The Heartwarmer

Chapter 4

June was a masochist.

She wanted to feel anger. She wanted to cry. Get it all out, so you don't need to break down like this for another six months, she told herself.

When she stopped being angry at Luke, she thought of every single thing that went wrong in her life. Layla, her parents, her existence.

The sun was on its downward journey, and June was yet to climb out of the pit of self pity she dug for herself. She wanted to stay cooped up in there forever, but she knew that wasn't healthy. She knew that that's not how she wanted to live her life. Sure, she would keep Layla's memory in the back of her mind; but the rest of the time, it would be just that: a memory.

June needed a distraction. Where was Luke? Where was she?

------***------

Luke was angry.

June had no right, no right to act the way she did. First, she hid inside a hard shell of under confidence, when Luke opened up to her, and more than proved he was trustworthy. Plus, she had never told him that she was hydrophobic to such an extent. And she used the 'f' word. Twice. That drew the line.

But Luke couldn't deny the existence of a small part of his brain, thinking, where is she?

He really needed to cool off. It had been a while since he visited his spot.

------***------

June was delirious with fear. She couldn't think straight, and when she tried, all she could think was oh god where am I what have I done Luke I'm sorry I'm sorry where am I?

She blundered through the forest, and the trees here seemed vaguely familiar. This is the path to that place! It suddenly flashed clearly in June's mind, and that was all June could think about.

But all she knew were the trees, not what lay hidden under their dead leaves.

------***------

Luke was almost there. This time, he took the long way around; the less confrontation he had with June, the better. By now, his anger dissolved and was replaced by discomfort. When he finally would see June, what would be tell her? What would her responses be like?

Already, the way he saw June had changed. It wasn't anything he could pinpoint, but his emotional cogs and wheels had shifted ever so slightly. The cord that held them together was fraying, bit by bit.

------***------

June had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming out. Her ankle hurt, and her knee was bleeding really bad. Baby tears sprang in her eyes. She shifted her body awkwardly to face her adversary: a bump in the ground. It was too small to notice, but too big not to cause damage. She scraped her knee on a rocky outcrop on the ground; she was near the cliff, after all.

Her mind jumped wildly to conclusions. What if my knee gets infected? She thought. What if I die here?

Then, June completely zoned out. Her eyes were unfocused, and her mind was the only thing functioning. She realised that she had never really, truly analysed her situation before. She had never thought of her future here. What if she actually did die here?

June's train of thought chugged on, without any signs of a final destination. Her thoughts flew off on a tangent. She thought about anything that came to her mind. There was one incident that stood out though; when she was little, she fell down and hurt her elbow. It wasn't anything too bad, but it was still bleeding. It didn't really hurt, but she thought that if someone got hurt, they absolutely had to cry. Otherwise it couldn't be classified ad a wound. So that's what she did.