would likely see a cop driving her to school. Lovely. There were few things that Patricia wanted less than to be associated with the police in any way.

“That can't be your only reason you'd take the time out of your busy mornin’ to drive me across town?” Patricia asked, “Can it?”

“Can't it?”

“No.”

Ben frowned. “Do you think I have an ulterior motive for wanting to take ya’ to school, kiddo?”

“Yes.” Patricia responded bluntly, “‘else you woulda just let me take the bus.”

Ben shook his head, “Well, this is your first day of high school.” Ben said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance over to Patricia. “If you got there ‘fore the other kids, then it would be less overwhelming.”

“Really huh? You're startin’ to sound like my therapist.”

“She's a smart woman Patty. It would be nice if you started to-”

“Look,” Patricia interrupted, “I get that ya took in some emotionally damaged kid so that ya can feel better about yourself or whatever-”

“Kiddo..”

“Dontcha ‘kiddo’ me!” Patricia crossed her arms and once again resumed looking out the window. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”

“That's… I…” Ben tried to formulate a response, but quickly realized he was defeated, marking his surrender with only a heavy sigh as he once again gave his full attention to the road.

The two sat in silence for the rest of the car ride.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the school. It was rather large, as to be expected for a high school in a city of this size. The car slowly pulled into the student drop off area outside the front entrance.

“Here we are…” Ben said, Patricia already having the car door open and was already halfway out, cane in hand. “Have a good d-” he was cut off by the passanger door of the car slamming. Hard. Loud enough that the school's administration staff could probably hear it in the building.

Stepping carefully through the front entrance with her cane, Patricia was greeted by a mostly empty high school. It was fairly typical of your average midwestern high school. There was the main admission office to her left, and another office area, probably counseling or something to her right. In front of her, there were various trophies for various meaningless state championships she couldn't give a damn about next to a shuttered window. The second floor was visible above her, though it was empty as well, the only sign of other students in the building being the faint sounds of conversation coming from down the hall.

Taking her phone out of her pocket, she glanced at the time.

7:07 A.M.

Whelp. That meant she still had a good 20 minutes before the registrar's office opened and she could pick up her class schedule. Unfortunately, due to her late registration, she wasn't able to get her class schedule before the school year started.

“Might as well looka ‘round.” Patricia muttered to herself.

Heading to the source of the conversation she heard, she headed down a hall to her right, she quickly found the way that led to the school's cafeteria. Just her luck. She didn't really have an excuse not to eat now.

The cafeteria was large, as to be expected of a high school this of this size, so getting to the serving area took a good half a minute, Patrica’s footsteps echoing around the empty room. There were only about 3 people here, all sitting at a table on the far side of the room.

After grabbing a tray of food, Patricia sat down at one of the many empty tables to enjoy her regulatory nutritious breakfast consisting of a couple shitty microwaved French toast sticks that the American education system deems adequate for youths between the ages of 13-18, a banana, and a plain carton 1% low fat milk (chocolate milk isn't available until lunch, because ‘fuck you’).

It wasn't very enjoyable, in fact they probably didn't microwave the french toast sticks enough, but any food was good for her, and Patricia hasn't eaten since…

Lunch yesterday? Maybe? She couldn't really remember.

Maybe Ben had a point after all.

She used to be better about remembering to eat (mostly because Marie made her). It didn't really matter, she had periods in her childhood where she had gone longer without food.

Maybe that was why she was so short.

Probably.

It didn't matter.

Being as short as she was allowed her to pass better anyways. It's not like her stupid therapist would actually prescribe her anything other than blockers until was 16 regardless.

“Oh hey!”

“Hey, how was your summer?”

“Good to see you!”

The sounds of chatter broke Patricia's thoughts. It seemed that buses had started to arrive, as there were now significantly more than 3 people in the cafeteria. Unfortunate, as far as she was concerned. The only saving grace about this situation is that she was basically done with her breakfast anyways, the fact there were still some peaches left notwithstanding and that she had a class schedule to pick up at the office.

Grabbing her cane, Patricia carefully stood up, scowling as she noticed a few other students looking at her as she rose. “Didn'tya know it's impolite to stare!?!?” She shouted to nobody in particular, which had the unintended consequence of drawing more attention to her. Shaking her head, she continued out of the cafeteria.

Only then did she do a double take.

While walking to the exit, she could have sworn there was a familiar pair of blue eyes-

Patricia nearly jumped at the sensation of a hand on her shoulder.

“Excuse me?” a light sounding voice asked.

Patricia's turned abruptly, only to see a bookish looking girl, brunette hair in a ponytail, a little bit older than she was, probably a sophomore from the look of her. What could she possibly want?

“What?!” Patricia said in annoyance.

The girl seemed to be taken a back a bit. “Oh, I'm dearly sorry, but I couldn't help but see what happened in the cafeteria. Are you okay?”

No. No she was not. When was the last time Patricia had been okay?

“Just peachy.” Patricia rolled her eyes. “That all?”

The girl frowned. “I once again apologize, I don't like bullies very much so I wanted to make sure you-”

Patricia already started marching off “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

“I-” The girl was probably going to say something, but she didn't get the thought out.

Patricia didn't know what she expected, yet, was somehow still disappointed with the classes listed on her schedule.

It was a fairly normal class schedule. English, Math, History. The usual.

Guess she expected she'd be assigned to a fun class in place of PE. Instead, her 4th Period was “Alternative PE.” Wonderful. She has a little limp and she gets lumped in with… *those* students.

She'll probably ditch. She'd rather ditch. She'll probably need a cigarette around then anyways.

