OC
This story follows Matilda and her experiences as the events of the main game occur.
2 days before
I tapped my fingers rhythmically against my thighs with Zig's song playing in my head as I sat on the Sector 8 platform, waiting for my train to the slums. My manager let everyone go home early, since a nearby reactor had suddenly and inexplicably exploded. Honestly, I didn't feel bothered by the disaster. Work exhausted me and, at the end of the day, Midgar's safety didn't mean too much; getting home to see Zig mattered much more important to me than a distant catastrophe.
After a few minutes the train pulled up into the station. Surprisingly enough, not many other people boarded the train, besides me. The group that chose to sit my train car, looked like trouble. I cursed myself inwardly for making such assumptions. It was a horrible stereotype about people in the slums; that we're all trouble, looking to get into no good. I chuckled to myself, as I realized Zig, my 'brother' roommate, often fit that stereotype.
I sat down on the train, with my bag in my lap and turned to look out of the window. The train slowly pulled out.
I liked to look at the types of people on late trains—I found them fascinating. My fellow travellers on this particular night, were a group of punks, and most likely younger than I. They had spiked hair dyed with rich colors, and chains dangled off of almost every loop on their clothing. When they caught me beaming at them, they rolled their eyes and turned away.
Sometimes, I couldn't help but smile when I people watched.
The door from the next cabin slid open and a new group entered. They were even more unique than the punks, and looked like quite the ragtag gang. There was a chubby looking guy, a woman-probably in her late 20's, a nerdy guy, a huge guy with a mechanical arm, and, oddly enough, a Soldier. The two groups stared each other down, until the punks slinked away in defeat. The winning group didn't seem to be bothered by my presence (perhaps I didn't look like a threat), so I stood my ground. However, I could not deny the power that the group held. The way that the settled in, made me feel as if I were trespassing on their private cabin.
The Soldier and the man with the mechanical arm held the most command out of the group, although they were exact opposites. Mechanical arm guy walked with heavy footsteps, and large movements that evoked a sense of recklessness. When he passed by me, he nearly knocked me in the face as he swung his arms. When pulled my legs in, and clutched my bag to my chest he scowled at me.
The Soldier trailed directly behind him. He walked with a straight back, kept his arms at his side, and stepped lightly; strong and fearsome, but graceful as well. He surveyed my posture, the way I pulled myself into a ball as he passed, and I wondered if me saw me as pathetic. His eyes flicked forward again once he passed me. I, on the other hand, continued to gaze relentlessly at the man. Even after his back turned to me, and I had nothing more to behold, I stared at the oddly familiar and bold sword on his back.
The group huddled together in the corner of the car, and spoke in hush tones. I kept a close watch on them until we arrived in the slums.
Once the doors opened to the Sector 7 platform, I hopped out of the train, and all but ran home. I passed by the bar Seventh Heaven, (which I heard was actually the secret base for Avalanche), and into the residential area. The air was thick with humidity, but also filled with dust from the explosion earlier. One of the benefits of living in the slums is you get used to breathing in very thick air.
Something caught my eye amidst the piles of rubble and trash against the side of the path. I stopped and leaned over to get a better look. I didn't want to just dive in to see what it was; there was always a possibility of a monster jumping out at attacking me.
I, quite literally, couldn't afford to be attacked.
Last time a monster got the best of me, Zig and I were so destitute, that we'd decided that couldn't spend the extra money on my wound to heal it. Instead, we used scotch tape to hold the pieces of skin together in order to stop the bleeding. For all intents and purposes, it worked. But the wound healed into a misshapen, discolored mess that swept across my collarbone.
When the area I was inspecting seemed clear, I dove into the trash. I grabbed hold of the woven material that I'd spotted. When I pulled it out, I found that it was a small sun straw sun hat, embellished with an olive green ribbon. It was high quality, obviously. But, what was it doing in the slums? Why would anyone use a sunhat beneath the plate? The sun never touched us in the first place. Perhaps it fell from above? Honestly, I liked it. I wondered if it would be selfish to take it, not for practicality, but for style. People above the plate wore clothing for that reason, so why couldn't I?
Yeah. If people about the plate to get away with wearing sunglasses indoors, and I night, I could wear a sun hat though there was no sun in the first place.
Without another thought, I placed it onto my head and felt extremely fancy. For the rest of the walk to my house, I walked with an erect posture and a proud grin.
