Page 48 of So Thirsty

What are we now?

“Naomi…”

“What?” she says, yawning. Her breath is so bad, we both wince. “Yikes.”

It smells like rot.

“Do you remember what happened last night?”

She turns over and smashes her face into her pillow. “Did we drop acid?”

“No. We got mauled by a skeleton man and then attacked by vampires.”

A minute goes by in silence. Then she lifts her head, opens one eye, and says, “That sucks.”

“Are you being quippy right now?”

“The pun wasn’t intentional, but…” She sighs and flips onto her back, stares up at the ceiling. We’re both quiet for a long time. “Are you sure we didn’t drop acid?”

“Yes,” I say, with such confidence that I start to doubt myself.

“Fuck me,” she says. “Fuck! A shared delusion, then. Maybe?”

“We need to leave,” I say. “I don’t know where they are, but…”

She hugs her knees to her chest and pulls a face.

“What?” I ask.

“I’m thirsty.”

“Okay…?”

“I’m thirsty,” she repeats.

“We can get you some water….”

“Sloane. I’m not thirsty for water.”

My hand comes to my throat, and I start pinching at my skin as I realize what she’s telling me. As I come to the grim understanding. “Right.”

“Right.”

It’s easy to forget that the brave aren’t immune to fear. There’s nothing more terrifying than sitting across from the bravest person you know and watching fear slowly take them, drag them under, bully them, break them until they’re as scared as the rest of us.

“I don’t know if leaving is the best idea,” she says.

“Come again?”

“Whatever happened last night, we don’t understand it. We need answers. They’re the only ones who can give them to us.”

“Naomi. They’re monsters. Literally.”

She gets out of bed and scoops her jacket off the floor, puts it on. It’s got bloodstains on the collar. “We don’t know that for sure. Not yet.”

She opens the door to the bedroom and marches out into the hall.

“This is a nightmare,” I say to myself. “This is an actual living nightmare.”