River had known. She had known when Simon had vanished. He had been trying to give her the same level of freedom she had on Serenity to come and go as she could and would. It had given her the freedom to hide in her closet for a few days, more or less, so long as she came out for meals. But Simon had gone and she hadn't needed to come out. She had dozed off and had nightmares; that had only made her want to massively avoid coming out.
"Knew it would happen. Knew that when the chatter finally stopped, the moth would fly away. Done eating at the fabric. Didn't want it that quiet -" River muttered quietly to herself, pulling further back into a corner when the puppy whimpered outside of the closet door. She wasn't letting the puppy in. She cared for it, but it was safer. Matt had gone away, then Kaylee had gone away, then Simon last. People who came into contact with her vanished -