When They Were Gone

Gone

[Trigger Warning]

She rose to her feet, stepping towards him.

His muscles twitched and he pushed himself back again, raising a hand. "Wait, Pea, if you're going to do... that again, maybe we should stop for a second and talk about it because I don't really know if I feel up for something like this yet... especially not in my current frame of mind... Maybe we should just take things slow..." He moved back another few feet.

She continued walking forward, lowering her hands to her sides as her gaze intensified. She enjoyed this little game they were playing - this attempt at cat and mouse.

A pause. She stilled.

A small buzz, an annoying black speck circling around him as he continued his attempted shuffling backwards, pushing himself up slightly from the ground until he was almost on his knees. 

What was that thing? An insect? A bug?

It moved, streaming through the air towards her and stopping in front of her face... Distracting her from him.

How dare it? How dare it split her concentration!? How dare it exist in front of her and stare at her with those puny, black, reflective eyes? 

She could change that.

She clicked her fingers.

Richard halted his movements, glancing towards her with frowning yet wide eyes. "What was that? What did you just disappear? What was it? Pea? Pea! Please, tell me what it was you disappeared!"

She cocked her head. "Don't be so concerned. It was just a bug."

He clasped his hands in front of him, scanning the area around himself before meeting her eyes once more. "A bug? Is that one bug? Or a species of bug? Or all the bugs? Or...?"

She shrugged. "All the insects. No need to worry."

If possible, his eyes widened even further. "All the bugs!? Do you understand what that means? Pea, please tell me you understand what you've just done!" He pushed himself to his feet, voice rising with each word. "If you get rid of every insect in the world, the world's economy will collapse - I know the Sovereign and State are already gone, but this is... You don't just destroy the economy, you destroy everything. 

"When you get rid of one species of animal, you collapse parts of the food chain, animals have to find another source of food or die - and if they die, the rest of the food chain collapses. That's just for one species. If you get rid of every species of insect in the entire world, Pea, you collapse every possible food chain! Including the plants! 

"Everything will die! Pea, everything! Including you. Including me. The world can't survive without food, Pea! Nothing can!"

His hands shook as he stepped forward, lowering his hands in a prayer position to her. "Pea, please... Please! Bring them back! Or turn back time or something! Please, Pea, please!"

She twisted her lips, sighing. "No. They were annoying me, so I got rid of them. That's that." A soft smile. "Now we can continue in peace." She continued walking towards him.

Stumbling backwards, he clutched both hands together, drawing himself away. He licked his dry lips. "Wait... wait, Pea... Pea, stop! Stop it! Stop it, Pea! There are more important things we should be focusing on at the moment! Like... Like how we're going to survive, and how we can better the world from here and how we can-"

"What's more important than us?" She smiled.

"Us surviving? Great idea! We should talk about that!" His voice wavered and he swallowed. "Just don't, please... don't do anything you might regret. I..." His breath quickened. "I'm not of able mind and body right now, and there are more pressing issues and concerns we need to be focusing on... Not this... Just please not this right now... We can always do something like this later, right? No rush..." A glassy film began covering his eyes once more. "Please... Pea?"