It was probably not the smartest thing to return to her apartment, but heck, Maya was out of options. 

To her fortune, the Draugr failed to close the door, thanks to the old lock body that tended to not close on its own, so Maya always had to use her keys to double lock it. 

Unfortunately, Maya had to haul Val’s body up the stairs, like she did the first time. The Valkyrie was rasping for air and barely had the motor functions to take a step. 

Maya worked her way up the stairs and plopped the Valkyrie down on her bed and not the couch, figuring she needed more rest than that old thing could give her. 

“Next time,” Maya huffed. “I’ll buy an apartment on the ground floor. I. Do. NOT. Care!” She plopped herself down next to Val, waving herself some air. 

She was overheating, tired and dirty, but looking over at Val, she couldn’t relax until she helped her. 

“Ok, what did my friend say last time? Don’t use the inhaler more than you need to, and… and, AH, hot milk!” 

Contrary to the common belief, an inhaler was not a panacea to fix all the asthma attacks you suffer throughout the day—that was a TV myth, which Maya also believed until proven otherwise. 

She never had asthma before, but she heard from her friend that using it once was fine, but twice send you to Jitter Town. Something which Maya did not wish for Val, who was beyond exhaustion. 

Instead, her friend told her that lying down and drinking either water or milk—she preferred the latter—were also helpful while hoping it got better or went away on its own. 

If it didn’t, she would use her inhaler again or see a doctor. 

Anyway, back to the topic. Maya warmed up the milk in her microwave and returned to Val while—lo-and-behold—she forgot about the glass shards on the floor! 

Barefooted on one side, Maya accidentally stepped on one and cried out loudly, spilling half of the hot milk on the ground. 

“Maya?” she heard Val cough from the bedroom. “Something. Happened?”

Maya forced down a whimper and bit the inner side of her cheek. “No,” she cried. “I’m fine. I slipped and strained my thigh, haha.” 

The laugh was forced and strained, just like her smile as she tried to keep her composure for her. Val didn’t buy it for one second but could barely breathe to say much. 

“Here’s your mug.” Maya handed her the milk, her hand jittering and her forehead sweating. “Watch out; it’s hot. Take short sips and lean back.” 

“Where. Will you. Be going?” Asked Val, as Maya barely hid her limp. 

“Cleaning up the mess that zombie did. See you later.” 

Closing her bedroom door and the living room door, which was situated between it and the corridor, Maya leaned against the wall and slid down. She cried and inspected her foot. 

An ugly long shard had embedded itself into the sole with many smaller ones in closed proximity. Maya dreaded the idea of removing them. The pain was already too much. 

Wrapping some pieces of cloth around it and putting on a new pair of house shoes, Maya cleaned her way free from the shards and into the bathroom. 

Half of the glass door was gone. Too many shards littered the ground. It took Maya a good half an hour to clean everything while she endured the pain that radiated from her foot and made its way up her leg. 

Taking out the first aid kit, Maya sat on the closed seat of her toilet, unwrapping the cloth. She almost threw up and winced—unable to find the words to describe the wound without falling sick.

“This can’t be that bad. Just have to pull through- AH!” Maya yelped and dropped the tweezers. “I can’t do that. It hurts.” 

There was a slight difference between getting a papercut or pulling shards out of your foot's soft flesh. Like in most books, Maya would read how the character would simply tough it out, grunt and pull the shards out as if it was just another day of slaying dragons.

For Maya, though, it was not. It hurt tremendously. She would rather get pinched by her brother until she got a bruise than do this—it would also hurt far less. 

Maya tried again and only managed to get three grain-sized shards out before she threw the tweezers against the wall and sobbed.

“I’m not special. Just ordinary and useless. I can’t fight undead Vikings or even pull some stupid glass out of my damn foot!” Maya kicked the laundry bin and yelped, hitting her toe and nail. “Stupid, stupid, stupid. She’s better off without me-” 

“Maya?”