Just Us Alone (girl x girl) COMPLETED

Part 3 (Alette's POV)

I watched Iris weaving Cinnamon through trees till I couldn’t see her any longer.  Both she and the horse were strikingly beautiful. If I hadn’t already known I was lesbian, I think she would’ve been the turning point. I reach behind me and trace the scars on my back with my hand. 

There are five of them, running from one side to the other. Five deep slashes from a whip. A whip my mother held to me. I didn’t run away only because of forced marriage, there was way more depth to it than that. 

Her name was Zara. We were neighbors as well as good friends. At least, in the eyes of the townspeople that’s what we were. But, oh God, when we disappeared into those woods, we became so much more. 

She had these deep, sapphire eyes that penetrated your soul. She saw through me, my secrets, my fears, my love for her. It was all hidden deep in the darkest corners of my heart, but she pulled it out. Out to my mind, out through my mouth. Until I was spilling all my feelings to her. 

First came the stories of punishment and abuse. Winter nights spent in a frigid, dark closet, the clothes ripped from my back before I was thrown in. I showed her the scars on my arms from the glass of smashed beer bottles, thrown at me by my mother in her drunken fits of rage. I shared the stories of being ambushed by my ‘friends’, sticks and stones thrown at me as well as curses and painful words. They knew what my mother did to me and they used it as inspiration. Concocting new forms of torture each week. Then I told Zara all about learning I only fell in love with women. She just looked on, through all of it, eventually pulling me into a hug when I burst into tears at the end. 

We met in those woods each and every day when we had time to spare. Soon, she admitted she too only fell in love with women and before I knew it we were making out in bushes, under trees, anywhere hidden from view. I found comfort in her, she understood me, but it was too good to last. 

We grew careless. Quick kisses in the shadows of the night, holding hands in the comfort of our home, whispered words under our breath near others. I had my hands in her hair, her lips were on mine, her tongue in my mouth. The door creaked open and we flew apart, but it was too late. 

My mother gasped in shock and crumpled to the floor. I could hear her moaning through sobs and she rocked back and forth in my doorway. 

“My babyyyyy! No! I’ve failed!” she tilted her head to the sky, “What did I do to deserve this, huh??” She cursed God and the world, screaming her lungs out until she’d cried all her tears.
 
Zara and I sat there, watching her in shock and horror. We slid back into each other's arms and I rested my head on her shoulder. There’s no escaping this now. Ma got herself off the ground and glared at us. 

“How could you!? You were to be wed to Alexander in less than a month! He won’t want you now. You’re not pure anymore, and with another woman no less.” She grabbed us both by the wrists, her grip a steel handcuff almost cutting off the circulation to my hand. We were dragged to the center of town. My hair’s a mess, Zara’s dress is unbuttoned. We look at each other and she hangs her head. 

“I love you.” she whispers, her voice barely audible. 

“I love you too.” I reply in a voice as quiet as hers. 

“QUIET! BOTH OF YOU!” my mother shouts. She shoves Zara at her father who ran up to us the second he saw what my mom was doing. 

“Take this one. She’s ruined my daughter’s life!” my Ma seethes. 
Zara’s father stares her dead in the eyes, “What. Did. You. DO?” Zara doesn’t answer, just rips herself away and starts to run. I watch, the world in slow motion, as she runs to the swordsman shop, grabs the nearest blade, and plunges it straight through her heart. I feel nothing, the world goes white, I go numb. Not the screams of the people, the lashes of my mother’s whip on my back, nothing registers. Zara’s dead. She died because of me. Because she loved me. 

“Hey Alette, are you okay?” Iris’s voice broke into my thoughts. I sat up and wiped the tears from my cheeks. She walked over and sat down next to me, pulling me into a hug, just as Zara had done. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just tired.” I lied. 

“Well maybe if we didn’t wake up at the crack of dawn, you wouldn’t be!” Iris giggled, making me smile and forget about Zara for the time being. 

Her stomach growled and I burst into laughter myself. 

“Wanna get some breakfast, Flower?” I asked, still chuckling.

“Yeah, I’m missing those big castle breakfasts now!” she joked. “Wait, flower?” 

“Yeah, Iris, flower. An Iris is a flower. I just-” 

“No, no, I like it.” she smiles, “Lettie.” 

“It’s Lette to you, missy!” I giggled, grabbing her hand and pulling her outside to the mydraberry patch that I’d been harvesting lately.