SL   gh...

SL   ughgh...

Around you. Only dark. Can't move. Can't breathe.

Take step... might fall. And keep falling. Forever.

Land. Please. Land.

SS   hey. you okay?

Hurts. Your cheek.

SS   sheesh just checking!

SS   its not gonna leave a mark or nothing.

SL   hgh...

Blink, blink. Feel. On skin... clothes. Beneath... rumbling. Above... warm.

Light? Sun?

SS   earth to star.

SS   come in star. align your space junk with me and return to the planet.

SS   mission... landing... crew. over.

Eyes. Who... sister? Looking at you. Bad?

SS   stels.

Easier when... dark.

SS   okay baby needs their naptime then.

SS   konk out on me or whatever.

SS   if the driver screws us and crashes im not waking you up.

SS   thatll be it.

SS   youll never know how my explanation ended.

SL   ...

Cheek again. Hand.

SL   awake.

SS   yeah now you are.

SL   s... sorry.

SS   shut up?

SS   sorry. when youre like that.

SS   yeah i bet youre sorry.

Soft. Not bad. Safe.

Safe here.

SL   how. long?

SS   huh?

SS   well if youre asking it felt like a million years of disrespect.

SS   but it was just over 10 minutes.

SS   a real asshole wouldve janked you awake but im not that kinda guy.

SS   snrk. lucky you have me.

SL   ...

Sit up. Weight strange... lean on her, now.

SS   geez...

SS   can the explanation. well get back to it.

SS   just stay like that.

SS   cant have you going limp during the concert.

SL   con. cert.

SS   i mean maybe we could workshop it.

SS   thatd be a helluva act. one of the band members just keeling over.

SS   freak everyone out. throw you into the crowd and surf the corpse.

SS   might be fun.

What?

SL   th....

SS   thank you susie.

SS   not all at once. sound it out.

SL   th-think. i. c-cant.

SL   go. back. go... back...!

Can't fall. Grab something. Anything.

SS   whoa. hey.

SS   breathe stels. not so hard or youll rip something again.

SS   want me to find your sticks?

SS   they might be in the trunk. but i can reach.

SL   n... not. enough.

SL   ground. need. ground.

SS   were on the ground!

SS   its moving... but the floors right here!

SL   please. stop. all... stop...!

SS   ...

SS   dammit...

SS   here! bring it in.

Grab... you.

SS   you big baby.

Soft. Rough. Safe?

SS   you need me to rock you?

SS   fuck it. ill rock you. ill rock you so hard stels.

SS   enough to blend up whatevers punching you in the brain.

SL   ...

SL   don't. let. go.

Closer.

SS   oh yeah.

SS   im imagining all the ways i could punt you from the van right now.

SS   roll you right back to the middle a nowhere.

SS   sounds like something a rockett would do huh?

SS   blast off without a care in the world.

Head. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts.

SL   don't...

SL   without... me.

Something feels cool. A hand. Feeling your hair. Brushing it.

SS   im kidding idiot.

SS   i - we wouldnt do that to you stels.

SS   whatever we pick up? theyre in this shit for life.

SS   buckle in.

SS   take a twisted up pipe and strap you to your seat.

SS   no ones getting out.

SS   ...

SS   picking up scragglers in the vastness of space...

SS   keeping them hostage in our own hunk of rock and metal.

SS   blasting beats and performing on different planets.

SS   okay pick up your sketchbook. weve got an album here.

SL   hah.

Smile. Cough.

SL   go... there... you.

SS   through space ymean?

SL   yeah.

SS   pfft. you were just freaking out about the ground.

SS   space would kick your ass.

SL   with. you.

SL   not. so...

Empty.

So empty, there. Big, bigger than here. Bigger than... everything.

.

..

...

..

...

They rest there, in the d█rkness.

Deities. █ot all of them. Only those █ubtracted from Light.

They █atch from afar. To them, ev█ry death is a grain of sand. To move it back towards the wo█ld of the living would be as effortless as drawing breath.

███ir forms are incomprehensible; their judgment is absolute.

Sleep brings their █ompany.

Few remember. But you do. And the memory etches itself into you, burning and bruising.

Hurts. All hurts.

When did it begin?

It must've been from before.

Before you were picked up.

Before you became a st█r, a being of meta█ alongside rock.

Meta█.

It's in you█ heart, your hands. Your head.

It k█eps the skin █ogether.

H█rts. Your heart jolting to life.

But without it, you█ body would wither. Inside the ski█, a pile of ash and stardust.

Inside.

I've been with you, ██████. Even before.

Even when your body, your mind, fights me.

But it ██jects ██. You have to let █e in completely.

█ring m█ back to the...

...

You must be so tired. I will rest, so you may rest your weary head as well.

I will awaken again.

You'll know.

...

..

...

..

.

SS   gross. baby drool.

...

SS   means its a good dream at least right?

...

SS   guess thats all you can hope for.

SS   ...

SS   its gonna suck.

SS   yknow. we should at least... try to see a doctor once youre -

No!

SS   pfah! what the -

SS   hey! stop thrashing!

SS   it was just an idea okay? settle down!

No...

SS   hoo. god.

SS   obviously i trust joan and the people she got.

SS   and youre... better. thats for sure.

SS   but sometimes you need a damn professional!

SS   theres only so much i can watch you just...

SS   twist in all the wrong ways.

SS   if it turns out i couldve done something... ill never forgive you.

SS   you got that? ill never let you see the end of it.

It hurts. Sometimes dull, but always hurts.

SS   people hide stuff cause they think others cant handle it.

SS   but ill handle it.

SS   whatever youve got? ill deal with it. as much as i can.

SS   as long as you let me.

SL   ...

SL   su... sie.

SS   just close your eyes.

SS   let it pass already.

Dark. One day, return to earth.