The Time Hopper

Safest Place On Earth

I couldn't sleep. Morgan had retired to her room after making Sadie comfortable and the sofa and giving me some cushions and blankets so I could sleep on the floor. It wasn't bad; I had certainly slept in worse places. It was Sadie that was keeping me awake. I was used to sleeping near her, but she was usually such a restless sleeper. In her deepest hours, she would still toss and turn like she was fighting off the blankets, muttering in a lot of different languages that she didn't know when she was awake. Now, I was finding the silence eerie. 

After a while, I stopped even trying to sleep, sitting up and leaning on the sofa so I could watch over her. Her breathing was steady, but her face was so still and pale she looked like a corpse. I blinked back tears, reaching up and brushing a few red curls away from her forehead. 

"Please be okay." I begged her quietly, stroking her hair. She didn't react, though I wasn't trying to wake her anyway. After all, for as long as she slept, I could keep on foolishly hoping that she would wake up and be back to normal. I didn't know what to do if she wasn't. I suppose the best thing to do would be to take her to Mr Consequences, see if he could put her right, but how on earth would we reach up? Could Sadie use her powers when she was in such a state? 

It was a long way to the valley from here if she couldn't, and I doubted we would have anyone willing to help us. Omega had just lost his daughter, if not all his friends, and though I knew he survived somehow I doubted we would be a welcome presence right now. I felt as though I had already reached the limit of the help Morgan would offer, and we hadn't been able to retrieve Sadie's bag that had our money in it, only her notebook. 

"We'll figure it out, so long as you come back to me." I muttered. 

At some point, I fell asleep, slumped against the sofa, with one hand holding onto Sadie's. I only drifted off for a few hours, waking back up when the sun rose and Morgan started bustling around the kitchen. I groaned as I sat up, rolling my stiff neck and trying to massage some feeling back into my hand. 

"Just a friend, eh?" Morgan asked me. She was rummaging through her cupboards with a frown. 

"If you want to believe she's more to me, go ahead. But we really are just friends. She's the only friend I have." Morgan grunted in response. 

"That's a bit sad, if I'm honest, Riley. Anyway, I need to go out and shop because you're eating me out of house and home and she won't help with that. Behave yourself." She snapped, grabbing her purse and storming out. I felt bad for taking so much, but I didn't have any money to give her. All I could do was try to get Sadie back on her feet so we could leave. 

Once she was gone, I returned to Sadie's side, gently trying to shake her awake. I was used to jabbing her shoulder and then jumping away, because she bolted awake and we'd cracked our heads together more than once, but there was none of that today. Slowly, she stirred, eyes peeling open, bloodshot and tired. She wasn't even looking at me, her emerald gaze slid right off of me and onto the ceiling. 

"Hey, Sadie, can you hear me? It's me, it's Riley. You're safe now." I murmured, gently turning her face towards me. Her eyes slowly landed on my face, blank for a few moments before recognition sparked. 

"Riley?" She whispered hoarsely, slurring her words. I nodded, grinning from ear to ear. 

"The one and only. I'm so glad you're awake, how are you feeling?" I asked her as she looked around the cottage in confusion. 

"Fuzzy. Where?" She asked in return, squeezing her eyes closed for a moment and shaking her head, like she was trying to clear the fog from her mind. 

"Her name is Morgan, she gave me a place to stay while I was trying to figure out how to get you back. She's a friend." I reassured her. Sadie tried to sit up, barely able to lift her own head before she fell back onto the cushions with a groan. "Here, let me help." I stacked cushions behind her and helped her sit up and relax against the sofa arm. Though I was relieved she was alright, there was something wrong. I had never seen her so weak.