Work Text:
The night was quiet. There were no crickets left to chirp. No owls left to hoot. No mosquitos left to buzz.
Oke sat with faer legs pulled up to their face, staring down at the body before them. Oke didn’t know her name. She was middle age, around 40, with patchy black hair and darkened spots on the parts of her skin that weren’t peeling off or horribly bubbled with deformed skin. Her eyes were glazed over, vomit still on the side of her mouth from before she went to sleep. Oke picked up a nearby leaf and gently wiped the vomit off, for when the lady woke up. Oke felt bad that she couldn’t use a soft napkin, but there wasn’t much left to use. Mahiana said they had to save it for people who would stay awake. Not many people stayed awake.
The silence filled the air again as Oke pulled faer legs closer. It had been four weeks since the war had happened. The bright flashes of light still felt like they happened yesterday, though. It had made the night sky look like a sunrise, so intensely bright it hurt to look at yet so, so beautiful. But bad for Mahiana. Bombs weren’t good for Mahiana. Oke had pulled her back into their cave that night, and they curled up together and tried to ignore the sounds of explosions and distant screams. They had to stay in the cave for a few days after, too. Everything had been on fire. The whole jungle went up like a matchstick.
Oke had never seen Mahiana cry so hard the morning they first saw the fire.
Oke had seen Mahiana cry much, much harder since then.
It was too quiet for Oke all of a sudden. They grabbed a handful of leaves, rapidly shoving them in faer mouth to bring sound. The crunching was loud enough for Mahiana to come check on them. Mahiana had gone to rest, to take a break before helping the sleeping lady to bed. Oke heard her footsteps as she got closer, eventually stopping when she kneeled down next to them.
“....Oke, you should rest.” She began, voice almost too quiet to hear even in the silence. Oke looked over at her, swallowing the leaves before speaking.
“‘m wanting for her to wake up.” Was faer reply, turning back to the woman. Mahiana stiffened. “Oke she’s...Oke, she’s dead. She’s not going to wake up.” Mahiana sat down next to Oke, gently taking faer hand as she spoke. Their hand tightened around Mahiana’s, sharp nails that weren’t there a moment ago suddenly digging in. Mahiana flinched, causing the nails to release.
“She’s gonna wake up soon. She’s been asleep for a long time.” Oke held firm in their belief, pulling their hand away from Mahiana’s. The claws were gone.
Oke saw Mahiana’s face turn red for a moment, hands digging into the dirt all of a sudden. “Oke she’s dead, she’s not going to wake up!” The sudden shout seemed to shake the forest, as did the quiet sobs that followed, wracking Mahiana’s thin body. Oke needed to find her food again soon. But first, hugs. They shuffled closer to Mahiana, pulling her into a hug. Oke didn’t think the woman was dead but. Mahiana needed hugs now. Sleeping lady later.
There was quiet again. Only small sobs and sniffles echoed through the burnt hollow jungle.Oke held Mahiana close, combing faer hands through her hair as she held tightly, until she slowly began to drift to sleep.
Once Mahiana was asleep, Oke carried her to the makeshift bed, gently laying her down before going to deal with the sleeping lady. If they worked hard, the sleeping lady could be in her nice dirt bed by the time Mahiana woke up.