Sapphire Stones

Men suck.

"Knock knock." Someone says into the silence, causing me to jump slightly. I look over and see Gally clutching on to two branches, his forehead slightly sweaty from the climb up the tree. 

We haven't spoken since what happened earlier today. Gally had walked me to my hut and then left, saying he had to speak to the other Keepers about what happened. He had left me alone.

"No one's home, try again another day." I mutter, turning right back to my journal.

"Can we talk?" He asks, his voice soft.

"I'd really rather not." I reply. Despite my many protests, Gally climbs farther up the tree, situating himself in his usual spot in the fork of two large branches. I roll my eyes. "Of course." I mutter under my breath.

"Are you okay?" He asks. I only shrug. "It's late. Everyone else is asleep. Why are you still up?" Another shrug. "Why are you pissed off?" I shrug again. Gally sighs loudly and I see him out of the corner of my eye leaning his head against the trunk of the tree and running a hand through his hair. "Venus, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." I reply shortly, still not looking at him. "I'm as dandy as a daisy." I continue writing, doing my best to ignore him.

"Venus. Ve- Venus!" He finally says loudly, snatching my journal out of my hands. I slowly turn and glare at him, a fire burning in my eyes.

"Give. That. Back." I say slowly, my voice dangerously quiet. Gally shakes his head.

"Not until you talk." He replies stubbornly. "Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not." I snap. "Now give me back my journal."

"Why are you mad at me?" He repeats, holding my journal higher in the air.

"If you drop that, I swear to fucking God, I'll hurt you."

"What, like you did to Maverick?" He asks, but his voice is cold. His sapphire blue eyes that usually comfort me turn my blood to ice as I stare up at him, my mouth agape.

"Did you not hear what he fucking said to me?" I retort, finally snapping out of my daze.

"I heard, but that doesn't mean you can just go around punching people. It's against the rules."

"And yet you still seem to find reasons to beat people up."

"The difference is that I get sent to the Slammer for it."

"Not this time." I reply, turning away from him.

"This time was different. I had to discuss with the other Keepers what yours and Mavericks punishments would be."

"Punishment?! I didn't do anything!" I shout, throwing my hands in the air and snapping my head back towards Gally.

"You punched him in the gut!"

"He deserved it!"

"Venus, you can't just go around punching people, okay? It doesn't matter what they said or did. It's still against the rules."

"You and your rules." I mutter, rolling my eyes. "If you love them so much, marry them! I don't fucking care! But don't tell me that I'm not allowed to hit a guy for saying something as disgusting as Maverick did."

Gally pauses, lowering my journal and setting it down in his lap. He stares at me, his eyes burning into my skin. I don't know what to say, so I don't say anything at all. I just sit quietly with my legs dangling off the side of the tree, my eyes on the stone walls surrounding us. Finally, Gally breaks the silence.

"The rules are the only thing that keep us together. They keep us alive. Without them, we'd all be dead. We need the rules to survive. They give us order."

"God, you make me so fucking angry sometimes." I mutter, running a hand over my face and through my hair. "You can be a real hypocrite sometimes, Gally, y'know that? You heard what he said to me. You punched him. You fucking told him you'd kill him! Yet, you come up here and chastise me for standing up for myself like I'm some fucking four year old and you're my parent! It's so irritating!"

"I'm not trying to chastise you, Venus! I'm just telling you that you can't go around hitting people!"

"But you can?!" I shout, turning towards him again and running a shaking hand through my hair. "That's not fair! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't defend myself! I don't always need you to defend me! And it's extremely unfair that you think that you can go around punching people and I can't, especially when I have a reason to!"

"Are you insinuating that I just go around hitting people without a reason to?!"

"That's exactly what I'm insinuating!" I shout, my voice ringing out through the Glade. I'm almost positive I've woken everyone up, but at this point, I don't care. "Do you know how many times you've beaten people up for doing absolutely nothing?! Just last week, you broke a guy's nose all because he bumped into you and spilled a bit of soup on your shirt!"

"He did it on purpose!" He tries to defend.

"No he didn't! I fixed the kid's nose! He told me it was an accident and that he had tried to apologize over and over again!"

"He ruined my shirt!"

"He's fourteen! You broke a fourteen year old boy's nose over some spilled soup! You think that's a good reason to punch someone?!"

"Yes! We only get so many shirts for the month and he ruined that one! I'm down one shirt because of him!"

"Oh, you poor thing! Will you be okay?!" I ask sarcastically, my voice still loud.

"Look, I'm not saying that Maverick didn't deserve it! All I'm saying is that you can't be upset because you have a punishment now! You hit him and you have to face the consequences! Those are the rules! Suck it up, princess!"

"Don't ever call me that again." I say, my voice dangerously low again. I hold eye contact, refusing to break first. We're both sitting in complete silence, breathing deeply, refusing to break the eye contact. "Go." I snap.

"What?" He asks, looking confused.

"Go! Get out of my tree! Leave me alone!" I reach over and snatch my journal out of Gally's lap, still glaring at him. He looks absolutely lost and confused. "I said go!" I shout, pointing towards the ground with my finger.

A flash of anger sparks in Gally's eyes as he makes his way down the tree. He climbs down silently and I watch him storm away in the light of the moon. He's left me alone once more. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was secretly hoping he'd stay. That he wouldn't listen when I told him to go. But he did. He listened and left me feeling the loneliest I have in three years.