Kiya stares vacantly down the street, waiting for a car to arrive. It was a back street in an industrial part of town, not exactly frequently traversed, so she was doing little more than standing in place bored stiff while the rest of the workers were in the trenches moving the cities electrical grid under the street. She perked up as a cargo van came up the street and she pulled up her radio to tell the other flagger that they had traffic.

As the van went by and the other side of the radio replied, she sighed. …Well, guess that's all the ‘excitement’ I’m getting today. She thought to herself sardonically. She was pulling overtime that day, and her feet were icy cold from standing stock still for hours on end. She would have preferred being down in the ditches; at least physical labor was something.

She held up her arm, checking her watch. Come on, just another ten minutes and I can be going back home… The thought was a tad less encouraging than she had meant it to be, given how tired she would be when she got home. And since the contract was just about over, she’d have to go down to the union hall to find another one… She groaned inwardly at the prospect and shut her eyes tight for a brief moment.

At least I’ll probably have most of the rest of the week off before I start work on the next project. More time to spend with Kiriai. That thought was encouraging, and she opened her eyes wide again to focus on her job until it was over. Thankfully, it was just another moment before the supervisor contacted her on the radio to tell her the work day was over.

Sighing with relief, she went to put the slow/stop sign away in the storage bin, and walked out to her car on autopilot, barely acknowledging the other workers pass by her talking to one another. Alright, stay alert. Don’t want to get in an accident on the way back. She huffed to herself- She still wasn’t completely comfortable driving, the streets were wet, it was pretty dark, and she was tired. Still, it’ll be alright if you are just careful… She told herself, wanting to calm her nerves.

At the least, getting off of work as late as she did meant she was on the roads well after rush hour, which was probably for the best; At this time of year, rush hour was still in the dark, so getting off later just meant less cars, which was probably for the best when the car skidded to a halt at every traffic light. It’s going to be almost 23:00 when I get back.Kiri will probably be sleeping.

She drove home in silence without any music to keep from being distracted, looking this way and that at every light until she pulled back into her apartments driveway with a sense of relief- A bit behind schedule, since she’d driven pretty slowly. Stretching, she unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car before hauling herself up the stairs and unlocking the door, opening it slowly to avoid making too much noise.

The lights were still on, surprisingly, but Kiriai was nowhere to be seen- she could hear the shower running, so she supposed Kiriai must be in there. Strange. It's awfully late for her to be going to bed. As far as she knew, Kiriai always went to bed at around 21:00. Glancing at her sister’s laptop screen- still open- she made an “ah” sound of understanding. Working on school work. Guess they don't have much time left for that. She lingered there for another second, feeling a tad disappointed- If Kiri was so busy with school work, she guessed she wouldn’t see much of her tomorrow. So much for spending time with her before she left.

Kiya sighed in disappointment and, after pouring a cup of milk, retires back to her room, laying down on top of the blankets.

[...]

Kiriai breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the door open. It's so late, why didn't she get home earlier?

But by the time she had gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed again, the living room was empty, her laptop screen having turned black for hibernation and the lights turned off. Damn. Missed her. Kiriai frowned a little, but looking at the time, knew it was definitely too late to work further on her essay. She gave a guilty look at her laptop- It had taken her too long to get started, and now she really had no idea what she was doing. Reluctantly, she shut the laptop lid and climbed onto the couch, facing the backrest as she laid down so it would block out the light. Her skin stuck to the leather surface, and the blanket she had wasn't really enough to keep her warm, but she could deal with it.

[...]

By the time Kiriai woke up the next morning, the door to Kiya’s room was hanging open and her sister was nowhere to be seen. She had a moment of panic before remembering that she had no school today- The last day off before chemistry exams and her english essay were due tomorrow.

Not that I’m going to get to enjoy it, much. Kiriai noted, irritatedly. But before anything, she had to go and make herself some breakfast. Delicately unsticking herself from the leather couch, she rubbed her sore muscles and stood up.

The fridge was still fairly barren; Even if she did buy food for the two of them, she couldn't really afford that much. Shrugging, she grabs some cheese and roast beef. A grilled cheese sandwich will do just fine.

By the time she finished her breakfast and got settled down, her mind felt far too scrambled to actually get any work done, so she just ended up watching videos mindlessly, willing herself futilely to actually get to work.

Instead, she found herself scrolling aimlessly through comments on random youtube videos she had no, or at least very muted, interest in. This reverie lasted until the door opened behind her, causing Kiriai to jump and hastily switch back to her essay so Kiya couldn’t see her slacking.

