Perfect Flaws

11. A Dead Baby's Breath

I need t-

"I'm sorry," a little boy tells me, after bumping into me. "It's alright," I smile.

The boy looks at me in confusion. "You're crying," he blurts.

My eyebrows furrow as I wipe my eyes. I look down and see my finger glistening from my tears. "Oh... I guess I am."

"Why are you crying?"

"Um, I- I don't really know why."

"Oh," he murmurs.

Abruptly, he takes off running away from me in haste.

Apparently, I scare kids now.

I keep walking, with an old, worn out backpack Elijah gave me. He said the owner of the bag doesn't use it anymore, so he let me take it.

The bag is a washed out purple, with a pink heart sewn into the center. I can't imagine Elijah using this bag.

In the corner of my eye, I see a lit up open sign. It's another motel.

I make myself forget the memories of the last motel I stayed at, and decide I would stay there for the night. Elijah gave me thirty in cash, and told me good luck.

As I start to make my way to the motel, I hear a kid shouting at me. "Hey! You! You cried!"

I turn around and see the same boy again, while he runs as fast as his little legs can carry him. He's holding something in his hand.

When he finally reaches me, he stops, and looks up at me. "Here," he says, holding out his hand.

I look down and see a single white baby breath. I stare at the one stemmed flower, speechless and unmoving.

"You looked sad, and I thought this could make you happy."

I smile, "Thank you so much."

________

Gabriel

Even though the King and Queen are strict, and very... annoying, I respect them. The Campbell family has this elegance of order. Sure, behind the scenes I know who Liam is, and partly who his parents are, mainly because he complains about them a lot.

But they show a fierce presence, and I respect it.

They don't treat their employers terribly either, which comes as a surprise for me and my troops.

All my life, I had this thought, that they were terrible because they were rich. They may be harsh on some occasions, but I understand why.

At least, they don't treat me like that.

Maybe they have their own secrets, their own past, but they don't project that on who they order around. Which is why I'm proud to be their main soldier.

I wouldn't kiss their ass or anything, but I would trust in their decisions.

I know they're hard on Liam, they have expectations on him that he doesn't meet. I can't say I blame him, he's barely 18, and has meetings after meetings, events he has to plan down to the representatives he wants to attend.

It's a bunch of boring shit.

Which he somewhat piles on me. I don't really mind.

"Hey! I've been looking for you. What happened with that date of yours?" Liam strides into my room, popping a grape into his mouth.

"It went great," I grin, leaning back into my chair.

"Great..? No perfect honeymoon off into the sunset? Maybe even getting a pretty little cottage on fantasy street?"