Bruises- Modern Zelink- discontinued :(

Stop

He was awake now.
And he was sitting on the bed crying.

"Link... please tell me what's wrong."
"I just wanna see Mipha again...."

That was... concerning.

"What do you mean by that?"
He looked up at her, a pained expression on his face. "Isn't it obvious? My life is absolute shit, in absolute shit, everything is absolute shit. Nothing I do will change anything. Nothing you do will change anything. So.. wouldn't it be better to just..."

"Link, no... Think about what you're saying, just for a moment."

"I am."

This was not good. Not one bit. He wasn't thinking at all. He wasn't thinking about the consequences or anything.
Or... maybe he was. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he had thought this through.

She stepped forward and hugged him. He needed it. She needed it.

"This isn't just a shitty day, huh," she whispered.
He nodded.
"If you don't mind, tell me about it. It helps to talk."
She pulled away and sat next to him on the bed as he swallowed and began speaking. "Everyone hates me. I hate me. I'm not enough for anyone."
"Link..."
"Shh." He gently placed a finger on her lips. "Let me finish."
She nodded as he took his finger away.

"It's like... you're the only person who actually cares. You're the only person who can help that wants to help."
"Urbosa and Midna-"
"They can't help. Anyway, they probably don't want to get too involved in this. And I don't want you to get hurt."

He looked up at her.
"I'm doing this for a reason. I'm letting him do this to me. So... so he doesn't hurt Aryll or my mom. If I wasn't worried about that, I probably wouldn't be so beat up all the time."
"Oh. So when I try to intervene..."
"It doesn't help, but for a different reason. It would either distract him, or make him even more upset. And if he gets distracted by it, you'd be the one getting hurt. If it just made him upset, it'd be me. So it's not helpful for you to come over to my house and fuck with my dad. And... it hurts me when he hurts you. So it's a lose-lose situation. Either I get hurt physically, or I get hurt emotionally."

There was a long pause.

"I should be getting home."

He stood up and left, leaving her alone on the bed.

She blinked. That explanation just made everything ten times worse.
It made sense, though.
It also made her feel absolutely terrible. In a "what have I done" kind of way. She didn't like that. Not one bit.

There was still a feeling of dread in the air. The whole room looked a little darker and grayer now.

She shook her head. It probably just got a little cloudy. She was just overanalyzing it. She had probably been reading a lot of books with a lot of foreshadowing in them or something.

She went into the bathroom to see what had made the crashing sound before Link opened up the door.
It was just a basket of hair things.

She noticed the cabinet door was open, and she went to close it. As she stepped forward, though, her foot landed in something sharp. She lifted it up and looked at the ground.

A razor blade.
And it had blood on it.

She looked at her foot. It hadn't been cut and wasn't bleeding, meaning...

~

Z: link
Z: link I need to talk to you
L: not no
L: not now* ugh
Z: well, as soon as you can.
...
....
.......
L: okay I can talk to you now
Z: I found something in my bathroom
Z: [insert picture of razor blade here]
L: that was a one time thing, okay?
L: ...
L: two times...
Z: wait, what?
Z: when was the first time?
L: a week or two ago...
L: I was having a really bad day, okay? I wasn't thinking
Z: and you were thinking this time?
L: no!
L: let's stop talking about this
Z: okay, only if you promise to not do it again
L: okay
L: I don't want to do it, anyway
Z: good
Z: :)

~

So.
She wasn't sure what to think of that.

His father was really messing him up.

She got another notification, so she looked at her phone.

~

L: F
L:
L: .
L: vc

~

What?

~

Z: what
L: bkth7qojm
L: pplkh
L: nnotw n9w!!
L: not nso
L: yhhk
L: not nwo zel
Z: um... okay?
......
............
............................
L: What are you trying to make Link do, you little bitch?
L: Don't talk to me or my son again.
L: Go make a sandwich or something, whore.

<<<~>>>
*Monday*

Link didn't go to school. Zelda didn't see or talk to him all day, or yesterday. She didn't text him or call him, either. She was afraid that if Link's dad had his phone, she'd get him in trouble. And she was just plain scared of his dad. He was... frightening.

So, they didn't interact.

Monday was a normal, boring day. Nothing special about it.
Not even when she got home.

<<×>>
*Tuesday*

As she walked by Link's house, she heard shouts.
Specifically Link.

"No! Stop, don't hurt her! Stop it!"

She looked at his house, then in the direction of the school, then back at his house.
She shook his head and walked up to a window. She could afford to be a little late.

She looked through it and saw... nothing. They were in a different room.

Then, his father dragged someone into the room. His sister. Link followed close behind, trying the release his sister.

"Nothing I do seems to get to you anymore. This is your new punishment."

His father looked over at the window, and she ducked down.

"Close the blinds."

Link walked over and shut the curtains. He didn't seem to notice her.

"Now, what was I saying?"
Link spoke. It was too muffled to hear, though.
"Ah, yes. You have to watch, got it? Good."

He was resorting to making Link watch him beat his sister? That was just cruel.

She was glad he closed the blinds. She wouldn't have wanted to watch that.