Lovely Bones

the archer

chapter one
the archer

𝒊 . 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓

0:32 - 0:54
' Well , I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way
. . .
My girl , my girl , my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl '

Soft whispers brushed past her slightly parted lips, matching hums singing the lyrics quietly. The only sound in the air had been the quiet music playing from the small radio on the table and the gentle thumping of thick paper against the surface. Her fingers moved effortlessly as she shuffled the deck, mastering the small action she picked up from her father all those years ago. A low whistle erupted when she ran her thumb over the width of the deck before she sat it neatly in the middle of the table — between she and her younger sister who sat in the chair across from her. Prim used her knuckles to push it towards the blonde. Teddy, the girl sat on her knees in the chair to match her sister's height, leaned forward in her seat. Her smaller fingers wrapped around the deck and slid it off the table completely in her grasp.

She copied her sister's actions of running her thumb over the width. With squinted eyes and her lip between her teeth as she concentrated, Teddy slid one card from the deck and placed it faced down onto the table. She repeated this action for two different stacks until each held seven cards total. Finishing it off, she leaned forward and placed the drawing deck in the middle of the table once more. Readjusting in her seat, Teddy carefully picked up one stack — cautious not to peek at the cards — and handed them to the brunette. Prim gracefully slid them in her hand.

Teddy did the same. Once the two had been ready for their third match of the night with a nod, Prim's quite voice spoke out for the first time. ". . . You first," she directed and Teddy's blue eyes averted to her cards as she thought about her next move. Unfortunately, she had no matching cards to set down and both move a step closer to winning nor to give her a little more space in her hands so she suggested the first card she saw.

"Do you have a three?" She quirked her eyebrow up towards her sister. Prim pressed her lips together shortly with a shake of her head after her eyes quickly shot across her cards for a three. Teddy frowned.

"Go —" the brunette's shoulders tensed up at what she believed was a sound coming from somewhere other than the kitchen they had currently been resting in. Her eyes snapped towards Teddy who seemed to have no recognition of her sister's suspicious gaze. She had been too busy switching her cards between her hands one by one to put them in numerical order. Another sound made Prim's feet slide from her chair — her knees once to her chest — and she sat straight in her seat, hand instantly reaching and pressing the ' off ' button on the radio, ultimately sending silence through the old home. Teddy's eyes trained to her sister in mild concern, watching closely at the way Prim's head tilted as she listened for another sound.