"Concentrate."
"I can't," the little girl replied, sounding frightened.
"Please, sweetheart, concentrate. You can do this."
"Can't won't haven't won't haven't can't can't can't haven't haven't won't haven't," her head twitched violently as she stammered out the syllables like a record needle trying vainly to escape a groove.
"STOP!" The girl jerked her head up, the spell broken by the soft touch of a familiar hand on her right arm. She tilted her head to one side, her long messy hair falling to shadow her face. She looked down, mesmerized, at the edge of thumb touching her bare wrist.
The other followed her gaze down and sharply inhaled. Neither of them had noticed that her shirt sleeve had ridden up during the last fit.
"You can do this." The girl laughed in response. A dark, bitter sound, far too harsh to be coming from such a tiny mouth.
"I really can't, you know," she said in a low voice.
Abruptly, she threw her head back, eyes staring up at nothingness, her pupils impossibly large. Her left hand shot over and gripped the other's hand, clutching it tightly, forcing it into further contact with her bare skin.
"Oh, the things you've done," the girl laughed. "And will do. Soon! Soon..." she trailed off, bringing her head down to stare into the alarmed face before her. Her eyes widened in horror. "He is coming. I saw it. I can see, I will see, oh, God, the lights, the lights, they're blinking. Always blinking. Smaller and smaller. More and more. Please don't blink..."
The girl gasped as the other's hand was wrenched away from her grip.
"Calm down."
"But you're going... oh God, oh God, they're there. They will be there. They have been there," the girl shook her head violently and closed her eyes. "What have I done? What am I doing? What..."
Her voice puttered out to a stop and everything was silent. The girl took a shaky breath. She knew what was to happen. If she was honest, she had just been ignoring it all this time - hoping that just this once, maybe just this once, she was wrong.
"I'm so sorry," the girl said quietly, standing up to face the figure sitting before her.
"Sorry for what?" For the first time that the girl could remember, the normally calm, steady voice had a tint of alarm and fear. The girl gently reached to cradle the face before her.
"This," the girl whispered as she pressed her lips to the other's forehead.