Chapter Text
It was dark. She couldn’t see the water below. The rain was cold, puddling around her legs. The cold of the metal railing seeped into her palm. The noise of the raindrops had faded to static a while ago. She didn’t know how long she had been out here, just that it felt like years. Her hands were mostly numb. The static was getting louder. She let her grip loosen, leaning back on the railing. Why was she still waiting? What was she waiting for? Was she waiting for Dogday to go looking for her? She knew he wasn’t going to. She’d waited until she was sure her brother was asleep to leave. Would he have noticed, even if he was awake? Would he have cared to ask where she was going?
The static was getting louder. Should it be getting louder? There didn’t seem to be any more rain than before. It didn’t matter. She let go of the railing, sitting perfectly still on the edge. She still couldn’t see the water below, only her feet dangling over the darkness. She started to lean forward, just a little, looking down into the abyss below her. She felt cold. She couldn’t feel her hands anymore. The static was getting louder. She leaned forward. She leaned forwa-
She felt a hand on her shoulder. She froze, hoping it was just her imagination. It didn’t disappear.
“Hey, are you alright?” The voice was quiet and shaky, but the hand on her shoulder stayed firmly in place.
Despite herself, she let out a short laugh, “I think you already know the answer to that question…”
The voice laughed, and she felt the hand on her shoulder adjust slightly as the stranger sat down next to her.
Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.
“Do you want to talk about it?” their voice was still shaking, but less than before.
“…I don’t know what there is to talk about,” she sighed, “…I don’t even have a good reason to be here, I just… didn’t know what else to do.”
“O-oh. I… I’m sorry…” their voice faltered, barely carrying over the sound of the rain, “I don’t know what else to say…”
“It’s fine…” she mumbled, “I’m sorry…”
“You’re sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry I’ve dragged you away from whatever you were doing before and forced you to help me…”
“It’s fine, I’d rather be helping you than doing what I’d been planning to.”
She couldn’t tell if they were lying, but it seemed like anything worth going out into the rain this late at night would have been more important than this.
“Let’s get you out of the cold, we don’t want you to get sick,” they said, slowly standing up, and offering her a hand.
“Rain doesn’t actually make people sick, that’s a myth,” she pointed out, slowly grabbing the railing.
“Yeah, but being very cold definitely makes people more likely to catch something,” they said, continuing to hold their hand out for her.
“Fine…” she sighed, taking their hand and letting them help her back to the safe side of the railing.
"…what do I do now?"