[Kao – 10:02 p.m.]
I find her near the west edge of the rooftop.
Her knees pulled to her chest, head down, hair tangled with dried blood.
She looks smaller tonight.
Like she's trying to disappear into herself.
I sit beside her without asking.
She doesn't look at me.
[10:04 p.m.]
"You're sick,"
I say.
She flinches.
Silence.
I continue.
"You're burning up. You haven't eaten. You're shaking."
Still nothing.
The wind howls quietly.
[10:06 p.m.]
"Say something,"
I whisper.
Finally, she speaks.
"Why do you care?"
The words aren't sharp. Just tired.
I clench my fists.
"Because you keep saving everyone but yourself. That's stupid."
She laughs — dry and bitter.
"I'm the only one I can't save."
[10:09 p.m.]
"You're not invincible,"
I snap.
"I never said I was."
"Then stop pretending. You're not helping anyone by dying quietly."
She turns to me.
Eyes red. Fever-glossed.
"You think this is a choice?"
"You think I want to feel like I'm falling apart every second?"
"I hide it because they already look at me like I'm a threat!"
[10:11 p.m.]
I don't yell back.
Instead, I move closer.
Knees touching.
I reach out-
She jerks away.
But I keep my hand there.
Between us.
Open.
Waiting.
[10:14 p.m.]
"I've watched people break," I whisper.
"My sistes was one of them."
"I don't want to watch you break too."
Her lip quivers.
But no tears fall.
Just that awful, burning silence.
[10:16 p.m.]
She finally lets her forehead drop onto my shoulder.
It's hot - too hot.
Her breath is uneven.
I feel her body tremble under the weight of everything she's holding in.
I wrap my arm around her.
And she doesn't pull away this time.
[10:18 p.m.]
"I'm scared, Kao."
The words are barely audible.
I nod against her hair.
"So am I, I just can't show it."
[10:20 p.m.]
The rooftop hums with the night's stillness.
No zombies. No screaming. Just two girls clinging to the last pieces of themselves.
I hold her tighter.
And say the only thing I know how:
"If you're going to die…"
"…don't do it alone."
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