Adoration is beautiful, but fear is so much sweeter.
{sequel to Cherry Wine-read that first, or this will make 0 sense! will contain violence, mental health issues and adult themes. read at your own risk}
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"Can you do it, or do you need me to?"
"I can do it."
My hands shook as I began to undo the large buttons on the front of my dress. We were in the bathroom, the tub behind me filling with warm water. Every time I moved my hands, the blood on them cracked, tightening on my face as it dried. I had been almost directly behind Sokol when the bullet was fired, and the spray of his blood landed almost solely on me. If I had been standing, there was a good chance the bullet would have struck me, too.
I'd never seen someone killed before, let alone so sharply and without remorse. It was an execution. No doubt Sokol deserved it— but the image of the bullet leaving the back of his head was not one I would soon forget.
The final button on the dress was undone, and I let it fall off my shoulders in a puddle of ruined linen. Lex reached behind me to shut the water off. The bathroom went perilously silent. I made no move to undress further. Lex watched me for a long moment, eyes roving over my face.
Once we had gotten inside the cabin, the terror had subsided, and I stopped screaming at the slightest touch. Instead, the sight of the blood on my hands, the feeling of it arm in my hair, sent me reeling back inside myself. I retreated to the safe place in my head, the one that had kept me strong for so long. I went numb, unable even to cry. All I could do was stare the cold marble under my feet, and let my survival instinct take over.
