The Wings Of A Caged Bird | First Draft

chapter 41: a tale of brothers

I am pulled out of my trance only when my hand suddenly stops moving. I register July's voice as if from underwater. He is screaming at me to stop. He sounds like he is begging me. But why? This bastard doesn't deserve to live. I don't care about anything else. I try to move my hand to hit him again, but I can't. July's own hand is on my wrist, and he's so much stronger than me. I turn my head back and find his face smeared with tears. And that's when my vision clears, the volcano inside dying down immediately.

"Please stop, I don't want this," July says, sounding like he is on the edge of it all.

I look back ahead. Rain didn't struggle at all under me. He took every single punch quietly. His face is almost unrecognizable now. It's swollen, and parts of it is bleeding. He doesn't look like my July anymore. Instead of feeling pity and guilt, all I feel is relief. Does hatred turn humans into animals, or is there always an animal sleeping inside everyone, waiting for a prey? How strong of an animal is it, that it can even eat out the humanity? I have never felt less human before.

Nova doesn't get up from her chair. My eyes are fully dry. I bring my hand down, and July finally lets my wrist go.

"Don't. Ever. Come in front of my eyes again," I say, before getting off of him.

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Only when I become sure that I'm far enough from that person do I stop walking. And as soon as I do, the pain in my thighs hits me with a sudden clarity, and I almost drop to my knees. But July quickly holds me up and steadies me against a tree.

I keep my eyes closed as I heave out breaths. My head is spinning for some reason, and my whole body is aching. July takes my hand, the same hand I used to hit Rain, and only then do I realize that it's burning. My knuckles are all red, and there are scratches all over the back of my hand. You can't hurt someone without getting hurt yourself.

July presses my hand between his cold ones, which provides a little comfort. "We need to get this bandaged after going home," he says.

"July I- if there wasn't anyone else there, I really might have killed him-"

"No you wouldn't, hush." He brushes something off my hair.

"I'm really sorry."

He shakes his head.

"I wasn't thinking properly."

"Cedar. You don't know how happy it makes me, that there is someone out there in this world who can turn into a ballistic supervillain just to avenge me."

I laugh a little. He smiles while gently rubbing my hand.

The forest all around us is empty, but not quiet. The sound of birds and the rustling of leaves fill in the silence. I am overcome with a sudden wave of sadness. Something tells me there is more misery waiting for me ahead.

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When I wake up from my nap, a deep orange glow filled the room. For one intense moment, I think that the room might be on fire.

But I blink my eyes clear and find out it's the sunset hour, and the sky today is especially vibrant. I turn my head backwards to look at the window, and as I expected, July is sitting in front of it, gazing out. It's his favourite sky. For a while, I watch him like that, his silhouette against the lonely forest peeking in through the window. A few days later, I won't be able to watch him like this whenever I want.

I slowly sit up and move to him. Then I rest my head against his back.

"Oh? You're awake?"