I was happy to find that there were people sitting on my stoop, with beers spread all across our tiny porch. Zig noticed me first. He waved.
"Matilda!" He exclaimed.
"Zig!" I yelled. Daisy, or rather Daze as we call her, and Rudy greeted me as well.
If we were to fit into a group, it would be the Slum artists. Rudy, though a quiet man, was responsible for all of the anti-Shinra graffiti that littered our sector. Daze built random statues around using all the junk that they dumped from above the plate. And when Zig wasn't working, he liked to sit in the marketplace to place songs and panhandle.
No one felt threatened by us, but we had enough street cred to not be bothered by bullies.
"Come have a beer," Daze said as she slid over to open a spot.
"Don't mind if I do," I said cheerfully.
Zig reached over and snatched my new hat off of my head. "And what is this?" Zig said. "I've never seen you wearing this."
"I found it," I said as I smoothed my hair down, "It's nice, right?"
Daze admired the hat, wide eyed, "Oh man, that looks so good on you. I want one."
"Well then you better start digging," Zig sighed, losing interest in my new accesory. "You probably wont see a hat like that for another 10 years down here." He placed the hat back on top of my head.
"Zig's wrong. You'll see it on me everyday," I joked. "Pass me a beer?" I nudged Rudy's leg. He grunted, and then handed me one. The metal can was perspiring with cold drops of water. I leaned back and pressed it up against my forehead. My eyes closed. No one spoke, and I listened as everyone gave a collective sigh.
"Goddamn, I'm really tired," Rudy said. "It's just one of those days, you know?"
"You don't have to tell me twice," said Daze. "I feel like everything is getting so much harder." She made sure to drag out the word 'so.'
"To be honest, I feel like everyday is like this," I added.
I took their silence as bitter agreement. Nobody really wanted to admit that life had become so monotonous. To be honest, I found the monotony to be comforting. Sure, things weren't prefect, but they weren't bad either. Tomorrow would be the same as today, and today ended with me and my friends sitting around and sipping beer. Was that really so bad?
Maybe it didn't bother me because I hadn't lived this life very long. I'd only been living with Zig and working my job for a year and a half, and the six months before that was a blur spent on the floor of an abandoned train, with Zig checking up on me every few days. And, the 18 years or so before that? Well. I'd lost those memories long before Zig found me.
I sighed and opened my eyes. Zig really did save me, didn't he? He gave me the name Matilda. He gave me a home, and acted as my family. Though I never felt certain I deserved it, I was beyond grateful; I was indebted to him.
Whenever things got too quiet, Zig always sung. "We're gonna have a good day / And all my homies gonna ride today / And all these mommies look fly today / And all we wanna do is get by today..."
It didn't take long for us to join in, "Heyyy! We're gonna have a good day / And ain't nobody gotta cry today / Cause ain't nobody gonna die today / You can save that drama for another day / Heyyy we're gonna have a good day!" By the end of our chorus we were screaming the words at the top of our lunges without a single note on key, besides Zig; Zig hit all the notes. I raised my beer up in the air and whooped in excitement. We laughed, and our laughs smoothed out into chuckles, and then into a tired lull once more.
"But actually a bunch of people died today," Zig said once we finished. "Soo—that song is completely useless."
"Goddammit, Zig. You just had to remind us," I groaned.
"It was really dramatic too," Zig added. He liked having the last word.
When the others left, Zig and I went back into our house. When we flicked the lights on, a cluster of roaches dispersed and scampered into the corners of the house. Zig fearlessly crossed the room, and landed with a thump on his mattress. Zig weighed only 130 pounds, however even that much weight dropped made our sad little house whine and creek.
I moved slowly to my mattress, pulling it slightly away from the wall in which I knew the roaches were hiding. While doing a thorough check through my sheets for any potential critters, Zig flipped on our TV. He switched it to the news, which covered the Reactor explosion. He sat quietly, with his arms crossed over his chest, and his mouth pulled into a pensive line.
I knew better than to bother him while he watched the news, so I slipped into my bed, tucking my blankets in to create a small cocoon for myself.
"Boss, you're going to get hot," Zig warned, glowering at me. "You're going to wake up sweaty, and you're going to complain to me."
"Better covered in sweat than in roaches," I concluded.
Zig shrugged, and continued to watch his channel. I didn't really like the news. It just made me really sad to hear all the terrible things that happened in the world. I'd rather block it out, and worry more about the things directly in front of me. I didn't mind not knowing.
