DAVY
She was still leaning against him in the clinic as the doctor put a bandage on her nose and on her jaw. Her breathing was shallow, and when Davy's Noise filled with askings about it, the doctor said she was shocked and lost a fair amount of blood too fast.
He gave her some pills and some water, and it took her a good hour to get them all down. She didn't ever say a word, and Davy often asked if she was okay.
But she didn't answer. And why would she? He thought of how he had screamed at her before, how he had grabbed her hard enough to make her cry out, how she fought to get away from him.
She was scared of him. Or disgusted by him. Probably both.
The doctor didn't say nothing about his Noise, just walked out of the room, telling him that she should stay all night just to be sure she didn't get a concussion.
When they were alone, with her resting on a bed now, hands folded on her tummy, eyes half closed, breathing quick and light, Davy hovered over her. He watched her, thinking of how strong she looked when she said No and how weak she looked now. She was a different person now-
"Stop thinking about me," she said.
"I can't help it," he said, and he grew red at how dumb that sounded. "Mr. Hammar really got you good."
She shrugged.
"I told you you best start listening," he said. Yer too headstrong for yer own good.
"I said stop thinking about me," she said.
He sighed angrily, closing his eyes and clamping his hands down on his thighs. "Look-" Then, opening his eyes, he stopped his anger. The bruises littering the girl's skin weren't her fault. The green ones were his, and the new purple ones were Mr. Hammar's.
He swallowed thickly. His fault.
"Okay," he said, then, inhaling deeply, "fine. Fine. I'll see you tomorrow. Get some rest."
And he left, thinking about those yellow bruises.
...
Every three to four days, a bomb went off. President Prentiss grew angrier by the day, as he got no answers and no one could seem to stop the women that were planting bombs around, weaponless and still going unseen.
Three weeks went by, and Davy didn't go see the girl that snapped at him again.
He wanted to (shut up) but he was afraid. Afraid of his pa thinking that he had gone soft 'cause he was seeing a girl he saved. He agreed that Mr. Hammar was out of line, treating a little girl that way. But it wasn't enough to visit her.
Plus, she hated him.
She hated him.
(It sorta bothered him.)
'Cause what he really wanted was for his pa to be proud of him, so he didn't dare go visit her. He heard she was stuck in the clinic with a concussion that left her bedridden with endless migraines, but he didn't go check on her, not even once. In fact, he spent all of his time putting bands on the Spackle and giving them food and water and shoving them around, laughing at their pain, trying to ignore the pangs of guilt when he pushed that specific one down, the one holding the baby.
And all of his hard work paid off, 'cause Todd got in big trouble for sneaking off to see Viola. Davy couldn't believe his luck when he was given the job to control Todd and everything he did. He made Todd work right in the trench with the Spackle, building homes and getting them ready for the upcoming winter. He also got a whip handed right to him.
He hit him again and again, enjoying the sounds of Todd's hissing and crying.
Hardly a man at all, he thought.
"Enjoying yerself?" Davy asked, grinning.
Todd glared at him, sending his Noise straight at him, all rude and angry.
Davy just laughed. "Oh, my mother's long dead," he said. (But it hurt.) "Just like yers." (That dream was back. Oh gosh - that dream, where she looked so disgusted, where it wasn't his ma at all, but it was that girl-) "I wonder if she talked as much in real life as she wrote in her little book."
"Davy-"
"'Cuz boy, don't she go on for pages."
"One of these days, Davy, one of these days, I'm gonna-"
"You're going to what, dear boy?"
Davy's back straightened up. His pa. He stood a little bit straighter, held the whip a little tighter, smiled a little prouder. Todd rolled his eyes 'cause the President strode right on by his son, not paying him any mind. Davy tried not to grow disappointed. Tried.
"I can hear you two arguing from out on the road," he said. He finally looked at Davy. "And arguing is not working."
"Oh, I got 'em working, Pa," Davy said.
"Not bad," he said. "Not bad at all."
Davy filled with pride. His pa doesn't glance at him, though. He hardly ever does, and Davy isn't able to control his thoughts, about how all he ever wanted was for his pa to be proud of him, and how he was finally getting what he wanted-
"And you, Todd? How is your morning progressing?"
Todd just said, pathetic sounding as ever, "Please don't hurt her."
"Please don't hurt her," Davy mocked. (He thought of the girl he saved. Of getting Mr. Hammar off of her. Of kicking him in the face. Of taking her to safety. Of worrying about her.) He hid it with a snicker.
Todd kept pleading and asking. Davy kept rolling his eyes, and then-
Buzzzzz-
Not Noise.
"Pa?" Davy asked, looking up.
"I'd get out of the way, if I were you," he said, looking through a pair of binocs. "That's a bomb."
Bomb.
Davy didn't even hesitate. He took off - and Todd thought, what a coward, but Davy couldn't let him know why, 'cause not even he knew why he was running faster than he ever thought he could-
But he was heading towards that clinic, shouting and waving his arms, drawing attention from the doctor who was sweeping his front steps off. "Bomb!" he shouted. "Bomb!"
And he ran inside, into the clinic, just as the doctor dropped the broom and ran off in the opposite direction. Davy was bursting through the door and breathing heavy and going from room to room, trying to find the one she was in, and he didn't know why but he had to get there, he just had to get to her, and he kicked down a white door and stepped in and saw her on a bed, eyes closed, snoring softly, and knew she must'a been knocked out with some pain meds 'cause the buzzing was getting louder by the second and so he went to her bed, threw the blankets right off of her body, and forced his arms underneath her. She hung off of him like a dead body, and he ran out of there just as it hit-
BOOM!
And he toppled right off the steps, yelping as he landed right on top of her in the dirt. She grunted and her eyes cracked open, and he looked down at her, spitting dirt out of his mouth, and she mumbled a question, something that sounded like, "Doctor?"
But he ain't a doctor and she could tell and she started to squirm, getting scared. Before he could hush her, another BOOM! shook the ground, then another and another, and debris and dirt and things rained down on them. He covered her body with his, one hand covering the back of his neck. He hoped he wouldn't get hit in the head-
And then the raining stopped and he pulled back, looking at the girl that was clutching his shirt tight in her fists.
"I just saved yer life," he blurted.
YOU ARE READING
From the Stars (Davy Prentiss Jr x Reader)
Fanfiction"yer just so different from any other woman i ever knew," he said, and there was a twinge of guilt in his words as he shuffled his feet. "yer... from somewhere else. from the stars, maybe - and that sounds stupid. i think i'm stupid." "you're not st...
