Page 67 of One
“Ally, I think you should take a seat,” King said, leaning against the door.
“No, I want to leave,” I said, moving forward.
“Little One, sit down, please,” Boogie said, catching me around the waist.
“What the fuck’s going on?” I snapped as Boogie put me on the bed.
“We think it’s best?—”
King scoffed and looked away as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Boogie's nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. The tension between them was palpable. Something had happened while I was taken.
“Since the attacks, your safety is the most important thing for us,” Boogie said, grabbing my hand. “You're here because it's the safest place for you.”
“Excuse me?” I glared at Boogie, wondering if I had heard that correctly.
He repeated himself, but once I looked at King and his terrible expression, everything clicked into place. Boogie was speaking, but I didn’t hear him.
This mother fucker was mansplaining why they locked me in this room like he was doing me a favor. I pulled back my arm and punched him in the face and because that wasn’t enough, I slapped him too. Boogie took it like a champ even as his nose was bleeding and he was leaning back.
“Ok, I might have deserved that,” he mumbled.
“Fuck you,” I snarled. “I am not staying in this damn room. You are letting me out and I am going back to Christmas Town. I have a fucking town to run.”
“Ally,” King said, sitting on the bed as Boogie went to the bathroom and I hoped I had broken his nose.
“Are you seriously going along with this?” I growled.
“Would you have stayed here if we had asked? I know you think you can handle this on your own, but Ally, whoever is gunning for you has the manpower and the resources to do it,” he sighed. “If you promise to stay here and run Christmas Town under our protection, I’ll let you out and you can roam the grounds, but?—”
“It’s still a prison,” I said. “Just because I’m free to walk around doesn’t mean I’m actually free to do anything.”
King had the decency to look guilty, but this had Boogie written all over it.
“Ally, what if this is just the beginning?” King asked. “What if the moment we take you back to Christmas Town they have people waiting?”
“Thats what planning is for and talking and fucking listening to each other!” I yelled. “Look, I know what we went through was scary as shit, and I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess. I know it's my mess and?—”
“We don’t care if it's your mess!” Boogie yelled, coming out of the bathroom. “I would go to war for you every day, every month, every year and in every lifetime if it meant keeping you safe, but watching you die, I just can’t tempt fate again.”
Boogie’s eyes were shiny with tears. I could feel his heartache. I felt it when I thought something had happened to them.
“I need you safe, and if you can’t compromise with us, then you will stay here,” he said, his voice eerily calm, even as a tear slipped down his cheek.
“Giving me two choices isn’t a compromise,” I said, looking away. “Don’t do this. If you really want to help me, you will let me go and we can find a solution, something we all agree on, together.”
I looked at King, he was usually the voice of reason.
“I need your word you're not going to run away at the first chance you get,” King said, walking to the bed.
I clenched my jaw. “I?—”
“Don’t fucking lie!” Boogie snapped, getting up from the bed.
“You out of anyone should know how hard this is for me,” I said, hitting the bed. “How would you feel waking up with the same taste in your mouth from the drug they used to give you when they would pass you around to a large group of people?! How would you feel being locked away again?”
I stood up, and walked up to him.
“How would you feel being trapped in a room for hours thinking you had been taken again?” I whispered, then looked up.
