"Maya, I'm scared." Riley curled up even smaller on her side of the bed, and pulled all the covers over her head.
"Of what?" Maya asked, pulling a little of the comforter over her legs where she sat on the other side of the bed. She tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice, but she couldn't help it. She just wanted to go to sleep.
"Someone will come in and get me! Or evil bunnies. Or- just everything!"
"But I sleep here every day, and nothing bad ever happens to me. I always wake up okay. I'm always there in the morning, aren't I?"
"True." Riley uncovered her face and smiled up at Maya. "Okay. Yeah. Goodnight."
Thank God Maya thought, and slipped down under the covers to go to sleep.
Riley laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't noticed all the cracks before. She tried her best to distract herself, to remember what Maya said about waking up, but her imagination-like always- got the best of her. "But what if-" she began.
"Oh no," Maya groaned, more to herself than to anyone else. She was never going to get to sleep.
"What if there's girl-eating monsters that live under the bed, but they never bothered you because you don't taste good?"
Maya pulled herself upright and looked at Riley. "What makes you think I taste bad?"
"Well maybe you don't taste bad, but you're definitely gamey."
"Why?"
Riley thought for a minute. "Cuz you're always running to keep up with us, and that's what makes people gamey."
"I don't think it's an exact science."
"Huh." Riley thought for a moment. "Well I am a lot sweeter than you."
Maya snorted. "Can't argue with that."
"Or maybe there's crazy axe murderers waiting outside your window to kill us because they're on a contract that says they can only murder little girls in pairs." Riley used her fingers to pull apart a knot in her hair. It was stubborn, so she yanked at it, causing the hairs to break.
"I'm not sure how many 'axe murderer' contracts are out there, Riles."
"Well maybe their boss likes things done a very specific way, and he only has double coffins and doesn't like to be wasteful."
Maya didn't even bother mentioning that if they were murdered by axe-wielding maniacs, they probably wouldn't have a proper burial. Instead she said, "What about that time Farkle had to spend the night because we were working on a school project and it was snowing so much his parents couldn't get here? Wouldn't they have struck then?"
Riley pulled at another tangle in her hair. This one too snapped in her hands. "Maya, obviously the axe murderers aren't going to wait outside in a blizzard. That's just not smart. They're axe murderers, not idiots. Plus, they'd leave footprints in the snow and then the police would trace them because they wore size 13 ½ shoes, and who has feet that big and then they'd spend their whole lives in jail wishing they'd just stayed home and drank hot chocolate." Riley brought a knot at the end of a chunk of hair closer to her face to examine. "Plus Farkle's a boy and the axe murderers only murder girls."
"Of course." Maya climbed out of bed, over Riley, and grabbed her hairbrush from the dresser. She captured Riley's hands in her own and set them in her lap. She began to brush Riley's hair, starting at the ends- the way you were supposed to.
"What if a tiger escapes from the zoo and follows the smell of your leftover sandwich and climbs in the window but when he gets here he mistakes me for your sandwich and chews my face off?"
Maya laughed. "I don't think a tiger would fit in the window. Plus, your face doesn't look anything like a sandwich." She finished brushing through Riley's hair; it wasn't nearly as snarled as she had thought it was, and began plaiting it into a braid.
"What if they're testing Polar-Bear-Launchers at the North Pole and they accidentally aim one for New York City and one lands on your house and collapses the roof?
Maya made quick work of Riley's braid and slipped an elastic from her wrist to tie it off. "I don't think a polar bear would make it all the way here."
"You're right," Riley said. "It would probably get stuck in Canada." She pulled the braid over her shoulder and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "But what if-"
"Riley," Maya said, suddenly serious.
Her tone caught Riley's attention, who stopped fidgeting with her hair and looked her friend in the eye. "Maya?"
Maya took Riley's hands in her own, and brought them to rest against her chest. Against her heart. She spoke slowly, deliberately, meaningfully. "Do you think I would ever let something happen to you?"
Riley didn't say anything, but looked at Maya. The intensity of her eyes was powerful, but not unpleasant.
"Do you think I would bring you here, if I thought- even for a second- something bad would happen? If I didn't know it was safe? That you would be safe?"
Riley shook her head slowly. She started to say something, but Maya pressed a finger to her lips, quieting her.
"You're my best friend, Riley. I never want anything to happen to you. You're safe here. I've got your back. Understand?"
Riley nodded, her heart beating loud and heavy in her chest. Comfortably.
"Good." Maya said, and rolled over in bed. She reached above her head to flip off the light, and the moment gave way to the dark.
But it wasn't a scary kind of dark. It was the kind someone like Riley was safe in, because she had someone like Maya to make sure that all the things that went bump in the night couldn't get her. No matter what.