Closer Than You Think

-4-

Oh my god... honestly y'all are the reason that I haven't given up entirely on this story. I wasn't on here for a pretty long time, and I looked through my notifications to see so many comments from y'all saying how much you liked my story and wanted it to continue. I SWEAR TO GOD I'M NOT FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS WHEN I SAY THIS! But I honestly don't think that my writing is very good, or that this story is very good. You guys saying how much you liked this story is what gives me the motivation to continue to write. I was reading through all the comments, and there wasn't a lot, but they still made me smile. I am honestly so happy you've liked this story enough to stick through my not-updating. So uh... Here!  

"Stop following me."

"No."

"Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because, Grimm." He rolls his eyes. "You'll die."

"Thank you for that vote of confidence, Puck" I spit out.

"It's a proven fact, all right? Not an opinion." He holds his palms towards me in a non threatening gesture. I scoff and focus on the road in front of me. 

"Sooo... why didn't you ride in the car? Walking seems like a very inefficient form of transportation." He says as he flies backwards in front of me. 

"Because I'd hoped to get away from you."

"Are you really that mad that I said you weren't pretty?" He sighs. "I'm sure that you were beautiful as always but I was a bit occupied by this gi-" He suddenly stops talking. 

I halt in my tracks and stare pointedly at the ground. Beautiful as always?  My cheeks burn with both embarrassment and anger. How dare he? How dare he tease me, lead me on only when he doesn't know it's me, and hate me in that peculiar way when he does know it's me?

"G-Grimm?" Puck says, unsure. I notice that tears are running down my face. I clench my fists. You're not sad, you're mad,  I tell myself. 

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Y'know what?" I say quietly. "Screw you. Screw you and your teasing little comments," My voice starts to get louder. "Screw how you can hate me so much and then say something like that and expect it to be okay! Screw you, Puck!" I end, screaming. 

He looks taken aback. "I-"

"Oh and here come your pathetic little excuses, huh? Your flying away into the night instead of dealing with your problems?' I make a vague gesture towards the sky. "Go on, do it,"

A hurt look crosses his face before it's replaced by one of anger and determination. "Well if that's what you want," He forces out through gritted teeth. His wings start to flap harder and he rises into the air. 

I smile my widest, brightest, fakest smile and wave at him. He look down at me, and I see muscle twitch beneath his eye. He flies off into the sky. 

Once he's gone I let my hand drop and my smile falter. Tear fill my eyes again but I refuse to let anymore fall because of him. I start the walk home.

Ferryport Landing is a small town, but even then we were on the opposite side from our house. It would usually be a quick drive, but I avoid the streets to avoid people seeing me like this. I cut through the woods, which will get me home pretty quickly. 

A couple minutes later and I start to regret that. Near the street there were lights. Civilization. Here there's just dark and cold and tree branches scratching at my exposed skin like long nails. Leaves brushing against me feel like fingers a hair's breadth away, waiting to grab me. I shiver. 

A town with magical, dangerous creature that, oh yeah, by the way, live in the woods? Let's cut through them in the middle of the night. 

I try to keep as close to the edge as possible now, in case I have to run. Halfway to the house, though, there's a deep ditch that blocks it. It's either go deeper into the woods around it or get out of the woods and take the detour until the bridge that goes over it. As much as I would like to get out of these woods, the detour would add a lot of time to the walk, and I'm exhausted as it is. 

I cross my arms, trying to keep warm, and steel myself to go deeper. 

Now of course, as luck would have it, there's no moon tonight. Plus, the deeper you go into the forest, the denser the trees, the denser the leaves. I can barely see my hand half a foot from my face, let alone the ground or what it is that I can hear scurrying along it. I lose my footing a couple times, crashing down onto the rocks and sticks that crowd the forest floor. 

I reach the end of the ditch, the part that is deepest in the forest, and start to head back toward the edge.

Suddenly, a hand clamps down on my arm.

728 words. Not much but it's something. I had to kinda grasp at straws to make a cliffhanger but I needed to, I know how you guys love 'em! (*wink wonk*)

I think this is gonna be a pretty short story (or it would be if I updated at all) so i guess keep that in mind. Not a long term commitment. 

ALSO  I HAD TO ADD THIS?!?! THIS STORY GOT #8 IN THE "sistersgrimm" TAG AND HONESTLY? BLESSED. (theres only 22 stories with that tag but still?! thanks.)