Depression

"It's strange, our relationship to the readers. Without them we die, because we only really live in their imagination. Yet we never get to meet them, do we? They only know us, we don't know them." Molly closed her eyes after her philosophical musings and absorbed the aesthetic of the moment silently for a while.

When she spoke again it surprised you. "I sometimes wish they would ignore us. If only they left, maybe our author would go and we could at last be free. Free from the confines of existence, of life, of them."

You saw a tear roll down her cheek as she continued. "I feel so very tired. So very, very tired of living alone like this. Forever waiting for the day I can finally be done with being alive."

You searched your mind for things to comfort her, but you couldn't find much of anything. Did the request wear off? You weren't sure. "You have me, you're not completely alone."

She looked at you. "You're right, but you don't know me, you're only with me physically. You're not with me beyond that."

There was no discussion on whether Molly would sleep with you or not. She didn't care enough to try to escape the determination that held her in place, and you couldn't bring yourself to argue with her. You hoped you weren't the cause of her sudden onslaught of depression but suspected you must be. What could you do?

You laid as still as you could when she crawled under your covers and got comfortable, facing away from you. And neither of you spoke for a while.

You wished you could enjoy the moment of thunder rolling past and a warm body resting next to you, but you just couldn't. Not with everything Molly had told you. You couldn't sleep either, so minutes slowly turned into an hour, and neither you nor Molly moved.

You figured she'd probably fallen asleep, and you were glad. She really needed it. There was no way you were going to be able to sleep here though. You slowly and as quietly as you could got out from under the covers to leave so you could make a bed somewhere else.

Then, the window grew really bright for a second. "Wha-?"

CRACKSHHHBOOOOOOMMMMMMMGMMBMMMMGHVNMMMMMMMMnmmmmm..

"Shit..." You muttered under your breath and looked at Molly, who looked back at you. Damnit thunder why'd ya have to strike so close right now!

"Why are you leaving?" She asked, her voice indicative that she was very tired.

"Just, uhh..g-grabbing some water, that's all!" You lied.

She exhaled slowly. "You're a terrible liar, you know? If you hate me so much just say it." then pulled the blanket back halfway up her face and shifted to get comfortable.

"I...I don't hate you Molly, really. I just can't sleep with a girl I barely know like this, least of all when she's facing away from me like you are and I don't really understand what she's going through."

Molly's eyes watched you carefully. "I'm sorry, Max. Please come back."

You hesitated and she slid back towards the other side of the bed to make room.

You gulped and nodded. "Alright Molly."

You slid under the covers with her and at first tried facing her, but her eyes never closed and she didn't say a word. "Sorry..." You whispered and tried to turn over to face the other way, but her arm was faster and caught you, pulling you back. "Stay."

You tried closing your eyes and acting like you were asleep so she would go to sleep, but every time you thought it had been enough time and looked, she was still watching you. "You're not asleep, look I can really just sleep downstairs, it's not a big deal at all."

"I'm sorry, don't go. What do you want me to do?" She whispered.

"Nothing..I just can't sleep here and...I mean yesterday was kind of stressful, tomorrow probably will be too. We need sleep."

She shook her head. "No."

You sighed. "I don't suppose you have a counterargument you're hiding under those covers?"

"Well if you're talking about my body-"

"No! No that's not what I meant at all, here I'll stay, can I just turn over?"

She looked at you seriously as if considering your request carefully, then nodded very slightly.

You sighed and rolled over as far away from her as you could without falling off the bed. Unfortunately that wasn't very far.

She seemed to disagree though, and slid closer, pressing herself into your back.

"M-molly can you not..?"

"Mm-mm." She refused.

How did I get myself into this position? You thought.