Mad Green Eyes

Chapter 10 - A Memory

(Note - I'm rubbish at doing deep, emotional scenes so apologies for this - and also this will not remain Chapter 10, as it actually is a memory fragment that comes later in the story - but enough rambling, try to enjoy it!)

A Memory -

She was kneeling in the snow, bent over and her lips pressed against the cold gravestone. When she pulled away, her light hair shifted and Ig saw the dark, bottomless hollow weep with reddish tears. She raised a hand and wiped it away, leaving a crimson smear across her cheek.

'We can go now,' she spoke through gritted teeth, not looking at him, 'I'm done here.'

When finally she raised her head, Ada's frosty eye was shining. She gazed at the fluffy clouds, as if looking for something there. It was all Ig could do not to shake her by the shoulders and beg her not to cry - instead he reached out a hand and placed it on her arm.

'I'm fine!' She snapped, knocking his hand away. When she breathed in the frosty air, her voice cracked and when she exhaled a violent sob trembled right through her. Ig watched in stunned silence as she tried to compose herself, wiping more of the bloody tears from her face. He tugged more insistently on her sleeve.

'Didn't you hear me? I said I'm fine, I'm alright!' Ada hissed, whirling around to face him and giving a muffled grunt as he reached down to embrace her, 'what do you think you're doing? Let go, Ig, I wasn't upset! I wasn't upset at all, so just...'

'Be quiet,' his voice was deep and gravelly, as though it hasn't been used in a long time, but there was no hint if aggression there. Only a firm, quiet kind of gentleness.

Ada blinked, not knowing how to respond. It was only the second time she'd heard his voice. Finally, she succumbed to his warm arms and crumpled into him, letting out an unsteady breath and clutching the fabric of his coat like a baby.

An elderly woman passed by, baffled for a moment by Ig's startling white hair but moved quickly on, tutting under her breath. They paid her no mind, and the girl's head remained pressed against his chest.

'You understand, don't you?' Ada whispered, not trusting her voice to speak steadily, 'you've always understood me, haven't you, my wolf?'

Still holding her against him, Ig twisted his head to smell her short blonde hair. She always smelt of strawberries. He nodded his head, and she must have felt it because she sighed.

'Every month you come with me here. I don't see why, if I were you I wouldn't put up with this nonsense,' she spoke softly, but he heard the strain behind her words, how it pained her to show her emotions to him. He could see everything about her.

They stood in silence, and Ig expected her to pull away and walk off as if it had never happened. Instead though, she stayed in his arms and kneaded his coat with her hands like a kitten. Mist had descended on the cemetery, and a crow sang eerily from the church roof. He didn't mind though. A wolf shouldn't be scared of a crow.

'Tell me, my wolf, how to move on from love? How to move on from something so unproductive, distracting and... impossible?' She pulled away a little to look at him, but he couldn't meet her eye, 'what I did to... Adelaide was cruel and heartless, I know. But I loved her all the same.'

Slowly the girl's gaze fell on the gravestone again, and she took a shuddering breath.

'And I love her still. That's what I've got to conquer... I've got to conquer this stupid love. It does me no more good than her,' she turned back to face him, 'what can I do, Ig? You've always been by my side. Help me in this, please.'

He had no answer for her. The man swallowed, but said nothing. Under the colourless sky, all the red and purple in his eyes had vanished and they were as pale and clear as the mist. Ada sighed disappointedly and leaned back into him, resting her head against his hard chest and closing her eye.

'So you prove unhelpful in the end, my wolf,' her voice had returned to its normal monotone, even though her arms still circled his waist, 'no matter. I've heard a good cure for unrequited love is to move onto other people, haven't you heard that? Maybe I'll be brave and try it.'

Ig's heart lurched sickeningly in his chest, and he feared she heard it do so because she chuckled a little,  her ear still pressed against him.

'But who would even like someone like me, my wolf?' She pondered.

I would.

'A girl who's hopelessly in love with the corpse of an asylum inmate...'

I would.

'I don't think anyone could help me though, I'm kind of beyond that point, aren't I?'

I would help you.

'I talk about myself a lot when I'm with you, I'm sorry Ig,' she nestled a little further into his coat, despite her robotic voice, 'I know one day I'll hear your voice, and it'll tell me more about your story.'

Ig's heart lurched again and he shook his head slightly. Ada took a step back and reached up, holding the sides of his face in her hands. She studied him for a moment, and he looked back down at her - he could only think about how soft her hands were on his skin.

'I know what silences you, Ig - it's fear, and I swear to you, stay by my side and I will find, hunt down and eliminate whoever made you so afraid of this world,' she smiled sadly then, and her eye shone with the reflection of his startled face, 'together, my wolf, we will take this world by storm.'