Random one-shots

Kids

A thing I wrote a long time ago and that I only finished recently.

——

"Wait, where's Jonas?"

The boy behind you said, stumbling as he tried to keep with your pace.

"(y/n), wait! I-I think we left him behind!"

You didn't say a thing. You just kept looking straight ahead of you, trying your best to ignore the brat tugging at your sleeve. Your boots were stomping on the wet ground, and the little boy tried his best to follow her.

"(y/n)..."

You kept quiet, but your eyes began to sting, and water started to blur your sight.

"(Y/N)!"

"HE'S DEAD!!"

You shouted, whipping around harshly and pulling your arm away from the kid's grip, almost slapping him at the same time.

Your eyes were locked in Logan's blue ones. You were breathing heavily. Tears began to roll down the boy's face, and he was standing still, mouth partly open.

"... what?" he breathed.

"Jonas is gone, and he's never coming back!"

You said again, this time a bit quieter.

He didn't know. No one but you knew what really happened to that kid, Jonas. No one but you saw the skitter dragging the nine years old boy away from you, as he was screaming and pleading for you to save him.

"... wha-what happened?" Logan whimpered.

You were panting, and you were trying to stay as emotionless as possible. You had to be strong. You didn't have a choice. You convinced yourself that in the world you were living in, you could not afford to be even a tiny bit weak. You kept telling yourself that these two kids were alive because of you, and that you had to show them that you needed to be tough to survive. It wasn't okay to feel fear or sadness. You needed to stay vigilant, and you just couldn't trust other people, as they would probably backstab you whenever they had the chance.

You straighten yourself, and looked down at Logan with cold eyes.

"It doesn't matter now. Things like that happen. You would've learned that one way or another."

Your voice was shaking a bit, and you were panting. You hated yourself for it, but you felt sad, enraged, and lost. You couldn't stop the images of Jonas being dragged away from flooding in you mind, and his voice kept resonating in your ears.

"... b-but ... no, he-he couldn't..."

Logan was now sobbing, his words all stumbled in his mouth as he tried to say something.

"Shut up! Logan, stop crying! It's not gonna bring him back! Nothing will!!", you almost shouted. "Why do you always have to act like such a kid!!"

This time you definitely shouted, and Logan looked down, tears pouring out of his blue orbs.

A heavy silence fell for few seconds, and the only thing you could hear was the wind softly howling.

"... but, that's... that's what we are."

Logan finally said, his voice barely audible under his whimpers.

"We are just... just kids."

His words felt like a slap you didn't expect to hurt so bad.

He was right. Jonas was just a kid. Logan was just a kid.

You were just a kid.

You stopped panting. Your face softened and you opened your mouth as if you were about to stay something, but quickly closed it after.

You turn around, not being able to look at the boy anymore. You breathed shakily. Your knees suddenly fell extremely weak and your legs unsteady.

You couldn't bear it anymore. All of a sudden, all the things you convinced yourself about hiding your truly feelings and being cold and hard as a rock didn't make sense to you anymore. You didn't care about being weak. You wanted to stop wearing that mask you'd put on every day, making you seem tough and careless.

For the first time in what felt like years, you'd allow yourself to cry.

Your legs finally gave up, and you dropped to your knees, staring at the damp hard ground. You didn't hold you tears this time, and they were rolling freely down your cheeks. You began to weep, the salty water making your eyes redder. Closing your eyes, you then finally let all your emotions out, and started to cry uncontrollably.

Never, in all the time he's been travelling with you, has he ever saw you even shed a single tear. Now, you were kneeled on the ground, sobbing your eyes out. It was heartbreaking seeing how helpless you looked.

Logan looked up to your form, wiped his red and wet cheeks with his left sleeve and started to walk hesitantly towards you.

He crouched in front of you, so that you could look at each other in the eyes. Your head was hanging low, and your eyes still closed. Logan sniffled one last time before taking one strand of your hair and tucking in behind your left ear. You looked up at him, confused and despaired.

He then lunched forward, wrapping his small arms around you, hugging you tightly. You sat there for a moment, feeling shock and stiff, but you then relaxed a bit and returned his embrace. Your bigger arms held him firmly, but gently. He buried his face in your (h/l) (h/c) hair, and your buried yours in his shorter ebony black. More tears began to fall from your eyes, staining Logan's grey sweatshirt, but you soon felt your shoulder becoming damp.

You stayed like this for a little while, just enjoying the warmth and comfort from each other.

You calmed down a bit, took back your shaky breath and finally opened your eyes.

"... I'm-I'm so sorry, Logan. I couldn't save him..."

You closed your eyes again. Your throat felt raw and sore.

You pulled away from the ten years old to look directly into his red and puffy eyes, but still holding his shoulders, so you could feel him still close to you.

"Listen to me, Logan."

He brought his sad and puffy eyes up, staring into yours, sniffling quietly.

"You are so brave."

You said firmly and slowly.

"You are one of the bravest person I ever met. And I want you to stay like this, okay? You are brave and strong and really smart. And I'm so, so proud of you. And I know that Jonas was too."

He looked back at you, a small smile finding its way on his lips.

"Thank you. You're brave too."

You felt like you were going to start to cry again. All you ever wanted was to teach the kids to be brave. And it wasn't hypocrisy when you told Logan he was.

You smiled at him too, before standing up. Logan did the same.

"We need to find a place to stay.", you said, more serious again.

The boy nodded.

You could still see sadness in his eyes, and it would probably stay for a long time.

For now, all you could do was to be a friend for him, helping him survive, and protecting him.

He will not die alone.