Nobody fails P.E. anyways.

The classroom was still basically empty. It made sense, seeing as there was still 5 minutes until class.

Boring. So boring. Maybe more boring than actually sitting through class. Her pencil tapping against her desk got more rapid as she tried to keep her eyelids open.

She folded her class schedule into quarters and carefully leaned down to unzip her bag to slip it inside. With the state her body was in, being careful about how she turned and bent was a must. The last thing Patricia wanted to do was end up in the hospital again.

Maybe a P.E. course that took that into account was good for her?

She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind, opting to stare at some of the posters around the room. “Be Yourself”, “Set Yourself Up For Success” “Lare Work Policy”, Pretty generic stuff you'd find anywhere, mixed in with little reminders that yes, this was an English Classroom.

Not that she would admit it, but she got a little to fixated on analysing the surroundings of the classroom, she barely even notice that students began to pour in… nor did she notice a particular student stop in front of the desk she was sitting at.

Not like anyone would really blame her. It's not like she expected her best friend when she hadn't seen in months to just, you know, waltz into her first period class.

And yet, here she was.

She didn't even recognize her at first, her entire appearance being radically different from her usual. The first thing Patricia noticed was Marie's hair, which Marie has dyed white for the past several years, seemed to be back to its natural brown, in addition to it not being tied into her twin tails. Her choice of outfit was also differed from what she usually wore. Marie normally wore clothes that were… well Patricia would describe it as “goth” or “emo”, but Marie didn't like those words, but she bought a lot of clothes from Scorching Topic (Patricia couldn't judge her too much, they do sell pretty cool Annie merch there). However, she was currently dressed much more... Blandly, if Patricia could find a word for it.

Patricia's eyes locked with Marie's for a second as Marie stood frozen, and Patricia didn't move, the two seemingly not able to do anything else, the world feeling like it stopped around them despite their classmates entering their 1st period class and taking their seats. Marie's eyes were wide, and she blinked rapidly, as if she couldn't entire believe what she was seeing.

Finally, after what felt like several minutes, Marie was the one to open her mouth forward.

“Patricia… you're-”

“Alright, to you seats class.” The teacher's voice boomed as she strode into the classroom, interrupting whatever Marie has to say. “I know it's the first day but please try to settle down as I take roll call…”

Patricia couldn't help but glance back at Marie during class. As much as she didn't want to make her uncomfortable, Patricia couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her these past several months? Why hadn't she said something, anything?

Even just one message…

Eventually, she came to the realization that her continued glances could potentially make her friend more uncomfortable, Patricia used what little self control she had to focus on not glancing back at her.

Patricia wasn't the best student on an average day, but, this? While usually at least put in some effort into paying attention… at least a little, her mind was very much elsewhere today considering the circumstances. Currently, her attention was focused on doodling in her notebook, (The school was apparently really strict on cell phone usage and, because Patricia didn't want to have to have her phone taken until the end of the day, she couldn't turn to her more usual classroom passtime that got her through the vast majority of middle school; browsing Annie: of the Stars fanfiction on Collection of Ours), and not on whatever the teacher was yapping about, which was probably Trigonometry or some other bullshit nobody uses anyways.

She was drawing a particularly gorey doodle of Annie cutting a bad guy in half when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she could see the student behind her, holding a piece of paper. She wordlessly handed it to Patricia.

It was a piece of notebook paper, folded shut with “For Patricia” written on it was extremely neat and tidy handwriting… Marie's handwriting.

Wasting no time unfolding it, Patricia looked over the contents.

“Patricia,

Please meet me at the track during lunch.

Marie”

“H-hey” Marie said weakly, holding her left arm tightly with her right. “You came…”

Patricia looked up from her phone then towards her friend “‘Course I'd come. Why were ya thinking I wouldn'ta?”

“Ummm” Marie moved the hand on her arm up and down. Patricia wasn't really one to recognize certain behaviors in others, but she tended to be more observant when it came to Marie in general, and recognized this as something she did whenever she got nervous.

“It's alright, Marie.” Patricia said before moving her cane out of the way and petting the bleacher next to her. “Why doncha have a seat, ‘kay?”

Marie stood for a second, her hand movement slowed down. She nodded, then slowly sat down next to Patricia. She looked at her for a second, then glanced away back towards the building, before breathing in a large breath.

After taking a moment, Marie reoriented her glace towards the ground, staring down at her own legs as opposed to anything of note. With a sigh, Marie finally said something. “You're not mad at me, are you?” she asked, a tinge of sadness still present in her voice.

“W-wha?” Patricia was definitely taken aback that Marie thought that she was mad at her. If anything, it was the other way around, right? “Why would I be mad?”

“I-I…” tears began to well up in Marie's eyes, “I couldn't do anything to stop-”

“You couldnta done anything!” Patricia interjected.

“But I should have Patricia.” Tears started to fall now, “I should have done something… anything…”

Patricia leaned into a little closer and put her hand on Marie's lap. “Hey, doncha worry ‘bout it, ‘kay? It wasn-”

Without warning, and with a “whoa” from Patricia, Marie pulled the other girl into a tight hug, her sobs becoming uncontrollable, “ImsosorryImsosorryIthoughtyouweremadatmeandneverwantedtoseemeagainandImsosorryImsosorryIdontwanttobealoneImsosorry.”

Patricia couldn't really respond to this, nor did she really know how, so she chose to simply return the hug wordlessly, letting Marie cry it out.

There were many questions Patricia still had, but those could at least wait until her friend had called down a bit. She smiled, happy to be reunited with her best friend at last.