Steps
Aya + Aki
By: L 0 K I
Safe
When it became too difficult to keep track of him with her eyes, Aya turned her head back and hugged the uniformly white motel pillow to her, creasing its spotless pillowcase in her nervous fingers.
The bed shifted under her with her brother's weight, dipping her one way and then the other, before settling.
"Aya," he whispered, and gooseflesh broke out on her bare arms at the sound---he didn't sound quite like himself anymore. His voice was deeper, rougher, and spoke to something unknown in her---a barest touch on her spine.
"What is it," she whispered back, hesitant at the sound of her own voice. It didn't quite sound like her either.
"Hmm?" he murmured, then took a deep breath. When he spoke again, he sounded like himself once more. Like her brother. "I'm going to lift your shirt up, just a little..."
She frowned slightly into the pillow, but kept her eyes closed. Then she was puzzled to realize that she had closed her eyes. She shrugged, shifting her shoulders slightly. "Okay."
A long pause, filled with silence, and distant traffic filtered through the thin walls. Then a tentative touch on the small of her back, the gentle, slow slide of cloth.
His fingers were cool on her over-heated skin, slipping under the hem of her blouse and lightly easing the thin material up.
"Lift up," he instructed, tugging on her shirt a little, and she moved to obey, arching her back. The cloth bunched under her, stopping just below her breast and exposing the dip of her back, and a little lower.
A single finger traced slowly down her spine, but before she could process or react, he moved, throwing one leg over her and straddling the backs of her knees.
Her heart began beating harder in her chest, but she couldn't understand why. Other than the fact that it was a blatantly dominant pose---And brothers weren't to be trusted when they had the upper-hand, she concluded fondly in her own head, relaxing and conveniently forgetting that trickle of sensation that had shot through her when she sensed his weight bearing down on her. Not heavy or restricting...but inescapably there.
"Relax, Aya," he whispered, petting a gentle hand over her tangled hair. "We don't have to do this if you really don't want to."
Her ribs expanded noticeably as she took a deep breath. She hadn't even noticed that she had tensed up. With a half-hearted count to ten, she forced herself to relax, uncurling her hands and smoothing them over the duvet. She found a slight rip in the material, and focused on it, allowing her mind to draw up vague lines and scenarios to explain how it had gotten there. Maybe someone had a nightmare; maybe a pair of playful lovers had played 'tug 'o war' with it. Maybe someone...
Seconds later she was calm again. More than that, she was sleepy.
So long running from one tragedy to the next, witnessing one horror after another. In this anonymous motel room, Ceres quiet under the power of the seal, with only her brother, whom she trusted implicitly, she felt...safe. Safe, for the first time in weeks.
She practically melted into the mattress in contentment, completely going boneless and closing her eyes again. This wasn't so bad, being on the run. Other things and other times might be, but this moment?
Not bad.
Safe
Vt 1 : freed from harm or risk : unhurt 2 a : secure from threat of danger, harm, or loss : healthy, sound : not threatening danger : harmless : cautious : trustworthy : To render safe; to make right. A place for keeping things in safety : Conferring safety; securing from harm; not exposing to danger; confining securely; to be relied upon; not dangerous; as, a safe harbor; a safe bridge, etc. : of an undertaking. Suggests present or immediate freedom from threatening harm; implies freedom from anxiety or apprehension of danger or risk
Synonyms: Secure. Unendangered. Sure. Guarded. Benign. Unmarked. Free from danger. Protected. In safe hands. Out of harm's way. Innocent. Dependable. Trustworthy.
TBC...