A Porcelain Heart – A Neverland Story
Written by N.L.P.
Chapter Four – Treading Lightly
Leg swings over leg; hand reaches for the next splintering piece of wood that made up the dilapidated trellis.
James would go to the end of the world for Rose, he knew that if anything ever happened to her that he would do everything in his power to save her, or at the very least avenge her and then follow the girl into the beyond. Even though a few scratches from the rotting wood was no where near what he would be willing to take for her, he regretted not stealing the ladder out of the shed.
His breath was melting the bits of snow that had landed around his mouth, making his chin drip with icy water and condensation. As soon as his dark curls appeared at her windowsill and he was safely inside the room he wiped the moisture off of his glistening face, only to see his motion mimicked from the other side of the room, for different reasons of course.
There was Rose, wearing nothing but a nightgown with soaking wet hair in this freezing room. Her eyes were slightly glossy and red like they always got when she had been crying. He had never actually caught her in the act of crying, only afterward with dry red eyes and a small smile that said she was feeling better. Now that he saw the fine tears leaking down her face he wished that it had stayed that way. That he would never have to see her like this. Muttering something about catching a cold he shut the window, quickly running about to turn on the heater and fetch extra blankets from her closet.
Rose was always so strong it unsettled him to see her broken down, clutched between her clammy fingers was a black and white photograph of her self. She was so beautiful, it was sunny and she was smiling and leaning back against a tree. She looked like the doppelganger of the girl holding it. Prying it from her fingers he wrapped a blanket around her, and pushed her wet hair behind her ears. She smelled nice, like she'd just showered and this close he could tell that she still used the same cheep soap they had in most of the shelters. Using his scarf he patted dry her cheeks where her short wet hair had clung.
Looking back up at him she gave him the same little smile that he was just thinking about. The corners of her lips tugged upward to the left a bit more than the right, but that was somehow charming. "Thank you." She whispered, her voice hoarse and quiet. Leaning over to kiss her forehead lightly he took the picture from her hands and walked back to the window, leaning it outward so that all the people in London could be graced with that smile.
Now that her hands were unoccupied she pulled the soft down blanket tighter around her. Sitting down on the window seat across the room James looked at her really for the first time since his mother hen like instinct to protect her had kicked in. A fresh bruise spread from the nub of her ear to the highest part of her cheekbone encompassing angry red scratches. The series of feelings that erupted in his chest were incomprehensible and varied from rage to an obsessive panic. Shaking his head he started taking off his scarf, all the motions he was making getting sharper and angrier till he threw the thing to the thing to the floor. Each button he undid on his jacket might have felt threatened for their life if they were capable of emotion.
"She can't keep doing shit like this to you!" Throwing his jacket down on the ground his eyes locked with hers, already starting to return to their normal state. She was always a good one for recovery. Taking his shoes off with the same intensity he threw them across the room to bounce off the wall with a light thud and skid under the bed one by one. Rose, not even flinching through his outburst bit her lip, and gently touched her cheek.
What goes up must come down they say and James did crash, flopping onto the bed in front of her. Moving the blankets aside she was much like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. Curling up to fit perfectly into his side, his chest now her pillow Rose closed her eyes and draped the many blankets over them both.
"It's not that Bad, I promise. Tonight might be the only time I'll actually see her in a month or two…" her voice was soft and reassuring but as her arms wrapped around his middle it seemed as if she was trying too hard to reassure him she was fine. What did she get out of being here anyways? What did she have here that he couldn't make up for in all the love he had for her?
"Why can't you just let me take you away from it all. We could leave and go somewhere far away. America maybe, I know you've always wanted to see that big red canyon thing." His voice rose a bit hopefully, but a deep weary sigh brought him down from his dream. Standing beside the Grand Canyon he could just imagine the way her hair would fall in her eyes and how she'd be thankful that they were far away and together. Imagining seemed to be the only way that would ever happen to him though.
"I can't James… I wish I could but living with her is like sleeping with the lesser of two evils." Even though he gave her a funny look and her bright gray blue eyes were staring back at him she continued with her conviction. "If I run away from here again then I'll just be put back into the hands of the government. Nikki may be what she is, but I know how to stay out of her way, and she is so afraid of this room that she never bothers me in it. It may still be a cage but it's so much bigger than the other one I would get." Squeezing him a bit tighter she smiled wide, "At least I get to see you when I'm here."
When she did that he never had any other choice than to smile back at her and reach over her to turn off the light. Cuddling close he wished tonight had been some sort of amazingly romantic break where he could finally tell her that ever moment he was thinking of her and every moment he was around her he couldn't stop thinking about kissing her. Of course it never turned out like he planned, drifting to sleep stroking her hair he realized he didn't mind just being with her much at all. The world was so peaceful in those first few moments of sleep that he never would have heard the window swing back open and shut again.
When the sun appeared it only glinted on one smiling Rose in the room, peacefully asleep in the arms of the only person she ever had care about her. The black and white doppelganger was gone.