The day dawned clear and promisingly sunny. A few wisps of cotton-candy clouds hung in the sky. The air smelled sooty and fresh, sweet with flower perfume and grass and clean water. Birds were having a field day snatching up all the soggy worms.
Law and Topaz, on the other hand, were less than happy to see the awkward morning light peeking through the windows.
Topaz's grass-green eyes had dark bruise-like circles under them and the whites of her eyes were bloodshot to the point where they were almost completely red. Her hair was brushed smooth, but limp and lackluster. The clothing she chose to wear–plain blue jeans and a form-fitting dark gray t-shirt–hung off of her skinny frame. She had her brace on the outside of her jeans, buckled tightly. The overall effect was like something from a horror picture. She looked like a ghost.
Law was used to not sleeping. His gunmetal eyes were faintly red-rimmed, but that was all. His hair was mussed and the split in his lip looked swollen and angry as if he had been gnawing it with worry. The bruises and scars and wounds on the rest of his body made him look like a young man who had been through hell, but had at least been able to sleep a few hours.
Topaz had not elected to use her wheelchair this morning. Her crippled leg scrape-scratch-dragged behind her as she moved around the kitchen. She appeared distracted, troubled, and her face was dark with sleeplessness. Their altercation the night before must have kept her from sleeping and Law had not heard her crying out in her dreams. The sound troubled Law, but he didn't really know why. He thought of the drill going into her flesh and shivered. The same thing had nearly been done to him… to his eyes… He shuddered at the memory, teeth almost rattling together.
"Miss Topaz," Law ventured nervously. There was a quiver of fear in his voice, but he tried to crush it down.
"I'm so sorry, Trafalgar. I'm so sorry," she whispered. A plate slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor.
Law leaped in his skin, heart hammering against his ribcage like a trapped animal trying to escape.
Topaz's leg slid across the tile and she hooked her fingers through the top of her brace to drag it beneath her again. Then, she leaned heavily on the counter. She sniffled and her shoulders heaved shakily. She was crying.
She was crying because of him.
Law's blood turned to ice in his veins.
This was it. This was the end of his dream of a safe place.
He made her cry, denied her himself, denied her his body. Now…
She would kill him!
…
It was so quiet.
It was too quiet.
The silence stretched on endlessly.
Topaz shivered and tried to silence the sobs that crept up her throat.
The only things she could hear were the sound of her heart beating, slamming against her ribs, and the rattle-tap of her brace on the tile floor as her leg trembling from weakness.
Pieces of crockery lay spread on the floor like pieces of a broken soul, spread out, too sharp to put back together and too small to matter. The sound of the plate breaking had been so horribly loud, like her heart breaking inside her chest.
Now, the quiet was haunting.
Law was stone-still. His striking face was chalk-white and his eyes were terrified.
The quiet stretched on.
Topaz was unable to find her voice and Law was too frozen in terror to speak.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
…
The sound was so abrupt and sudden and unexpected that Topaz's heart leaped into her throat and she heard Law inhale so sharply she thought he had bit his tongue. The gasp he produced sounded like one of pain and fear. Swallowing, Topaz limped from the kitchen and went to the door.
She pulled it open and her leg spiked with pain from ankle to hip.
Whimpering, Topaz directed her attention from her crippled leg to the white rectangle of light that was her door. It was sunny and blessedly summery looking outside. The birds were chirping and the sky was bright crystal-clear cloudless blue.
Her porch was deserted save a cheerful little robin with a bright red chest and a small nondescript cardboard box with a white letter folded beneath the string. Curious, Topaz bent to retrieve the package. It was fairly light and seemed rather empty.
She returned to the kitchen, walked past Law without looking at him, set the box on the counter, and got out a knife to slit the string and paper. But first, she freed the letter and opened it. It bore a simple plain message—a gift for Topaz-chan—and no name of the sender.
A knot of dread formed inside Law's stomach. Something was very wrong with this package.
Biting her lip, Topaz raised the knife and slit the paper and string. Then, she pulled it away.
The box looked rather plain and nonthreatening. It was neatly taped closed. She split the tape and then timidly peeled open the flaps of cardboard.
Immediately, she clapped her hands over her mouth with a stifled howl of anguish and whirled away from the open box. She tripped over her own legs and smashed headlong into Law. He crashed backwards, shocked, and was unable to catch himself. They both slammed into the floor with Law's body taking the brunt of the fall.
He grunted and gripped her shoulders. She fisted her fingers in the front of his shirt and her nails dug into his flesh. She was whimpering and sobbing, gripping him tightly as though he was her last lifeline.
"Miss Topaz? What is it?" Law croaked.
"The box," she whispered. "Look…!"
There was such profound terror in her voice that he had to see what had frightened her so much. He gently lifted her from him and helped her sit back on her good leg. She continued sobbing into her hands while Law went to the counter and peered nervously into the box.
It was lined with a white plastic bag and written in red on the inside of the cardboard flaps were the words Love Bellamy.
Nestled in the plastic was a small animal, butchered. Its skin was ripped and torn apart and filleted back from the bones. Beneath the mutilated skin was muscle slashed and peeled apart in layers. Its face was nothing but jaw bones and teeth and a slavering tongue that quivered weakly.
That's when Law realized…
It was still alive!
Sickened, he turned his face away for a moment, biting hard on his lip. It wouldn't live long and this had only been done to it a short time ago, but until it died, it would know suffering that no one should ever be forced to know.
Law had suffered as well and he couldn't bear to see this creature suffer, too.
Then, he reached into the box and gripped the slimy bloody creature's body with both hands. It whimpered and quivered and trembled in his hands. Again, he turned his face away and gripped the thing tighter. Smoothly and without thinking about what he was going to do, he broke its neck.
The animal gave one last death quiver and then died instantly.
Law turned to Topaz. She had stopped weeping and was staring directly at Law's saddened face.
"It's him," she whispered. "He's begun." And then, she held out her arms for the bloody creature in his hands.
He did not give it to her.
...
Questions, comments, concerns?
Also, I have a question: Should this be a strictly platonic story, or should there be romance between Law and Topaz? Leave an answer with a review.