In a state of shock, it took Sohalia a moment to recognize the familiar figure of Mateo. Thankfully, he stopped when she told him to in a high-pitched, frantic voice, and by the time he was asking if they needed to run, she'd recognized the shopkeeper from the botanical shop where she'd gotten her crown-of-thorns. "I - I don't know," she said in a voice that sounded far away to her ears. "I - I think - I think I killed someone."
It was strange to say it aloud, in that voice that hardly sounded like hers, feeling as though she were watching from outside her body. At the admission, a metaphorical knife of pain slid between her ribs and she hunched over, suddenly sobbing, her arms wrapped around herself as though doing so could help her hold it together. "He - he attacked me and I - it was an accident, I - I just wanted to get away, but I -" Her words were barely intelligible around her sobs. She looked up at Mateo, vulnerable and hurting, and asked, "What am I supposed to do now?"
It was strange to say it aloud, in that voice that hardly sounded like hers, feeling as though she were watching from outside her body. At the admission, a metaphorical knife of pain slid between her ribs and she hunched over, suddenly sobbing, her arms wrapped around herself as though doing so could help her hold it together. "He - he attacked me and I - it was an accident, I - I just wanted to get away, but I -" Her words were barely intelligible around her sobs. She looked up at Mateo, vulnerable and hurting, and asked, "What am I supposed to do now?"
