sunshine

five

"Hey, sweetie?" Lenny's voice was soft as Scout whipped her head up to give her her attention with wide and innocent eyes.

"Yeah, Momma?" she responded cheerfully, a wide smile stretching across her face as she played with her crayon (or really Lenny's but she had a feelings she hadn't touched that thing in years anyways). Taking her face in her hands gently and caressing her cheek, Lenny gave a small smile tainted with sadness.

"I love you; you know that right?" Nodding slowly, Scout made a confused smile. Feeling a sob rise, she swallowed some spit, hoping to push it down. "Then you need... then you need to understand that I'm doing this because I love you. Because I love you so much, okay?"

Her smile dropping, Scout furrowed her eyebrows. "Momma? You're scaring me, what's going on? Momma!"

Gripping her face a bit more tight, willing everything in her being to just do this one thing. "I'm sorry, baby. I never wanted you to leave like this, but this is for the best, okay? God, I'm so sorry, sweetie. Please don't hate me. Please understand that... that I'm doing this for you."

"Momma," she sobbed out, fat tears streaming down almost dramatically down her face as more and more of her being continued to erode away with each tear and pressing her chubby hands against hers in a weak attempt to stop her. "Momma, please stop! Stop, it hurts!"

"I-I can't, I'm sorry," she replied, choking, her vision blurring with tears and forcing herself to shut her eyes tight, not being able to bear how much pain she saw on Scout's face. "Please, please..."

She could feel the weight on her chest lightening, Scout's body that had been pressed against her in fear beginning to fade into nothingness. She slackened her grip, still holding her face and leaving a light red mark from the force that started to show. Scout, only barely there now and the bottom half of her essentially gone, in a final attempt, pushed Lenny's hands off of her and fell to the ground, still crying and trying to escape as Lenny made no attempt to follow, still broken that even in what she thought was the easier passing, Scout saw her as a villain. A monster.

"Momma... why?" It was faint and Lenny barely had time to finally open her eyes before Scout finally faded from view. Sobs still wracked her body as her her breathing still labored heavily, tears still rolling down her face.

"Still grieving, Len? Tsk tsk, I thought you were better than that." A mirthless laugh escaped Lenny, blinking away some tears as she whipped her head around to find the source of the mocking voice she knew to be Reiko.

"Shove off, Reiko-- you know Scout meant the world to me," Lenny snapped. "She meant so much more to me than the world."

"And look where that got you," she replied, finally materializing directly in front of her face, her tall stature towering over Lenny with her four inch difference and scaring her out of crying momentarily. "Alone with a gaping Scout-sized hole in your heart. Such a shame."

"At least you can't hurt her. Not anymore," she responded bitterly, doing her best to hold her ground as she continued to let tears fall off her face. "She's not here and- and now you can't take her away to torture her or-or-or do any other bad things! It doesn't matter if what I did hurt me or her, she's safe now! Safe from you!"

"Are you sure I'm the one she should be safe from?" Reiko asked leisurely, placing her pointer finger under Lenny's chin and flicking it. "Who said I was going to do anything to her?"

"No, no you said you were going to hurt her," Lenny retorted, taking a step back, tears beginning to brim her eyes once again. "You said so!"

"But words are just that: words," she responded, a sharp smile on her face now. "Besides, I had to say something if I wanted you to get rid of Scout."

Realization dawning on her head like a rock fell from the sky, her breathing became shallow, her hands frantically weaving through her hair for consolation. "No... no! I can't believe you manipulated me like that! Like... like I was some game to you! You cost me Scout! Do you know what you did? To me?"

"I know exactly what I did," she responded, once again all up in her face. "And now I'm all you have left."

--

uhh yeah lmao sorry for the immense shortness??? I'm working on a sunshine related project that's been released already and it's a whole lot of work so really sorry!! didn't have a lot planned for this chapter anyways so that's on me but check my insta y'all it's a wild wild ride