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He gave Maddie one last look, then turned and slowly trudged back up the stairs.
Maddie remained silent until his footsteps no longer echoed down the stairwell. “Are you okay? I mean—really?”
Saff exhaled, finally feeling the last bit of tension leave her body. She hated to admit it, but she’d felt a deep lingering sense of anxiety from the moment they’d pulled Maddie away from her at the wall, and now that she was there before her, it finally lifted.
“Yeah, really. Be better if I had my guns, though,” she grumbled.
Maddie smirked. “Yeah, I’m sure you would.” Then her face went serious again. “What happened after I went through the gate? What did they do to you?”
Saff rocked forward, leaning her shoulder against the metal bar. “A woman interrogated me. Then they brought me here.”
“Did they hurt you?” Maddie asked, with a hint of the previous venom returning to her voice.
Saff glanced down at the angry red lines cascading over her wrists. “No.”
“What was the woman’s name?” Maddie asked seriously.
“I don’t know. She didn’t say.”
Maddie frowned, her lips pressing into a tight line. “I really think I should stay down here tonight. Just in case.”
Saff watched her for a second before saying, “I don’t think the cot is big enough for both of us.”
Maddie shrugged. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
The corner of Saff’s lips tugged upward. “You barely made it on the dirt last night. I don’t know how well you’ll do on concrete.”
Maddie hummed. “Good point. Maybe you could take the floor then, and I’ll take the cot,” she replied with a smirk.
Saff let out an amused snort. “Yeah. That’ll really help me.”
Maddie smiled for a moment before it fell, her expression going serious once again. “Do you need anything?”
Saff shook her head, the exhaustion from the day fully setting in. “No. I’m good.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll be back first thing tomorrow, okay?” Maddie said. “And if they haven’t let you out by then, I’ll do it myself, even if it means I have to fight through every person here to make it happen.”
Saff stared at her. Even though she knew she was joking, she felt like there was also some ounce of seriousness to it.
“Okay,” she said quietly.
Maddie nodded slowly. “Okay,” she repeated. Then she stepped back from the bars and turned, slowly making her way back to the stairs, moving her cane until it hit against the edge of them.
She paused at the bottom, turning her head back slightly.
“You know, it feels kind of weird knowing I won’t be sleeping near you tonight,” she said quietly. “I kind of got used to knowing you were there.”
Saff swallowed, her throat feeling a little drier than before.
She stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. Not that she didn’t sort of feel the same way. She just didn’t really know how to say that. So, she figured it was best to not say anything at all.
Finally, after a few moments of silence, Maddie turned back toward the stairs and began walking up.
Saff watched until she heard the last of Maddie’s footsteps. And even after that, she stayed, leaning against the bars of the cell for a minute longer.
Maddie’s last words turned over in her mind. She shook them from her head and turned around, making her way back to the cot.
She laid back down and closed her eyes, finally feeling slightly more at ease than she had before. It took a minute, but eventually, her mind relaxed, and she drifted off to sleep.
