Ablaze »»DARKEST MINDS««

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
THE MEETING
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My eyes are trained intently on my hands as I keep my full attention on what I'm doing. My fingers weave Marcy's brown hair over and under, over and under, over and under, until it lays between her shoulder blades in a neat braid. I twist a small, light pink rubber elastic around the small remainder of her hair and snap it into place.

"Ow," Marcy hisses, leaning away from me and turning around to give me a look.

"Turn around, I'm almost done," I say, trying to keep a straight face as Marcy reluctantly complies with a scowl.

"You could be a little gentler."

"If I was being gentle then the braid would fall out." She remains silent as I smooth over the braid to admire my work. Once I'm happy with the way it turned out I sit back on my heels. My knees creak from sitting on them for so long. "There. Like it?"

Marcy stands and takes the cracked mirror from my outstretched hand.

"Hell yeah, I look cool!" Her eyes light up as she admires herself.

"Hell yeah!" Bo mimics her. I laugh and quickly cover my mouth with my hand. Marcy gives me a side eye and gathers the little boy in her arms, attacking his sides with tickles.

"Watch your language mister," She admonishes him and lets him go. He frowns up at her.

"But you said it."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Dane says bad words all the time," he points out. Marcy purses her lips and looks to me. My eyes widen as Bo now looks at me, too. His wide doe eyes watch me with an intense curiosity and innocence, I cant help but fawn over how cute he is.

I smile and lean forward to bop him on the nose. "That doesn't mean it's right," I inform him, "Okay?"

Bo nods enthusiastically. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

We get back to doing whatever time-consuming games we could think of, like making secret handshakes and Marcy teaching us the  "Down by the Banks" game she learned as a kid, until the sun no longer casts a beam of light across the floor of the outlet shop. I help Bo settle down for bed as Marcy leaves to change, muttering something about feeling the germs crawling on her. She comes back a minute later and we tuck Bo in together. I start to stand to get myself ready for bed when Bo speaks up.

"Would you still love me if I said bad words all the time?"

Marcy and I share a look. I shrug and watch as she turns back to Bo and compassionately smooths his hair off his forehead with a small, almost undetectable smile on her face. Before I have time to even think of holding myself back, my mind reaches out to hers and I enter a memory. A tall, stocky man I assume to be her father sits on the edge of the pink bed Marcy lays on, her princess-printed comforter tucked all the way up to her chin. He reaches out and lovingly pushes her hair out of her face before planting a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight. I'll always love you, my little Marcy."

I detach from the memory and find myself sitting beside Marcy and Bo again. The distinct noise of the relentless storm outside meets my ears. A tear glistens in Marcy's eye.