Cupid's Bow
Chapter 6
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I falter when I hear them.
Sounds, pained and weighted and sore, vibrate through the softened floor and sink, unrelenting, into my skin.
I grip my top tightly as my breathing picks up, fingernails digging into my skin as I fight the urge to turn around. To do… what? He understood. He must have. I said I was going, and… he let me go. Simple. It's what I wanted… right?
Right, I think firmly. But… I didn't want to hurt anyone.
The thought, or just that word really, startles me so much I almost tumble. Back home, I'd never had to worry about other people, not in the sense of anything personal, anyway. We were created in groups – or batches – and we stayed that way until the day came where we'd be sent off to do our pre-assigned things for our pre-ready world. I had lived with the same people for as long as I could remember… but I'd never really known any of them. And now suddenly I'm culpable of someone else's pain?
Shaking the thought away, I halt on the spot too abruptly, withholding a groan of my own as I scrunch my eyes shut. Why is this so complicated? Maybe the truth of the matter is that it isn't, not really. I was dropped here with the preconceived notion – judgement – of what I was going to find. I'd heard all the stories, just like everyone else, I knew of Their… ways. And I was steadfast in my belief that I would never take part in them – be like Them.
That was still firm… but maybe there was more to this place than what I'd originally thought.
His pained moan cuts the air, and I wince.
More to Them.
So with a resigned puff of breath, I swivel on my heel and start marching back in the wrong direction.
OoOoOo
OoOoOoOo
OoOoOo
I hesitate.
Surprise mixed with something bitter churns in my stomach as I hover some feet away from him, taking in his new position on the soft. He's curled up like a tiny foetus in a test tube, body trembling, as a constant flux of pure ache falls from his mouth in groans and whimpers.
I feel terrible… and confused.
Did I do that?
"Hey…" Almost soundless, because my throat feels so tight all of a sudden.
But he must hear me, because his trembling ceases so abruptly, it's like I've flicked a switch under his skin.
Slowly, so slowly, he lifts his head.
His eyes are shiny, wet, sad.
My breath leaves me in a great gust, rattling my insides as it brushes past. "Sorry," I breathe, not even stuttering.
In reply, he starts to unfurl from his tight position. I hold my ground as he becomes taller again, keeping my breathing steady and even. It's alright, I tell myself. He's fine. You're fine.
Once he's fully erect, he ducks his head like he did earlier, though he's still much, much bigger than me – even across the distance separating us now. He doesn't make a move to close it, though, which makes this… this, easier, to say the least.
For a minute, I don't say a word, and he just breathes.
"Um…" I eventually mumble-start, fidgeting a little. I take a deep breath, trying to ignore the bizarreness of the situation and instead focus on what I need to do now. But it's sort of hard to do that, when your everything-opposite-and-more is standing in front you. "Um…"
All the while I'm dilly-dallying, he just stands there, glistening and still. Mostly, I appreciate his quiet. But a part of me is stewing in guilt – something I wouldn't even have considered feeling towards one of Them, or anyone, before – and it persists like a bad headache. Did I break him? I think, then cringe at my own thoughts because –
He's not a thing.
The thought jolts me as much as the concept of guilt and pain.
"Bella," I just blurt out, no preamble.
Maybe it's the sudden change in my tone or the tiny step I take forwards, but at any rate, his head snaps up.
Before I lose my nerve, I press a palm to my heart and repeat, "Bella."
I watch his odd eyes flicker down to my hand, then up to my mouth before going back to my hand again. The green-gold lights up with, I think, recognition.
His arm lifts, pressing sparkle-studded fingers to his shining-bright chest. "Edward."
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A/N: :)