Kiya hung her coat up on the coat rack, her eyes fixed ahead as if she was only half awake as she collapsed down on the leather chair next to the couch with a heavy sigh.

“Why are you back so early? And where were you last night? You got home super late, I was worried about you. Is everything alright?” Kiriai asked earnestly, furrowing her brow, as she pulled her legs up onto the couch so she could swivel her body around to face Kiya.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I just put in some overtime to finish the project. Had to go down to the union office to sign up for another one, but it doesn't start until Monday." She yawned, leaning back in the chair. “S’no biggie, just means I got to skip over rush hour on the way back.” She looked over at Kiriai with interest. “How about you? How’s your studies coming?”

Kiriai reflexively just replied “Fine.” Why am I lying to her? She honestly didn't know, but it just seemed like what she should do. “Just doing some last minute edits for my english essay.” She motioned vaguely at the screen.

Kiya glanced at it, without reading much or any of it, and nodded. “Alright, lemme just get out of your hair so you can work on that, then.” She replied, standing up and dusting herself off, but not without a wistful look back.

Kiriai smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up, trying to hide her feelings deeper down. Kiya reluctantly left into the kitchen and, a bit later, off into her room again.

Once she was out of sight, Kiriai let out a hefty breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in. She could tell Kiya was disappointed that she was busy, but she didn't have time to worry about that; Her essay was still due tomorrow, and she still hadn’t made much headway on it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And that didn’t seem to be changing; Though she was now staring at the essay page at least, the words swam in front of her and she couldn't seem to make any headway. Maybe I should have chosen a different topic. Not that she had many options; Something regarding social issues. She didn't exactly have strong opinions on any ‘social issues’, so it was hard to feel engaged at all.

She scrolled up and down through the essay again, but couldn’t make any headway. She needed a full other page, but couldn't think of anything else to write; Worse, she’d somehow gotten this far without actually having any sources properly formatted. It was just too confusing for her.

Ugh, just shut up you dumb brain… All that stress isn't really helping me write any better, you know. What a nuisance; The need to write better just made her more stressed, which just made her do a worse job.

Her thoughts would go in circles like that for hours, making very little progress. She heard Kiya moving around in the other room, and occasionally she saw her sister watching her with concern from the doorway.

Don’t worry about that right now. Just focus. So she said, but that was easier said than done; In reality, her “focusing” basically amounted to writing a couple sentences and then spending a half hour on “break”, or repeatedly looking up the same questions she hadn’t been able to get answers to over and over again.

It wasn’t until Kiya came over with a few sandwiches on a plate that she realized how much time she’d wasted. “C’mon Kiri, you’ve been at it all day. Time for dinner.” Kiya announced, placing the plate down on the hexagonal table. Kiriai blinked at it, surprised. The sandwiches actually looked properly made- granted, sandwiches were not the hardest thing to cook, but she’d always known Kiya to be a hopeless chef.

Looking over at Kiya, she could see that her sister was thinking the same thing; Her chest was puffed out proudly, with her hands on her hips, as if waiting for Kiriai to acknowledge her efforts. Well, I can't exactly turn her down looking like that, now can I?

Kiriai sets the laptop aside and stands up, smiling warmly at Kiya. “It smells great. I can't wait. I’ll go get drinks.”

[...]

Kiriai came back with a couple of glasses of iced tea- normally she wouldn't drink caffeinated drinks at this time, but she figured she could use the extra alertness tonight. She idly munched on her sandwich, while trying to think of what she could do about her essay. There wasn't much time left and certainly none to do any large scale changes, so she supposed all she could really do was try to lengthen it by inserting unnecessary words and do her best to figure out the correct formatting.

“...Someones been hard at work.” Kiya noted, poking Kiriai’s cheek. “Can’t even take a break for eating, huh?” She was propped up on one arm looking over at Kiriai from across the table.

Kiriai blinked. She indeed hadnt even taken a bite, and Kiya had eaten half of hers already. So, she forced herself to take a bite, tasting chicken, tomato, and onion, washing it down with a sip of iced tea. “Sorry, just thinking about exams tomorrow.”

Kiya shook her head. “Uh-uh, don’t apologize. You do what you gotta do. Just don’t stress yourself out too much, alright? A good nights rest is important to proper brain function, you know.” She sounded almost lecturing, but Kiriai could feel the warmth in her words and just nodded affirmation with an “Mhm.” sound.

