Wolf Heart

Chapter 25

Planet: Eteran

First Insurgency War

JAMES

Salt dripped off his tongue as he spit into the bowl with what he had of his breakfast. His hand grasped for support, and found the rims as he choked and coughed. Rayan's presence furthered the fire in his stomach as he longed to rip out his throat and die. It crawled through his spine as he tried not to scream as Rayan came closer to kneel at his side.

No... James hovered over the bowl when it tightened and released in his chest. His hand found Rayan, but he found no strength to shove him out of his space.

"Easy," Rayan said, giving no reaction to his expulsion of disgusting innards. "Stop holding it in."

Wetness crawled down his cheeks while the salt swallowed his senses. Rayan inched too close, and James scowled when he rested a hand on his back to brush circles around it.

Honestly, if I choke to death that'd be nice.

James dipped closer into the bowl to hide himself as he tucked into it. It rippled into a calm before the next storm. He shook his head, and the tears overflowed and dripped down his nose as he wanted to shove his head into water. Rayan jolted and came closer instead of running away.

"James, my mom's coming here soon," he said with a panicked expression.

Just leave me here.

Rayan's hand never left his back when the agonizing minutes dragged him through the salty, bile-filled moment. He hissed through his tears as he refused to look Rayan in the eye even at his urging. Darkness fluttered into wormy cocoons around the edges of the world as another door opened, and a taller shape entered the bathroom.

"Mom." Rayan got out of the way, and took the warm support with him.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," Mrs. Falae said and wrapped her arms around him. "The storm got worse pretty quickly and I had to try and drive through some of the snow." Her hand wiped back his brow. "Rayan, can you pass me a towel?"

"Mrs. Falae..." James rasped, but it surged into his throat at his attempt to speak, to run from the situation he walked into.

Mrs. Falae grabbed the towel from Rayan's shaking hands and placed it on the ground beside her. James sniffed on tears as he rested his brow against the flat rim, unable to stifle his sobs.

"You're okay," Mrs. Falae reassured as she held him. "It'll stop."

He's not going to live this down — why here? Why'd he have to follow me? Why'd I stop?

It took several more minutes for Mrs. Falae to lift the towel to him, and he grabbed onto it to hide his face into the fabric. "Can you stand, James?" she asked.

He shook his head, and the bubbles in his chest frothed behind his teeth as he adjusted himself onto his knees, to pull himself past his weakness. Strong hands held his forearms and lifted him the rest of the way to his feet. Nudged over the sink, he twisted the faucets to clean out his mouth of the bile driving itself into his nose and past his lips.

Uncertain of everything, he followed the urging of a pair of hands after hiding in the towel again, up some steps which he peeked underneath the towel for, and into a dark room.

"Lie down," Mrs. Falae instructed. "I'm going to call your parents. Rayan, stay with him until I come back."

"Okay."