I try to relax and forget about my parents, but as soon as I close my eyes my phone dings. I look at it, but before I see the notification the useless hunk of technology shuts off due to low battery. Are you kidding me? I didn’t even use the stupid thing. Trying to turn it back on, I only see the symbol for low battery flashing, and sigh. I really hope that it isn’t anything urgent, because we’re not even in the living sector. I do believe, though, that this sector is for shopping, so hopefully there’s a shop that’ll let me use their outlet. I get up, exiting through the doors of the elevator before looking behind me to see Daisy sleeping. I guess I’m not the only one who really needs a break, but I probably shouldn’t leave her alone.

“Daisy. Daisy!” I try shaking her awake, but turns out she’s as heavy of a sleeper as they come, so unless she decides to wake up, I have no chance of getting her up.

Going back before the doors close, I lean down and swing her arm over my shoulder, then haul her up and step out of the lift. Or, at least, that was the plan. As soon as I take her entire weight onto my back, my legs collapse and we both slide to the ground. I guess I’m not yet recovered either.

***********

A couple minutes later I’m out of breath and finally have Daisy lying stably on my back. I take a step, and luckily my legs don’t turn into noodles again. Breathing a sigh of relief, I head on over to a nearby store and, watching the automatic doors whoosh open, thank the Engines for their foresight. Not that they would have predicted this exact situation, that would be plain creepy. Shaking my head to get rid of any other weird thoughts, I head over to a nearby bench and slide Daisy off my back, then straighten up and look around the store. I hadn’t bothered paying attention to which one I was entering before, probably because I really don’t give a shit about anything when my vision is blurry from the sweat dripping into my eyes. Hey, I had to carry her for over 10 minutes. Plus, I just got done running from a murderer. I’m hungry and weak.

The shop turns out to be a Halloween-themed store, with various trinkets, costumes, and oddly enough, an entire wall full of floral-scented candles. There isn’t anyone at the checkout desk, so I peek behind it and see an outlet. I plug in my phone, and when the charging screen pops up my shoulders drop in relief. I hadn’t even realized how tense I was. Maybe I’ll also get one of those candles.

While I’m waiting for my phone to charge I head back over to Daisy to see her eyes flutter open. She sits up and looks around, and the first line that comes out of her mouth is “What the actual fuck?”

I snort, seeing that she had started to drool and there was a line going down her chin. I tap my own chin, and she blushes furiously, then starts wiping at the wrong side. Since I love ruining little moments like this, I reach over, grab a chuck of her long hair, then start wiping the drool off with it.

“Ewww! Get away from me!” She makes a face in complete disgust and tugs her hair from my grasp.

“Hey, I was just trying to help.”

“Yeah right. So, where exactly are we?”

I grin and reply, “Can’t you tell? I thought you went here on the regular.”

“Ha ha, very funny. Wait, is this that creepy witch store that no one shops at?”

“Except you? Yeah, it’s nearest to the elevator and you weren’t waking up, so I carried you here.”

She raises her eyebrows, looks me up and down, and repeats back to me, “You, the scrawny little kid, carried me, the full-grown woman, here? Looks like someone didn’t want to be left alone.”

It’s now my turn to blush, but instead of replying I spin around and head back to my phone. Finally, it’s charged enough so I can turn it on. I look at my messages and start laughing, throwing my head back.

“What’s so funny now?”

“Just…look.” I hold the phone up.

She gets up and walks over, then crouches down next to me and peers at the screen, reading it aloud.

“It’s from your parents, it says… hi honey, we hope you didn’t miss us, we thought we would leave you and Daisy alone for a bit and headed off to the spa. Hope you’re not mad!”

Daisy sits back on her heels and blinks in shock, then slowly says, “So…are you saying…that we went through all of that for nothing?”

I laugh even harder, clutching my stomach at the sight of her face. She sticks out her tongue at me, then starts giggling, then laughing right alongside me, all the tension released from her face and body.

I continue laughing, but inside I still feel uneasy. This doesn’t explain everything. Are we just going to forget everything that happened on layer 1? I glance over at Daisy and see she’s practically glowing. Maybe, for both of our sakes, I shouldn’t bring it up?

Maybe I should forget it too?