Halt's Ranger Apprentices- John Flanagan Ranger Apprentice fan-fiction

CHAPTER FIVE:

It was nearly sunset when the girl got home.

After having the run-in with Will she was going to head back but she still had to get supplies she was after in the first place. She knew if she went back to the shack with no supplies, Halt would start asking question which was the last thing she needed.
After thinking about the barrier she suddenly realised she felt between a lot of people in her life, she had grown to be in a grim mood. She had little patience to be asked questions tonight.
~
When Squirt got home Halt was sitting in a dark corner of the shack, waiting for her to return, it was unlike her to spend so much time in town so he was suspicious that something had happened.
Squirt was a tough kid to handle. Everywhere she goes she finds trouble, only last week she let loose wild horses that were getting broken in. Her excuse was that she refuses to let horses be treated like that and that it's not right to break horses' spirits so they can be rideable. She said that the only way horses can be tamed is to gain trust to them.

She's never even trained a horse before, he thought, and she just thinks she's so smart and knows everything.

Halt smiled slightly thinking about how strong willed she was, which was exhausting but yet at the same time, it was what Halt loved the most about her.

She had just walked through the door and started unpacking the supplies when she set down the bag and let he shoulders sag by her side. She was completely unaware that Halt was sitting in the corner watching her.
Halt sat there quietly and watched her carefully, frowning at her body language. Something was wrong. After a moments pause, where she took a long breath, her exhaustion obvious, she finished unpacking and walked towards the table and chair setup that Halt was sitting.

She still didn't notice him; he saw and didn't have any intention on letting her know until the time was right. She slumped into a chair opposite to Halt and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. She let out a small groan.
After eventually lifting her head from her hands, she lifted her elbows from her knees, so her back was resting on the wood on the spine of the chair and started muttering to herself only just loud enough for Halt to hear.
"Make up an excuse, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Halt raised an eyebrow.
Foolish move.
He waited quietly, but she didn't say anything more. He took a quiet intake of breath, preparing for the worst of what she might've done. He hated this part.
"Is there a problem?" He said, The girl quickly spun to see where the voice came from to find herself looking into Halt's grim eyes. She knew them all too well as he always gave her them when she was in deep trouble which was almost all the time.
Squirt couldn't hold back the gasp, realisation dawning in her eyes.
"What did you do." He said, the deep determined voice sending chills to dance up Squirt's eyes.
"Nothing." She spoke in as quickly, trying to swallow down the lump in her throat. It was a response doomed for failure but it would at least give her more time to think of an excuse for herself, but her mind brought nothing but blank.
"You leave here, just before lunch and come back at sunset? Yes, there's clearly brining wrong with that. And I sit here worried for hours, hoping something hasn't happened to you, and all you say when you comeback is nothing?" Halts voice was a low tone boomed loud in the shack.
"Halt-" she began, gathering an explanation about a hold up with Baron Arald or someone or other. But as if Halt could already see the lies building up inside of her, he cut her off.
"The truth," Halt said firmly, "tell me, the truth." The lie washed from her brain, knowing that it was a mistake telling him the truth, but did it anyway.
She began with running into Will, reluctantly telling him about her stealing the apple and then spoke about Horace and climbing the tree, and what Horace said. She then carried on to the punching and then the more running and the slip of saying Will's name.
She didn't even try to look in Halt's eyes, she didn't even have the guts to look in his direction.
She just sat at the table, staring at her door, wishing she could hide behind it every time she got in a fight with Halt.
There was a silence then. By every second Halt didn't say anything, she began to feel choked by the air. She hated his silence. She hated it more than his booming yelling, it was meant bad things.
"You shouldn't have punched him." The scary calm of Halt's voice brought an uneasy feeling to run through Squirt.
"I know." She replied, taking a risk.
"Baron Arald will find out sooner or later, and then I'll be blamed for it all, like always, and yet you know the consequences and you still do it." Halt voice slowly start to rise, but he still wasn't yelling. Yet.
Squirt wasn't going to lie to herself, him saying that made her feel like a burden that he never wanted to carry. Lashing out in anger, she began to yell first before Halt did.
"Well to all the gods in Hell, why do you put up with me then? You make me sound like such a burden why not throw me away." Halt's features softened, her words distinguishing the fire burning within him.
"Squirt, I would never do that-" his voice soft, watching as Squirt fought against the tears.
"No, maybe you wouldn't do that, but I know you lie to me." Halt's blood started to run cold. He shook his head, about to deny it all. But before he could take an in-take of breath to speak, she was already yelling again.
"You don't think I know you lie to me everyday? I don't knew what the Hell of all Hells you're trying to keep from me, but you always shut me out, and I'm always left-" Squirt couldn't finish the last word 'alone' before he voice cracked, the tears barging through the barrier, she wiped them away quickly to show her anger to Halt. The way he looked at her, like he was exposed gave her all the more reason to believe he's been keeping something from her. She wanted to crumble to the ground, the exhaustion of that day and all the other days she felt alone whenever he shut her out began to collapse on top of her, but instead, she stood up violently knocking her chair at the table before locking herself in her room.

Halt sat there that night, saying repeatedly in his mind,
Wait for tomorrow
Wait for tomorrow
Wait for tomorrow
He hated the feeling of losing her like he already is. He hated shutting her out for all these years, but it was a method he thought would keep him from loving her as his own daughter, because he knew the day would come when he would have to let her go for Duncan.
It was only then had he realised, without knowing it, that he does love her like his own daughter. And in that moment, he never felt so hopeless in his life.
~
Halt, busy in his own thoughts, sitting on the chair, he didn't notice the creak of the opening window inside Squirt's bedroom, where she jumped out off, heading to Castle Redmont.
She was sick of being alone, in her room, like always. She wanted to be by someone's side like she had been today, she wanted to feel that comfort again.
She wanted someone like Will.