Wolf City

Emergency

            “Let me help,”

            “She said go!” Zane yelled up at him, his eyebrows furrowed and her eyes glinted yellow. I couldn’t bear to look at either of them. I heard glass shuffle around on the floor as he picked up what was left of his clothes; I looked over just in time to see him pull on pants with part of the leg missing on one side, the back of it ripped at the midsection. He was holding them up as he opened the door to the house and walked out. Our eyes met, and I felt the rush of guilt wash over me. How did this happen? He confessed his love to me…

            I watched as his eyes slid over me to Zane and then his lips straightened into a thin line. He left without another word. I put my arm on my lap and then peeked over at him; he was staring at the door with eyes still concerted. I stared back down as he started to stand up, I didn’t want my first time seeing him like that on bad terms. He went into his room to get a pair of boxers and came back in with a broom. He stood beside me, his soft eyes staring down at me as he offered a hand. I took it and he pulled me up to my feet, but as I was about to collapse from the pain in my feet he dropped the broom and lifted me up in his arms. I clung to him, afraid of falling and he took me into the kitchen and stuck me on the chair.

            Before asking he grabbed my legs and put one of my feet into his hands as he put one knee against the hard floor and my leg on top of it. He started to pull glass out, dripping blood onto the white floor. There was nothing spoke between us, but I knew that since he was taking care of me he couldn’t be entirely pissed. I wanted to hear his voice though, anything. He put down my leg and then started working on the other one. I watched as he looked at my bare legs, his eye low and his thick eyelashes hiding their beauty.

            When he was done he put down my foot carefully and picked up the glass he had put down beside him and walked over to the trashcan before going back into the living room. I could see his backside as he started to sweep up the glass. The sound was like crunching rocks when you were trotting down the road with a horse with small chimes sounding as it went. As he cleared out the area behind him I went over to the sink and grabbed a napkin and started to wipe off my legs. Since they were such small cuts they were already starting heal and had stopped bleeding. After throwing the red cloth I watched as Zane swept back and forth, brushing it all into one deadly pile.

            I wasn’t sure what made me want to, or what had convinced me to do so, but I walked forward as he worked and put my arms through his, wrapping them around his upper stomach. As soon as I touched him he froze, he didn’t move an inch. I rested my head between his shoulder blades and I didn’t know how long we had stood there before his own hand had lifted up and ran over mine. “Thank you…” I said as a whisper, hoping he would think twice about if I had said something.

            “You know…” his head rose, “that even if you weren’t mine, I would travel to the ends of the earth for you.” I felt as he twisted around and the hand that wasn’t on the broom brushed against my face. “You also know that because he hurt you, yet again, that I wanted to kill him, and would have.” He added.

            “I know…but you have to realize that people do crazy things for love.”

            I saw as the shock had passed through his face and then disappeared. “I suppose I knew that...he confessed to you.” He spoke slowly as his thumb drifted over my cheek, his eyes were full of emotion and if they were bigger I could have swam forever.  

            I lifted up on my tip-toes, wrapped my arms around his neck and brought his lips to mine softly. As I pulled away I searched his eyes, “but he has not always been there for me as you have Zane.”