“Well, don’t let me stop you. Eat up and go get that studying down. I’m sure you’ll knock it out of the park.” Kiya smiled encouragingly at Kiriai, who more hesitantly smiled back. It's nice to have someone believe in me, but I don’t think that's going to be happening… Kiriai thought to herself while she took another bite. She didn’t know why she projected confidence when she was feeling much the opposite, but she wasn't about to change it now, so she just finished her meal and returned to her work.

[...]

After dinner, she got back to work and at least managed to focus a little bit better, expanding some sentences and fixing up some formatting issues. But there wasn’t much time left, and at 21:00 Kiya came into the room, looking over at her with concern. “C’mon Kiri, you gotta get some sleep.”

Kiriai made a whining sound in her throat. She was still so far from reaching the actual requirements of the assignment; She’d redone the formatting of the sources several times but she still didn't have them matching the example somehow, and she wasn't even sure if the sources were legitimate. But at the same time she wasn't making that much progress and without completely scrapping huge sections and starting over she wouldn't be able to fix those problems, and she knew Kiya was right about needing sleep. “But… I have to be ready for the exams tomorrow…” She muttered, weakly.

Kiya crossed her arms, giving a stern look. “You need proper rest to focus tomorrow. If you’re tired you wont be able to remember what you studied anyways.”

Kiriai scratched the back of her head, unsurely. She knew Kiya had a point, but even so… “Just another half hour to go over everything again, then I’ll go to bed, I promise.”

Kiya looked at her seriously. “Promise?”

Kiriai shrank away a little, nodding hesitantly. “Y-yeah, promise.”

Kiya looked at her for a long moment then nodded. “Alright. I’m sleeping out here tonight, you use the bed. You need the rest.”

“But-” Kiriai started to protest, but Kiya hushed her.

“Nu-uh, no buts. I have all of tomorrow off and you have your exams, you need the rest and the bed is just more comfortable than out here. I can just take a nap after you leave if nothing else.” Kiya sounded so authoritative that it was hard not to just take her word for it, as she crossed her arms.

I decided I wouldn't do anything to keep her up, but… I do need rest to do well in my classes… Maybe I should just… Kiriai’s head spun, confused, and she sighed. “Alright, fine.” She just didn’t have the will left to argue the point, she was feeling so run down. “Just let me run over everything one more time.”

Kiya nodded, satisfied- perhaps a little bit smug- and left Kiriai to her own devices. She sighed, saving the essay as it was and navigating over to chemistry. I should at least go over it once more before the exam, I think.

[...]

Despite Kiriai’s words, it was actually forty-three minutes before she finished. Still, at 21:43, she shut the laptop and got up to do her nightly routine. A cup of warm milk with decaffeinated tea and honey, then a shower. By the time she got out again, dressed in a more comfortable set of pajamas, Kiya had already claimed the couch and gotten under the thin blanket. She could hear her breathing slowly. Is she already asleep? How do you fall asleep that quickly, especially on this bed…

Stealthily, she crept over and looked down at Kiya’s prone form, barely visible in the darkness. Without really thinking about it, she reached down to lightly brush her hair aside…

Kiya blinked open her eyes, looking up at her, and Kiriai froze, blushing brightly. “U-um, I just… I was just checking if you were…” She stammered out, embarrassed.

“All tucked in?” Kiya gave her that characteristic smug look, a bit of a half-smile painting the edges of her lips. Kiriai looked away.

“...S-sorry, I’ll go to bed now.” She mumbled. She looked so peaceful and serene.

“It’s ok, Kiri, just go get some rest. I was just doing some breathing exercises to help relax.” Kiya stated, while Kiriai backed away, flustered, before turning around and withdrawing back to the bedroom.

[...]

Kiriai made a hefty sigh of relief as she shut the door behind her, and collapsed down on the bed. How am I supposed to get to sleep? She rolled over onto her back, putting her arms over her face. It was more than an hour after her usual bed time but she still didn't feel particularly tired. C’mon, just force yourself to relax… You know Kiya has a point, you need rest.

Thinking about her exams and essays was just too stressful, so instead, she curled up under the covers and took a deep breath, trying to find something else to focus on. It didn’t take long, because with that breathe she took in a familiar scent once again, and it took her back to older, happier memories.

As she shut her eyes and got lost in her daydreams about happy times from years past, the doubt and stress slipped from her mind, and she eventually eased into a deep slumber.