Reflections of Mist

The here and now

"Nyx?"

"Yeah?"

"Alysha... I met a girl, called Alysha. She looked like you. Alysha's the girl that... Was in your head, right?  But... She wasn't in your head... Or maybe she was... Am I in your head as well then? Is that what this is..."

Nyx could see her friend becoming more and more anxious, even panicky, and quickly pulled her close to calm her again.
"Ssh. Don't work yourself up again. Please, just don't. I can't handle you being so... Yeah. I need you to hang on. Just... Don't think about it to hard, whether or not this is real, a hallucination or an alternate plane of existence. This is none of those, because we don't know it's any of those. This is the here and now. That's all it is, and that's what we have to deal with. So deal. With. It."

Steely grey met summery blue, as Nyx gazed into Maddie's scared eyes, who felt as if she were staring directly into her soul.

Maddie's lip trembled slightly, but the tears ceased.
She nodded slowly. "Yes. Right. I see. This. Just this. This is real. Oh, God. It's real."

"No, do not start freaking out again. No. Just no."

"I won't. I'm not. Well, I am. But I'm... Fine. I think I'm actually fine."

Nyx chuckled. "Good, cause if you're not, I'm not going to be. Edge of a thread, just like you, to be honest. But I'm clinging on. Hey, can you stand?"

"Nope." Maddie said, popping the 'p' cheerily. "She commented on that too. He, I think, just got annoyed."

"That would be the same 'he' you were scared of, right? Who exactly was that?" Nyx questioned, although her mind told her only one possible answer.

"Doesn't matter." Maddie dismissed quietly. "Hey, think you could help me try stand up?"