A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.
The doe took the ring out of the box and examined it. She moved it around carefully and held it up to her eye level. His little doe tilted the ring slightly and squinted. Was there writing on the ring? Had Nathan inscribed some message to her on it? "So, her name was Evelyn?"
What's inscribed on the ring besides her name?
Her attention towards the paper and pen, as her eyes read the message. Raising her right eyebrow, she asked, "Wait, so you never knew about this ring, then? Or, did you just forget to read the message on it?"
I didn't know about it. Now, read the message to me before I force the ring out of your hands.
"Alright, alright," she muttered out, turning her attention back onto the ring. He waited for her to read the words out loud to him, as his patience thinned. "To my dearest friend and love, Evelyn."
After she finished reading the phrase, the words seemed to echo in his mind. Nathan, before the incident, considered her to be his dearest friend? Is that why he was never told about the ring? Had their friendship started to deteriorate before the incident? Did Nathan really find his warnings that harmful; did Nathan think his warnings to be just out of cruel jest?
He would always push the warnings aside, though. Nathan would always still talk to him on a regular basis, just not as much because of the distraction. Had their disagreements harbored hate in Nathan towards him before what had happened five years ago?
Is that why everything went so terribly wrong? Did it go awry because he had miscalculated his friendship with Nathan? Why had the distraction had such an effect on Nathan? Didn't their past years, before she came into the picture, mean anything to him? Or, had the distraction caused Nathan to secretly throw that all away?
His head was swimming with question after question, and he didn't even hear his little doe calling to him at first. Everything just seemed to stop, as he realized that Nathan and he might never have been friends once the distraction entered the antique collector's life or at least after the first warning. The friendship that he had with Nathan might have meant less to the antique collector than he thought. Where he thought it to be permanent, Nathan might have only seen it as temporal.
During this process, he continually told himself that the past didn't matter. He shouldn't dwell on it so much; he had his little doe now. Among this reassurance, however, he still couldn't push away the feeling of his mind breaking somewhat.
All along, he had been carrying memories that were tainted. Where Nathan had been smiling, he was probably actually glaring. The antique collector had most likely planned to officially terminate their friendship after he had proposed to the distraction. Maybe, he had been Nathan's dearest friend at some point, but after the distraction had come that apparently had changed.
"Drem, what's gotten into you? What are you doing?!" she yelled out, finally snapping him out of his thoughts.
Focusing on her, he wondered what she was referring to. His brown eyes looked around the area, and he noted that he had accidentally knocked all of the boxes off of the shelves. The objects inside were scattered about and some broken. In plain sight was the picture of Nathan and him when they were younger. His fists clenched a bit, but he didn't have it in him to tear it up.
Gazing back to her, he noted the fear in her (e/c) eyes, and how she had scooted away from the shelves. He would have thought that look complimentary on her, but his mind was in too much turmoil to care at the moment. Close to her was still the box of the distraction's things. None of those items mattered, as his eyes stared at the ring still in his little doe's hands.
Instantly, he took the ring out of her hands, causing her to shriek a little before falling backwards somewhat. He paid little attention to this, as he brought the ring over to the tool's table. His eyes glanced up to the hammer on the wall, as he dropped the ring onto the table.
Picking up the hammer, he slammed it down on the ring. He did this again and again. By now, the diamond was dust, and the metal smashed beyond repair. Still, he brought the hammer down onto the ruined ring. His rage was consuming him, and he wanted nothing more than to continue to break the ring.
Watching this spectacle, she didn't know what to think at first. She saw the hammer come down again and again on the ring. Had Drem really cared for Nathan that much? If so, it would make sense that he would be pissed off, since evidently Nathan had never told him about the ring. Even the inscription on the ring seemed to be a slap to Drem.
Drem had referred to Nathan and him being seemingly the best of friends, yet the ring threw that statement into the trash. Probably, Drem's memories of his friendship with Nathan were being put into question. It was somewhat saddening to observe.
Still, his intense focus on the ring did give her an advantage. His rage was directed at Evelyn and most likely Nathan as well. In this state he probably wouldn't notice her leaving. He hadn't even paid attention to her calling out to him beforehand. Five minutes had passed before he had seemed to have heard her.
Sure, she wished to know the whole story about the relationship between Nathan and Drem, but escape was right in front of her. At least, she thought it was. She could very well make it, but Drem would have to stay focused on that ring. If he noticed her trying to leave the house and caught her before she made it out, she would most likely be under that hammer next.
So, she waited about thirty seconds, and he still smashed the hammer against the beyond damaged ring. Getting onto her feet, she quietly began to walk towards the door of the garage. The chill in the air increased as she neared the table, since it was close to the door.
A few more steps and she would be out of the garage, but she made the mistake of looking to the table one more time. The hammer came down again, and she was sure that a hole would eventually form in the table if he kept it up. He didn't even notice her about to leave the garage; he just kept to his current task.
When she went to move again, her feet were glued to the spot. Inwardly, she screamed at them to move, but part of her was yelling at her to stay. That part was telling her how she couldn't leave him like that, and she argued back that he had done terrible things to her in her first week of being in Nathan's home, yet memories of the past few days played back. She recalled the moments where he had been adorable and when he had made her those meals. He even gave her a relaxing bath, minus the knives.
All of these things pointed to a similar conclusion; he wished to take care of someone. He hadn't been able to care for Nathan, so now he was trying to remedy that with her. Perhaps, when he had asked her to let him in, he was wishing for a second chance. Then again, all of this could be some trap to lure her in. His true colors could very well be what he demonstrated to her last week. This could all be some masterful illusion of his, yet her feet remained in place.
Cursing to herself quietly, she hoped that she wasn't choosing wrong. With a frown on her lips, she changed her course and headed over to the table. She placed herself to the right of the hammer and watched it collide with the ring again. When it lifted back up, she reached out and grabbed the handle of the hammer. "Drem, you need to stop. It's destroyed enough."
Some force pressed down on her hands, and she wanted to retract her hands from the freezing cold. She maintained her grip despite her desire to let go. "Just calm down, whatever pain you're feeling won't go away if you keep smashing a hammer to dust," she consoled, hoping that she wouldn't regret this decision.
"Nathan's not dating that woman anymore; she's gone, so don't let that ring control your actions. Maybe, Nathan was a complete jerk for not telling you about it, but damaging that ring won't change what he did back then. It happened in the past, and you need to learn to accept that. Whatever occurred back then is over."
Feeling the force move off her hands and the hammer, she breathed a sigh of relief. She placed the hammer back on the wall. Once it was there, she went to go put the boxes back, but she halted almost immediately.
Cold ensnared her. Her entire backside and her midsection felt it the worst. Was he hugging her? Regardless, it was highly uncomfortable, and the intense cold pressed against her right shoulder now too.
It moved towards the right crook of her neck, and she figured that he might be nuzzling his face into the side of her neck. Despite the cold, she felt a small amount of heat rise to her cheeks. Vexed by this, she grumbled out, "If you wish to hug me, go into your monkey form at least."