Noelle opened her eyes, looking straight ahead, unfocused. Why was her mother protecting Kris? What was she hiding from her daughter yet again? What was so important that she'd let Kris get away with this? But the way her mother looked at her... Like for some reason, this was inevitable, like Noelle already knew the answer to all her questions. Her vision slowly came into focus, the blur of the back wall obscured by rusty metal wires, extending to the floor. The cage stood firmly in front of her.
Did she bring it here? To watch over it? To make sure it didn't escape? Her memories eluded her, but somehow, she wasn't worried. All her anxieties and pain had faded away, as she could not afford to feel anything anymore. Noelle looked directly at the SOUL, whispering to it. "Kris... warned me about you." The object remained completely still, disregarding any external stimuli. "They talked about how horrible you were. How you ruined their life."
She slowly moved off the bed, kneeling before the cage and staring the SOUL with glazed over eyes. "Then, they stopped. Kris... Kris was happy. With Susie, w-with me, with... you." Her fingers moved to open the bent latch, and the cage slowly swung open. "I wanted to ask them. I wanted to ask if you changed. But I... I couldn't" She reached in with her hand, and the SOUL followed, hovering perfectly above her palm, like a toy. "Could you? Could you feel anything at all?" She felt the water on her furred hand get colder, the pain of the burn coming back with new strength. Noelle closed her eyes, she could barely feel her hand anymore, her body detaching from the world around her.
A surreal sense of relief washed over her, like a tall glass slowly filling up from the bottom, compelling her to speak. Her mind centered itself on the past, clinging to its nostalgic comforts, "I remember how we used to play together, fighting for the chair to sit at my computer, before Dess would push Kris to the bed. I-I spent weeks recreating the town in every game I could, building my copies of my friends, our houses..." Hints of a smile appeared in the corners of her lips, as if she was reminiscing with an old friend. "Fah, Kris would even sneak into other people's homes just so I could make an 'accurate map'..."
Despite the cold seeping into her fur, the warmth of the object began to grow strong enough for her to feel it on her wrists. "Kris used to sneak into my room to change their characters. Their... copies. Whatever the game was, they made their character match mine, changed others so they would step out of the way. So we would...
...always be together."
The object nestled itself in her palm as Noelle continued, her breathless whispers turning into a quiet voice. "Then, Mom... she— she said we were clogging up the computer with old games a-and malware. That— That we needed to pick something and stick with it." Suddenly, she began to feel the bite of the cold on her fingertips. "I deleted most of my games, and my save files. By the time I realized what I had done, it... it was too late. I... fah- I cried to much. I thought I had deleted the real Kris, too! D-Dess just laughed, and Mom looked so confused when I ran up to Kris, crying, a-apologizing for 'killing' them..."
The chill made her fingers curl inward, gently touching the SOUL, though it continued to luminesce with a warm glow. "But Kris just... Kris started walking around the room l-like a robot, babbling about 'w-waiting for commands', before they walked up to me a-and... hugged me."
Her fingers continued to curl, deliberately now, gently grasping the object with her hand. Her breathing wavered as frost began to cover her fur. "I... I've lost Kris so many times. I can't..."
Suddenly, she closed her hand shut, the layer of frost falling to the ground as she felt her fingers aching from the pain, which only made her grip tighter. Rays of light burned against her eyelids as she struggled to speak. "I-I won't... I won't lose Kris e-ever again."
Noelle opened her eyes and looked down. She was holding onto thin air, while the SOUL idly floated just above her fingers. Her memories retreated once more, and she couldn't feel any pain, nor heat, nor cold. Her hands were completely dry.
Though her body didn't ache, she felt a different kind of pain swell up in her chest, the kind that spreads to your feet and up to your throat, cutting off the world's warmth like a guillotine. Noelle felt her fingers relax as she fell onto her side, clutching her arm, and sobbing quietly. "I-I'm sorry, Kris. W-Whatever she— whatever I did, I'm..."
Noelle choked, covering her face with her arms and wiping away the tears with her sleeves. "I don't care about what they did. I-I don't care why they did it. Just, please, please...
Let Kris be alright."
Quiet whimpers filled the silent room, as a whirlwind of emotions overwhelmed Noelle. She couldn't think, she could barely breathe, her mind cycling on the last time they saw Kris, replaying it over and over again, trying to find her fault, as if it would bring her that long sought after comfort.
A gentle warmth touched her shoulder, as if the rising sun's beams had fallen on her through a window, spreading to her hand and her back.
Everything is perfect.
Thousands of tiny whispers built up to a divine crescendo, silencing her sobs, as tendrils of warmth branched off around her.
Everything is fine.
Noelle fell silent, embracing the ephemeral presence that silenced her thoughts.
I worry about nothing.
Noelle tried to open her eyes, but felt her consciousness slip away, counting down the seconds on the operating table, silently drifting off to sleep.
Because nothing's on my mind.
In a flash, Noelle felt someone's hand press down on her shoulder. She shot up, only to bump her antlers straight into Susie's forehead.
"Hey— Hey!" Susie yelled out, rubbing her head with a dumb grin, "God— This is just gonna keep happening, huh?"
Noelle blinked as the world came into focus. She was in Susie's bed, covered with her blanket. The SOUL was still inside the cage on the floor, just where she had left it. Susie squinted, worried after receiving no reply. "...Noelle? Are you... good?"
Noelle twitched, as if shaken awake for the second time. "Y-Yeah!! I'm— I'm alright, I think I just..." She pulled her arms up to rub her eyes, when the damp cloth of her sleeves touched her face, still stained with cold tears.
"I just... had a bad dream."