However, Zig never felt the need to turn the volume down for my sake. So, I'd get snippets of the news anyway. To sum, they blamed Avalanche for the explosion. Figures. The news loved to blame avalanche for everything. If they could find a way, they'd blame my fear of roaches on the eco-terrorists.
Ha. That would be funny.
The day before
Zig almost always went to sleep after me, and somehow always managed to wake up before me. I usually woke up just in time to catch him throwing his jacket on, and rushing through the front door. However, today, the noise of him chewing woke me up. He sat cross-legged on his bed, with a box of cereal wedged between his thighs. I sat up and wiped my hair out of my face.
"Save some for me," I croaked. My morning voice made me sound like a frog.
Zig grinned and tossed the box over to me. A few pieces scattered across the floor, which reminded me I had to clean. Our house was a mess. Zig stretched his arms up and hopped onto his feet. I quietly munched on my breakfast. I lay back on my bed, running my hands through my hair as I listened to Zig rummaging about the house and preparing to get ready to leave.
"Hey Zig," I said.
"What is it, boss?"
"What did the ghost say to the bees?"
"Ah..." Zig's distant grumbles made it clear how little attention he paid me, but I didn't blame him. I knew he was late. He still managed a response to my joke, "I'm dead, and you'll bee next?"
I snorted, and rolled onto my stomach. His answer was much better than the real one. I wiped my nose as I tried to hold in the giggles. "No," I mumbled, "Boo-bees!"
Zig chuckled, "Are you sure that's an appropriate joke that a girl should be telling?" He asked.
"Yes. I can do and say what I want," I said. Zig paused his getting ready to throw a pillow at me. "Okay, fine." I raised my hands in the air in defeat, "I get it. Gosh."
Zig slipped into his only blazer, "You mad, boss?"
"No," I said. Which wasn't a hundred percent true. I wasn't fuming angry, but I thought the joke was funny. And I wanted to tell it.
All the wind left my lungs when Zig fell across me. "NGUH!" was the noise that escaped my throat. Zig laughed and lifted his feet of the ground in order to place more weight on me. "Nnnn—GED OFF MEH-!" I cried.
"You mad, Boss? Huh?" He taunted. "Tell me the truth!"
"STOP! GED OFF!"I wedge my hands beneath Zig's stomach, and tried to use my arms to roll off. When it seemed clear he wouldn't budge, I started to whine, hoping the sheer pitch of my voice would move him.
"Okay, calm down," Zig laughed. I heaved as the air finally entered again. He stood up on his feet, and brushed himself off. "You're so easy to tease."
I sat up and pushed his knees, "You're a jerk."
Zig waved his hands as if saying yeah, yeah, and then turned to the door. I wished he'd stay and entertain me for a while longer. He stopped, just before he walked across the threshold to the outside. "Rudy and Daze were thinking a fancy dinner after you get back. You in?" I scooped out a huge handful of the cereal, tossed my head backwards and poured all of it into my mouth. I grunted a yes in response, as Zig left.
I listened as his heavy footsteps-thump thump thump-thumped down the steps of our porch, and the sound of the gravel adjusting below his feet as he walked away. When I could no long hear him, I shed my blanket off, and started my own day.
Zig was right about the sweat—my hair was matted with it, and my skin felt so much stickier than usual. I could've shower at my job, but I didn't want to have to travel all the way to work feeling so disgusting.
I placed a bucket in the sink, and filled it to the brim with cold water. I carried it out onto the porch, and held my head upside down as I dumped it over myself. I gasped as the cold water passed over me, sending shivers up and down my spine. When I was done, I whipped my hair back and forth to dry it to my best ability.
I quickly slipped into my clothes, picked up the hat I found the day before, and secured it on to my head. I grabbed my purse, and stepped out the front door. A smile plastered itself onto my face, which might've been disconcerting to strangers. It didn't bother me enough to get me to stop.
The train had already arrived when I got to the platform. I tipped my hat at the conductor as I stepped in. The car was empty, so I figured many people had gotten the day off due the explosion. I sat down and crossed my legs. One of the Transit Employees, or T.E.'s, glared out the window. He let out an exasperated sigh and adjusted his tie. "Not again," he muttered.
Suddenly, the group I had seen the night before poured into the train. The three less daunting ones came in first, and all stood right in front of the T.E. and I. They chattered away casually. Then came the large man with a mechanical arm.
