[ the floor's wet. the tea isn't hot anymore at least, barely even warm. he brings her in, and she leans on him, but- there's no energy in her to do anything else. ]

It's not- it's n-not supposed to- to be this way. They were supposed to- supposed to stay away. We would- we would fight this thing, f-figure out what was going on, s-stop it- go back to n-normal-

[ tears. she can only blink, which only seems to make them run faster. she sobs, terror welling up inside of her chest ]

It can't. It can't now! Even if everything goes back- they're gone, they're gone...!

[ it hurts, every word hurts- she feels like retching with the pain. fault- no, she just wishes it were her fault. there was nothing she could do about this. everything was out of her hands.

her forehead presses against his shoulder, and her hand on the counter drops, catching on his arm around her- she grabs onto it, nails digging in, the only contact she makes as she starts crying in earnest. ]