Quiet. Finally, some nice, soothing peace and quiet. Naga couldn’t have been any more grateful, really. After today’s fright, he was pleased with just about any time away from the daily chaos of the outside world. Here in his little den with his brother, he could finally relax and just-

“What do you think was up with that guy this morning?”

Naga sighed when Snek broke the silence, lifting up his head to shoot his twin an exhausted look that he hoped would communicate how thoroughly unamused he was. Snek, who was not paying any attention, did not seem perturbed in the slightest.

“I mean,” he continued, staring off into space like he did when he was thinking, “Think about it. We were leaving, and he just sort of fell over.”

“He was startled, Snek,” Naga replied softly, sighing. It was getting late, and despite his usually patient and thoughtful demeanor, he was done with overthinking for the day. “People do that when they’re startled.”

Snek glanced at him, wrinkling his snout in mild offense. “Well, yeah, I know that, but was he ok? He fell over. Hard. What if he got injured?”

“Okay. Snek, listen to me.”

Snek stared at Naga with big, curious eyes, nervously tilted ears perking up just a little as he cocked his head and furrowed his brow. It would’ve been surreal – like being judged by your own reflection – if they hadn’t had their whole life of 17 years to get used to it. He was listening. Good. Naga inhaled deeply.

“Even if he was injured, what would we be able to do about it? We don’t know where he lives, we’re not experienced in first aid at all, and we don’t even have the courage to talk to strangers. We’d just sit there.”

“Well it’s still nice to be concerned!” Snek replied, obviously flustered. His ears pinned closer to his head, not unlike a puppy being scolded for destroying a pillow. “It’s the polite thing to do.”

Can’t really fault him for that, Naga thought, sighing through his nose. He was bone-tired and wanted to sleep, but something told him it would be a bit before Snek agreed to hit the hay. The best he could do was try to calm his anxious twin in the hopes that it would come faster. “Look,” he began, keeping his voice soft – a technique Willow had taught them both when she’d been taking care of them, “I’m not saying that we can’t be concerned about his wellbeing. I’m saying we’re overthinking it, and there’s not much we can do, and so we need to just calm down and try to enjoy our evening.”

Snek seemed to pause in his spiraling, blinking a few times while he processed what was being said to him. He looked at Naga as if they’d both just grown a third head, then sighed and nodded his head once, taking a few deep breaths. “… You’re right. Sorry. I got carried away,” he replied, tilting his head back towards the ceiling of their den. The spandrel they called home was uniquely spacious, made of dark wood and lit warmly by a few strings of lights along the walls. Naga sighed, leaning in to gently bump his twin’s head with his own.

“It’s alright. It’s good that you care.”

He laid himself down on the floor, letting the fuzzy carpet they always slept on rub against his jaw. In the corner lay a little shrine, perfectly across from his line of sight. Flowers, little rocks, seashells… anything they could find, really. Anything their mother would’ve liked.

Would she be proud, if she could see us now? Naga asked himself. It was a question without an answer, one that would haunt him for the rest of his life until he could see her again. He hoped he was doing everything right, but he could never be sure. He hoped that, if she was watching over them now, she was happy with where they were. She’d always said they were her little miracle, surviving with such a rare condition despite all odds.

Somehow, even without her, they were still surviving.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m overthinking again,” Snek began, also laying his head down next to his brother’s, “But I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach tonight.”

“You mean our stomach?” Naga replied. His tone was sharp, and he gave his twin a very pointed side-eye. “I don’t feel anything weird.”

“I- Oh, come on! You know what I mean.”

“I also know that I’m tired and it’s been a long day and I want to go to bed.”

Snek’s snout crinkled like fuzzy wrapping paper, and his eyes narrowed, mouth setting in a straight line (as close as he usually got to a scowl). “You’re not listening.”

“Snek, I’m tired,” Naga replied through gritted teeth, expression shifting to match Snek’s almost instantly. As patient as they both tried to be whenever the other was feeling anxious or distressed, each twin only had so much bandwidth. “You’re anxious. Breathe.”

“This isn’t just anxiety!” Snek protested, head shooting back up to frown at his brother with flattened ears. “I need you to listen, Naga. Listen. Something is up.”

“What could possibly-”

“Shh. Haven’t you noticed the forest’s been quiet this entire time? As in, too quiet? Way too quiet?”

The forest? Too quiet?

Despite his attempts to keep his thoughts rational and dismiss whatever was going on with Snek, Naga found himself listening carefully to the world outside, straining and straining his ears for any sign of other life. There was, indeed, no sound. No birds or frogs or crickets sounding in the night with their choruses, no breeze, no soothing creaking of the old floorboards they laid atop. Just perfect, eerie silence.

All of a sudden, Naga felt the same shock of alarm and unease that Snek must’ve been feeling. This was Oakwood, a town where strange things roamed and lurked wherever you weren’t looking. In this town, there would always be something stranger than you were. In this town, perfect stillness in the woods like this was never just perfect stillness.

“We should hide,” Naga stated the obvious. He didn’t have to know exactly what was causing all the quiet in order to know that he didn’t want to risk being exposed to it. The broken-down old house they resided in wasn’t exactly the best choice of protection from the outside world, even though it sufficed most of the time. Their shared body rose to its feet and pulled aside the carpet, paws catching the edge of one floorboard and lifting it up so they could carefully squeeze inside. It was tight and dark and a little damp under the house, but it was better than staying in the spandrel where something threatening might stumble upon them. It wasn’t really like they had a lock on any of the doors – the raccoons that kept taking up residence around them proved that just fine.

Folding themselves into the far corner and letting the floorboard and rug close atop them and cover them, the brothers sat in tense silence for what seemed like eternity, barely daring to breathe. Though he couldn’t see very well in the pitch-black of their hidey-hole, Naga knew Snek’s face must’ve been mirroring his; pinned ears, an uneasy frown, and wide eyes filled with a sense of wariness not unlike a small animal waiting for a predator to pass over.

“We’re definitely sleeping down here,” Snek whispered after a moment. This time, Naga didn’t reply or protest at all. He wasn’t about to argue to go back up to their suddenly un-cozy nook tonight. When he felt Snek lay his head down on their paws, he did the same and rested his chin on his twin’s head, closing his eyes.

“… Do you think tomorrow will be better?” he whispered in the dark and quiet. He was no longer interested in pretending everything was fine when his stomach was doing flips and his nervous system felt like a live wire. Beneath him, Snek sighed and shifted his jaw so he could speak.

“I sure hope so.”