"Yo!" He shouted. His voice thundered and made me jump. "This ain't no goddam private car, so split up!" With that, the original three hopped up, and ran into another car. I watched in awe. That must've meant that the big guy was their leader, right? He caught me staring, and leaned over me as if he were about to say something. I dropped my eyes.
"...hoodlums again. God, I just have all the luck, don't I?" The T.E. muttered. It came as a surprise that such a tiny man spoke so candidly with the leader right there.
The leader stomped up to the T.E. "What?" He growled, "You got somethin' to say?" The T.E. grew small, and fell down on a seat. "No, seriously man, why don't you say something?" He stood directly above the T.E., who now trembled in fea. The leader burst out into a fit of laughter, "It looks like their ain't that many people left in here, man. You can spit it out, ain't nobody going to judge."
"It's empty...because of guys like you..." The T.E. mumbled. The leader slammed his fist against the window above the T.E., making the poor man cry out in fear.
If Zig were here, he would've jumped up to protect the T.E., but I just gaped at the two. The leader directed his attention at me. "What the hell are you lookin' at, huh?" He shouted across the car.
"N-nothing!" I stammered."I'm sorry!"
I stood up to switch cars, but the Soldier from the day before caught me by the shoulders just before I crashed into him. I felt trapped, and was on the brink of tears. "I'm sorry!" I yelled again.
The Soldier remained calm and looked over my shoulder, to where the leader and the T.E. were talking. I clamped my mouth shut, as the Soldier pressed his index finger to his lips. "Barret," He warned. "Enough." I took a few steps away from him until my back pressed against the double doors.
"Screw you, Soldier boy!" The leader Barret yelled.
"You...you've seen the news, right?" the T.E. chimed in. "Avalanche says there will be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today." The leader Barret jumped back on his heels as if the T.E. had hit a soft spot. His confidence began to falter.
"You're workin' for Shinra?" he spoke with a lot more hesitancy now.
"I won't give into you're violence, and -"
A woman, who I hadn't seen with the group before, ran forward, "Barret!" She shouted. And then the tension subsided, just like that. Barret huffed, and moved away from the T.E.
The Soldier nodded towards me. "Nice hat," he said calmly. I placed my hand on my head. I'd almost forgot that I wore it. "Sit down. Everything's gonna be okay."
I obliged. Not because I though that everything really was going to be okay, but because I feared what Barret or the Soldier might do if I didn't.
The woman and Barret came running back to meet the Soldier. They edged back into the far corner of the train, and spoke with lowered voices. Despite their clear intentions to be discreet, I still heard them.
"You've got a temper." The soldier said, "And you're scaring the civilians."
"The hell do you care about fuckin' civilians?" Barret stage-whispered back. The Soldier paused, and then shrugged.
"So, what now?" The Soldier asked.
"Shit! You bustin' up my rhythm..." said Barret.
The whole car shook as we pulled out of the station. The woman sighed and rubbed her forehead, "Finally we can go."
"So, what now?" The soldier asked again, sharply. Barret laughed and leaned up against one of the nearby poles. He crossed his arms across his chest and stared at he Soldier with a grin.
"Well, well, well, listen to Mr. Serious-bout-his-work," Barret teased. "Try to calm the fuck down, Cloud. We just left the station." The Soldier huffed and Barret cracked his neck. "Awright, I'll tell ya. Jessie's probably already told ya, but there's a security checkpoint at the top of the plate. It's an ID scan checkin' all the trains. Which mean's our fake's are crap."
I felt my heart drop at this. They'd confirmed the T.E.'s suspicions. This strange group was, without a doubt, the infamous Avalanche. Why else would Barret have faltered at the accusation? Why would the need fake ID's? I clenched my bag to my chest, and folded my torse over it. My stomach swirled.
Good Morning! Welcome to Midgar Lines. Estimated arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45.
"Three minutes until ID check point," the woman mumbled.
"Awright. Three minutes 'till we jump this train. Got it?" Barret commanded.
Then their footsteps dispersed. I kept my head between my knees, hoping that they'd go away. I focused on humming some of Zig's songs, my intent being that the sound of my voice would clog everything else going on in the train. I tapped my foot, and hummed a bit louder. It worked for a moment. That is, until I felt someone's hand on my back. I twitched, and peeked out from my knees to find the Soldier standing above me.
"Sorry," he muttered.
