Crossing Desires

Cheryl shivered, unable to reply as Katie twisted the blade, spotting her weakness and exploiting it in an instant.

“Don't you just hate it? Her having to nurse me, at my beck-and-call whenever I need a damn thing? A bit hard to court someone who’s too busy with suicide watch-duty. You know, most girlfriends get to spend more than just an hour-or-so a day with each other.”

“…She’s a very kind person.” Cheryl stood her ground, brow furrowing. “I like her for that.”

“You know you don’t have much time left.”

Second flinch. Now Cheryl was on the defensive.

“We’re past midnight. It’s already the ninth of May. You know it won’t be long now. The man who told us about the moon’s descent let it known that it’d be around now when things go dark. You might have a month. You can’t afford to waste your time on me, Cheryl. You can’t afford for Frankie to waste her time on me.”

The girl felt insulted that this woman would even think she’d take that as a reason to let her go, and it was clear on her face. But she didn’t have an argument to go up against Katie with. She was right, even if Cheryl didn’t want to hear it. The gunslinger bit her lip, considering taking the chance to unholster a scream. She didn’t like this situation. She was losing. She was afraid.

The scariest part was, she didn’t take the chance when she had it.

“You won’t have to have Frankie worrying about me anymore. You can have her all to yourself.”

Cheryl started to cry, torn in half by the two equally ugly sides of herself.

“Don’t you respect yourself enough to at least take that? You might not be used to it, but it’s all you can get.”

On one end, she could go back to how things were right now… Frankie as her part-time lover, Katie safe and sound. But to do that, she’d have to lie to herself. Because that wasn’t what she wanted.

She wanted Frankie to be with her, no strings attached. She wanted to finally experience a real relationship, in what little time she still had on Earth.

And all she had to do to get that was let the sneaking girl in front of her sneak away.

She almost wanted to throw up, how easy it was to make that choice.

“P-please tell me you won’t kill yourself.”

Katie smiled in response to the desperate girl’s submission.

“Why would I do that? I’ve got everything I want, now. Thanks to you.”

She hugged the empty vessel before she promptly skipped out the door.