Lie to me

Emmy took a deep breath, then eased open the bedroom door. Luckily, the room’s occupant wasn’t a light sleeper, so she hardly stirred as Emmy entered and closed the door behind her.

Emmy had wandered this room enough times during the day to know where the floor creaked and groaned, so it was easy enough to cross the room with hardly a sound. Once she reached the window, Emmy quietly pulled it open, then stuck her head out.

The walls that surrounded the city towered above her, just across the road. If Emmy got enough momentum, she could jump the gap, climb the rest of the way, and disappear into the night before anybody would know she was gone. She would be free again.

The sleeping girl shifted and mumbled in her sleep, and Emmy pulled herself back into the room with a muffled gasp. But the girl stayed fast asleep and blissfully unaware of Emmy mere feet away from her.

Yes, Emmy could run and be free. If it weren’t for Sapphire.

Sapphire, who had been the one to find Emmy when she’d been injured. Sapphire, who’d taken one look at a strange girl in the middle of nowhere and helped her. Sapphire, who kept going above and beyond for Emmy, making sure she was cared for and able to communicate through temporarily losing her voice.

Emmy practically owed the girl her life by this point.

But it wasn’t just the thought of how much she owed Sapphire that kept Emmy from running. Somehow, during the weeks that Emmy had been recovering, Sapphire had wormed her way under Emmy’s skin.

It definitely hadn’t been easy for either of them. Emmy, waking up among strangers after she was sure she had died, had lashed out easily. She didn’t trust anybody in these walled cities, even if they had saved her life. And bright, bubbly Sapphire unfortunately bore the brunt of those attacks when her curiosity drew her back to Emmy.

But Sapphire hadn’t given up, and eventually Emmy grew to look forward to Sapphire’s visits. The downside was that now she couldn’t think about going home without also thinking about how she’d be leaving Sapphire behind. Emmy knew that she could never ask Sapphire to come with her; Sapphire wouldn’t last two days outside the walls that had protected her for her entire life. And on the other side of the same coin, Emmy would never be content within these walls, always craving the freedom she’d grown up with.

Which lead her to these nights, sneaking into Sapphire’s room with the view of the wall, and daydreaming about the choice she had to make. Whether to leave Sapphire behind and run back to the place she called home, or give up her freedom for a girl with bright eyes and sweet laughter.

A bird suddenly rustled its wings nearby, startling Emmy out of her thoughts. She yanked her upper body back into the room, accidentally bumping into a dresser in her haste to get back inside.

“Em?” Sapphire sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing? Is everything alright?”

Emmy let out a long breath, her racing heart slowing as she realized she’d overreacted. She nodded in response to the second question.

“Why are you still up?” Sapphire asked. Emmy gave her a deadpan stare, and Sapphire let out a little laugh. “Oh, right, nocturnal. When do you ever sleep?”

Emmy rolled her eyes, closing the space between them to push Sapphire back down in bed and crouch by her side.

“Hey.” Sapphire squirmed, trying to sit back up again. “You’re avoiding the question Em.”

“If I go to sleep right now, will you go back to bed?” Emmy’s voice wasn’t the same since the accident that nearly took her life, and she hated how her voice seemed to grate at the night silence now. But some things she couldn’t get across with just a nod or a shift in expression, plus she couldn’t deny liking the way Sapphire’s eyes practically lit up whenever she spoke.

“Depends.” Sapphire managed to wiggle out of Emmy’s grip and sat up to face her again. “How will I know you actually sleep?” 

Emmy gave Sapphire a pleading look.

Sapphire shook her head. “Not gonna work. I need proof Emmy.”

“Fine.” Emmy stood again, crossing the room to close the window before returning to the bed. She then collapsed in bed next to Sapphire, turning to face the other girl. “You can watch me sleep, if you don’t fall asleep first.”

Sapphire looked at the window, then back to Emmy. “Everything okay?” she asked again.

Emmy nodded.

“You’d tell me, if something was wrong?”

Another nod, another lie. Emmy was already having a hard enough time fighting herself to leave. She didn’t want to add Sapphire’s sad eyes to the mix.

There was a pause, and just as Emmy thought Sapphire had decided to drop it, she spoke again. “I don’t believe you.”

Emmy raised an eyebrow at her.

“You miss your home, don’t you.”

Emmy grabbed Sapphire’s hand and squeezed, a silent request to drop the topic.

“Emmy.” Sapphire wrapped her other hand around Emmy’s. “Do you want to leave?”

Emmy couldn’t stand to meet Sapphire’s eyes, so she broke eye contact and rolled onto her back to look at the ceiling. “No.” The lie seemed to grate at her throat as she spoke.

“Em—”

“No,” Emmy repeated. She glanced at Sapphire out of the corner of her eye. “I’m fine. Here. With you.”

Even in the low lighting, Emmy saw Sapphire’s cheeks turn pink. “Oh.” She hesitated. “I thought—From what I know of you, you’re rather…”

“Wild?” Emmy finished with a smirk. “I do enjoy my freedom. But like I said. I’m fine here with you.”

“You promise?”

Emmy nodded, then as Sapphire started to frown again, followed up with, “I promise.”

“Okay.” This time, Sapphire took Emmy at her word, laying back down and tugging the blankets over Emmy. “Goodnight, Em.”

“Goodnight.”

Sapphire quickly drifted back off to sleep, leaving Emmy wide awake and determinedly staring anywhere but at Sapphire.

Tomorrow, she told herself, looking out the window at the corner of wall that was visible. Tomorrow, I’ll leave. Tomorrow I’ll climb the wall and run free and I won’t care whose heart I break in the process.

Maybe if she repeated the lie enough times, it would become the truth.