Chapter 31: 31

Mike drove me home. We were silent for the first part of the journey. I kept the ice pack firmly against my nose, trying to keep the pain numbed down.

“Do I need to do anything?” he asked me.

I shook my head.

“I know people can be difficult, but you can’t get into fights.”

“I didn’t,” I said. It came out strained and nasally. “I was just there.”

“It doesn’t matter. You can’t hang out with people who get into fights either. It looks bad.”

I was quiet. The bleeding had stopped but the smell of blood was still very noticeable in my sinuses.

“You know what dad would’ve said right?” he asked.

I gritted my teeth. He was right. Dad would’ve given me an even harder time.

“It doesn’t matter,” I grumbled.

He went silent the rest of the ride. I made a beeline for my room as soon as we got home, and shut the door behind me. Even though this place held a lot of stressful memories, it was still my home.

Scarlet came out from under the bed, crawling up on top to welcome me home. I sat down next to her, practically collapsing.

She sniffed at me, and pushed her face into my lap to curl up, catlike.

“You’re stressed,” she commented.

“I’m fine, just some mean boys being mean.” I shifted so I could pet her hair back, feeling just how silky and smooth it really was. She was undeniably pretty on top of being cute.

She sniffed again and bolted upright.

“It’s fine, I swear,” I said defensively but she took my face in her hands and sniffed.

Her nose wrinkled distastefully. Another savage growl came from her throat. “Who did this?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” I pressed. “Don’t worry about it.”

But she smelled me extensively anyway. I could tell from the sour expression on her face she wanted to hurt Josh.

“I just wanna relax,” I urged her. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“He hurt you,” she said.

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“I know but it was more of an accident,” I explained. “It wasn’t on purpose.”

“It looks like it hurt.” She very gently ran a finger over the bridge of my nose, sending painful butterflies up my nerves.

“I’m fine. It’s not even broken.”

She simply stared at me, and finally curled up on the bed.

I let out a relieved breath and settled next to her, getting my laptop and trying to get some work done but my brain was just spinning, spinning, spinning. I’d gotten two detentions for that stunt, even though all I’d tried to do was stop it. Elias had gotten three, much to Lee’s extreme frustration because that meant he’d be occupied every day after school until the weekend. 

At least Josh and his friends were given a week's worth. (As it turns out, throwing the first punch in front of a camera does not bode well for your story. And on top of that he had a tendency to throw slurs at everybody he could so he was well-known as a troublemaker.)

“I’m getting hungry again,” Scarlet told me quietly. “I’ll probably go out tonight.”

“Be careful,” I told her. “Don’t hurt any people, okay?”

Her silence was concerning but there was little I could do. A very big part of me was terrified by it. Another part of me was sure she was just ashamed of her feeding needs.

“I’m here for you,” I reassured.

I started to find myself drawn into my photography work.

“I don’t deserve you,” she said. “You’re way too kind. I’m a monster. I should’ve never left that asylum.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I could bring them to you— the hunters. I don’t think word travels fast enough for them to chase you down tomorrow but they will find us eventually. They don’t take kindly to the people that accept us either. They’ll hurt you just as readily as they’ll hurt me.”

I again gave her some pets. “It’s gonna be okay. They have no reason to look for you here. You haven’t been hurting anybody.”

Again, her silence was concerning until she said, “I hurt everybody. Eventually. I probably shouldn’t be here. I should go home. But I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to leave either.”

My pets were as soothing as I could make them.

She curled up tighter. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay, I l— like you. No matter what, you’re my friend. I’ve hurt people, too, in my own way. It’s part of existing.”

She refused to talk to me after that. But she did sniffle quietly.

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