"What is it?" I sat up and placed my hand on my head, still feeling completely unsettled by his presence. Were they going to blow up the train, the main pillar? I couldn't bare the thought of it. I kept my eyes firmly shut.
"Why are you doing that?" The Soldier demanded. I shook my head. "Hey, are you listening?"
I put my palm up, hoping that he'd just leave me alone. I felt a shift in the air as he sat down in the spot next to me. "I just-" I tried to mutter something, but the words got caught in my throat.
"Here," the SOLDIER said. The faint smell of rose wafted into my nose. I opened my eyes to see that he was holding a flower between two fingers. I furrowed my brows at it. I'd honestly never seen a real one before—and it was so vibrant, so different from the dark grungy color that surrounded the city.
"Are you giving this to me?" I asked. The Soldier shrugged. I took it from him. "Why?"
"I don't know," he mumbled, "I mean, I didn't really need it."
"But it's a flower," I said. As I rolled the stem between my fingers, the flower twirled and danced. "Where did you get it?" The Soldier shrugged. I gave up asking, and just managed a "thank you."
"It's nothing," he said.
"What's your your name?"
"It's Cloud."
"Cloud." The name had a taste. "Thank you."
"I said it's nothing," Cloud snapped. Despite Cloud's harshness, I felt myself smile. Whether he knew or not, all of my worries and concerns for my wellbeing washed away. If Cloud had carried the flower, which was so fragile and helpless, and then passed it along to me, he wouldn't dare threaten it now. Maybe he'd passed it along to me, to represent a shield. To let me know I could trust him.
He still scared me, but less than before.
I slipped the flower into the ribbon of my hat, and took a deep breath. I smiled at Cloud, feeling the urge to thank him again, but I figured that he wouldn't really care one way or another. So I just watched him, and I devoured his presence.
"Cloud!" The woman called. Cloud lifted his head up, and then without turning back, walked over to her. I sighed, and unconsciously reached up to touch my flower. Barret scrutinized me as I did this from across the aisle.
I cleared my throat and looked at the ground again. But sometimes I couldn't control my eyes, and they seemed be magnetically pulled to Cloud. In this case, they landed on Cloud's back. All Soldier's are equip with swords, but not the type that Cloud carried. It was massive, almost too massive to be realistically carried. It was clean, but did not look new. When Cloud shifted, and the light hit its surface, I noticed how many scratches riddled it. It had seen more than it's fair of share of battles.
It looked so familiar, but why? I leaned forward, and tried to shout Cloud's name to ask, but the alarm drowned my voice out. The lights blinked red and I thought, this is it, Avalanche got caught. But I was wrong. Before I my mind caught up, they disappeared into the next car. I bit my lip and slumped back into my seat, and watied for the lights to go back to normal.
I stood in line along with all of the other people who happened to be on the train along with Avalanche. Shinra SOLDIER's walked up and down the line shouting ridiculous threats at us about how if we didn't admit to something, we'd be thrown in jail. I was already late to work. I should've known that there'd be some security precautions that Shinra would have to take after Cloud's gang tripped the alarms.
Despite Shinra's quick reaction, Avalanche got away.
The T.E. who'd gotten into a fight with the leader Barret, stood on the Shinra side of the line wearing a smug grin. He kept looking at me as if I was suspicious, which I found to be completely unnecessary. He must've seen the way I tried to run when Barret yelled at me. But then again, Cloud gave me a flower. That probably looked bad.
"I'll be needing to see everyone's ID's," The Shinra Soldier commanded. Unlike Cloud, he wore a helmet over his head. I wondered if all of the Soldier's knew each other?
I reached into my bag, and pulled out my ID card. The Soldier went down the line and scanned everyone's card. He asked the normal questions—what's your occupation? who's your employer? where are you from? What are you doing coming above the plate?—I guessed we all looked like we were from the slums. The Soldier's made it seem like we had no business standing below an open sky.
Eventually, the Soldier came to me and snatched my ID from my grip. He placed his scanner directly against the card and without making eye contact, he spoke, "Job?"
"I work in the box office," I began, "At the Loveless Theatre."
The SOLDIER pursed his lips, "I know the place. Where you from?"
"Sector 7," I answered. "And I'm 20."
