Page 251 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

Goddamn it.

“Hey, what the fuck’s gotten into you?” I turn her around. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her mouth trembling. I swipe angrily at her cheeks to dry her tears, but more flash down her face an instant later. “Stop crying.”

“F-fuck off.”

I give her a shake, but she doesn’t even seem to notice. “This could all be over, you know. Just say the word. Say you’ll talk to them and I’ll?—”

“I f-fucking c-can’t, you moth-therfuckingasshole!” What starts out as a blubbering mess of words becomes an enraged yell.

Her veracity hits me like a club. I release her and step back, wondering if she’s gonna attack me. The way her hands are fisted at her sides, her body stiff, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I lift my hands, my mouth lifting up. “Just say the?—”

“They’re dead, you piece of shit,” she says through her teeth. She advances on me and slams her fist into my chest.

I barely feel it. I’m staring into eyes bright and green as a water lily pond. “Dead?” I manage, but it feels like someone else is talking with my mouth.

Her fists start drumming against my chest. I gather her up, hold her tight. She fights me, but then another round of sobs takes control. She sags against me, and I let us both sink to the forest floor. I drag her with me as I lean back against a tree trunk. A second later she’s in my lap, bundled up into an impossibly small ball.

She grabs my shirt, nuzzling harder and harder against me as if she wants to burrow inside my ribs so I can keep her safe.

And fuck me, I wish she could. Then I would always have her close, could feel her heart beating beside mine.

I wrap my arms around her, rocking her, willing her to pour out every last sliver of anger, pain, frustration, sadness. I don’t care if all that negativity leeches into me.

I’d fatally poison myself for her and not regret a thing.

I stroke her hair and press my lips to the top of her head, but I doubt she registers a thing. If she did, she’d still be fighting.

Who the fuck wants to be comforted by a wild animal?

Indi

My legs twitch. I come to with my heart beating in my throat. I’m on my side, draped in shadow, but surprisingly I’m not cold. The green and brown enveloping me slowly comes into focus.

The woods?

I shift a little, a headache thumping in my skull.

There’s an arm slung over my waist.

Panic scurries through me and converges in my chest, forcing out every last bit of air. I lie still as death.

Briar’s behind me, body flush with mine.

What did he do to me? But an internal check produces nothing except the tight headache of a good sobbing session, and a dull ache where a rock’s pressing into my hip.

A warm, steady breath washes over the back of my neck. Goosebumps scatter over my arms and legs, and I slowly turn to look at Briar.

We’re under the boughs of a massive oak tree. The floor is mossy here, only the odd stone. My head is on his arm, and he’s sleeping.

I remember crying. How he held me so tight.

I’ve never felt that…safe before.

None of it makes sense. If anything, I should have run away. Briar’s not someone I want to be alone in the woods with. I grasp his wrist and lift up his arm. It’s heavy, and long, and I already know I won’t be able to move it much without waking him.

I barely lift him an inch before his massive hand grabs my belly and squeezes. I go stiff in shock.

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