Note: The summary quote is not an endorsement of Teal Swan. I am completely unfamiliar with her work and because of the nature of it I feel like I just need to say I only liked the quote.
These pieces are not connected but they all share similar themes of lost things. The list can be found on tumblr.
I know I've got a bunch of WIP's right now and I'm kind of all over the place but I've done lists before and I like 'em. So here we are again.
"Please, come with me"
The bandaid on his wrist was new but the ones on his knees weren't. His cheek was red and his knuckles ragged. There was a cut on his lip so fresh she thought she could still see the blood glistening between the torn edges of skin. He smiled. Jellal was always smiling even when he was broken.
"Where are you going?" she whispered, taking his hand in hers and pulling him away from the window ledge where he crouched. The early spring chill cut right through her nightgown.
"I don't know yet. Somewhere that's not here."
"Was your dad drinking again? Jellal, you have to call the police. This can't go on!"
"So they can drag over a bunch of social workers and make things harder than they have to be?" The tips of his fingers were cool on the apples of her warm cheeks.
"Jellal –"
"They're already harder than they have to be, I know."
"Are you really leaving?" Erza's throat felt tight and her eyes stung. A life without Jellal felt… impossible.
"I can't stay there," he whispered.
"Then you can stay here!" Erza tried to swallow her tears and sound firm. Confident. Jellal's laugh was soft and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"You know that wouldn't work. Your mom would sniff me out within minutes and I'd be done."
"She – she wouldn't do that! Not once I tell her that he hits you."
"Erza." His voice was feather soft. "Don't do that."
"Everybody already knows, Jellal," she insisted. "You could…" Erza bit her lip and tugged on the hem of his t-shirt anxiously. "You could go and live with Lucy?"
He laughed and it was a sad, ruined thing. "That wouldn't work either. Her dad would rather move his entire family out of town than acknowledge my existence."
"But –"
"I've accepted it, Erza. The minute my mom died, I lost that part of my family. It's okay."
"It's not okay," she huffed, feeling the tears finally fall. "It's not okay! They can't treat you like that!"
"They already do. I have to get out of here."
"But –" Erza gave into her tears and pulled him tightly against her. "You can't go," she sobbed. "I'll miss you too much and I need you."
"Erza, you're the most capable person I know. And this isn't goodbye forever."
"Then why's it feel like that?" She tightened her arms around his middle. "Why does this feel like goodbye?"
Jellal sighed and Erza felt his fingers sliding through her hair. Such a silly thing. Now she was afraid she'd never feel it again. A simple act of love taken for granted.
"Come with me," he breathed.
"What?"
"Come with me. Please?"
"I –"
"You've technically graduated already anyway and you'll be eighteen before August. You can still go to college like you wanted."
"Jellal," she sighed.
"You're right." His hands landed on her shoulders and Erza panicked. He really was going to leave. "Erza, I swear I'll come for you. Just let me figure things out."
In the distance, beyond her open bedroom window Erza heard the faint swell of police sirens.
"I have to go." Jellal's palms pressed into the curves of her shoulders and he squeezed. When she pulled back he smiled but the agonizing urgency couldn't be missed. The sirens drew closer peal by peal.
"Jellal," Erza whispered. "Please tell me those sirens aren't for you."
His smile widened. "You always knew me too well, Erza."
"What happened?" she asked, a frantic panic building in her chest. "Jellal, what did you do?"
"My dad isn't going to hurt anyone ever again."
"Jellal, please."
"Erza, I gotta go."
"Jellal!" Erza's hands closed around wads of his t-shirt. "You – did you –"
"Don't ever forget that I love you, okay? I've never loved anyone else." Despite the red and blue lights flickering through the trees he still smiled. When he kissed her it was swift and fierce. Erza's hands raced up the planes of his chest and she did her best to lock him against her but Jellal was strong. "I don't want to get you in trouble."
"I don't care!" she said too loudly. The sirens weren't getting louder anymore but it was only a matter of time before someone made the obvious guess as to where he'd gone. "Please, Jellal! Tell me what's going on!"
"Its better that you don't know, okay?" He pried her hands from his shirt and left a final kiss on her lips before he ducked back out of her window.
"Please don't do this," Erza begged.
"It's already done."
Jellal made it to the edge of the roof before the police lights streaked down the street and came to a head in Erza's driveway. The pearlescent white paint of her mother's Mercedes glowed under the flashing lights. Jellal crouched on the edge of the roof and held his hands up in surrender when the white searchlights found him.