"Right," he said. He cocked his head at the screen, and wrinkled his nose, "We only have records of you in our system the passed 2 years. Where were you before that?" I sucked my lips in as I tried to come up with an appropriate response. The Soldier must've noticed my hesitancy, "Well, you don't have to answer that. It's not really important. You check out." He handed my ID back to me, but paused, "Your background checks out, but sources tells us that you had interacted with the terrorists-in-question. You're going to have hang back so we can talk to you a little more."
"Of course," I muttered. I placed my ID back into my bag and let out a sigh. 'Sources' they say. The T.E. ratted me out.
After everyone had been checked, they pulled me aside and just sat me down on a nearby bench. It seemed very unprofessional, but I knew not to mention it.
"I told you," I sighed, "I literally just met them today."
"You were with them again yesterday, though," The Soldier said with a tone of finality.
"Yeah—they were taking the train back at the same time as I was. It was just a coincidence—Hey, I thought I wasn't in trouble…?" My voice squeaked at the end of my question. A lump had formed in my throat.
"You're not. We're just trying to make sure. When you spoke to them, did they say anything?"
I shook my head, "No, not about anything important…" I did my best to recall any thing that would satisfy the Soldier's, and now Shinra folks. I just wanted to go. "They were really worried about the ID checkpoints. They were going to jump the train before so that they could—I don't think they said what they were going to do."
"So it was their plan all along to jump?" The Soldier asked. I shrugged. He turned and began muttering something to another nearby Shinra Employee. They seemed to be coming up with someway to locate Avalanche, but they were speaking too low for me to be able to really understand.
"One of them was a Soldier," I interjected, "I think. Or he was wearing a uniform. His name's Cloud."
"Cloud, you say?" The Soldier rubbed his thumb against his chin, "Alright!" He yelled. "I'm going to need a few of you to go inform President Shinra that there will most likely be an attack on the 5th reactor. Tell them that one of them is a traitor, and that immediate precautions should be taking in order to catch Avalanche." A small group saluted him, and scurried off towards Shinra headquarters. Then he pulled out a phone, and made a call. "Yes sir. Yes. A girl who goes by the name Matilda. Yes. Understood." He hung up the phone and clenched it in his palm.
"Is that it then? Can I go?" I asked. The Soldier peered at me, and fell silent for a moment. He sighed and slipped the phone into a pocket in his pants.
"Not quite. You've got someone who wants to see you again, who's a lot higher up in the food chain. It's not my call anymore." he said. Although his face was hidden, I could hear a smile in his voice
"What, me?" I gasped, "Why?"
The Soldier focused on all of those who remained, and disregarded my question, "Take her in to custody."
"Wait!" I shouted, "I didn't do anything! I swear! This has to be a mistake!" Too late. The SOLDIER walked away, as the others began twisting my arms behind me, attempting to put my hands into cuffs. I continued, "Didn't you hear me? I said I haven't done anything! I'm a nobody! Why are you doing this?" They started to haul me off, and I started to throw my weight around, hard.
They lifted me off of the ground, which gave them the upper hand. I still did my best to scream, but they taped my mouth shut.
I couldn't believe it.
My heart thumped so fast, I thought I might vomit. My head began to throb.
They pulled a cloth bag over my head. I knew I was in their power now.
I almost completely gave up, when I heard an explosion. Not the big type of explosion, like the one that came from the destruction of a reactor, but a small one; a pop, directly next to my ear. The one of the men carrying me shouted, and I dropped to the ground. My back slammed against the pavement.
A sharp pain shattered through my skull, and I gasped. All of the senses around me began to fade, and for a moment, just a moment, I thought I heard someone whispering into my head. A soft, low, warm voice that whispered snippets of sentences that I could not piece together. -family-don't-good-happy-lost- and then a chuckle. 'Matilda. Matilda. Matilda.'
"Matilda!" Someone had their arms around me. They pulled me into their lap. I tried to get my thoughts back in order, but my mind felt in pieces. That is, until the person holding me pulled the bag from my head. "Are you okay? Shit! What happened?"
"Zig." Oh thank god it was Zig. I don't think I'd ever been brought to tears with relief, but in that moment, seeing him made me cry. Zig shoulders relaxed, and he pushed my head into his chest, squeezing me tightly.
Okay, I went through and updated this part of the story. I made it longer, as per suggested. There are a few changes from the original, but not by much. I'll be adding chapter names as well!
Leave a review, comment or simply introduce yourself. Thanks thanks thanks!
I don't own any of the lyrics. Credit goes to Nappy Roots.