He's a hunter, I'm a monster

49 drops of blood

'Can I ask one more question?'
'What do you want to ask?'
'Why are you hiding these scars?'

I think about it for a few seconds.

'I will answer if I can ask you something as well.'
'Alright.. yea sure, you go first.'

I sigh.

'Okay.. I'm hiding these scars because they look intense and some you haven't ask about carry a.. well a painful story. I don't want people to ask me about it and remind me about these stories. I knew you would ask me about it so that's why I gave you two questions. Plus.. some people seem to think I've done it to myself,' I take a deep breath, 'Some people think I either have or had depression.. so I decided to just make it easy for myself and hide it.'

He doesn't respond.. he's probably taking all of it in.

'You really don't need to hide it for me.. yes I will asks questions,' he stops for a few seconds, 'but you can just ask me to stop and if you want.. I won't ask you about it again and will wait until you share it yourself.'

I really don't feel like responding.. well until I suddenly feel his heartbeat raising.

'Okay.' 'Okay?' 'Okay I won't hide them for you if you don't ask me about them,' I agree with him.

'What did you want to ask me?'

I don't need time to think about it, I already knew what I wanted to ask.

'Why is your cousin here?'
'I kind of knew you would use this deal against me and ask me that.'

He sighs and turns on the water again.. I guess to stop someone from eavesdropping. He sits down next to me and because I'm on a stool I'm higher up right now. We almost can't fit together in this shower. He lays his head down on my upper leg and let some of the water hit his face.

'It's my fault she got banned,' he starts nervously.

I lay my hands down on his chest, which causes him to look up in surprise.

'Calm down.. I'm not judging you,' I state with a soft smile.
'I always asked her to get me stuff I wasn't allowed to have.. it's how I got those banned books in the hideout,' he takes a deep breath, 'she got caught with banned books and well.. she got banned. It's all my fault Teddy.'
'How long ago did this happen?' I ask calmly and rub my hands up and down his chest slowly. 'Four years.' 'You were fifteen Josh! Let it go, you might have done something stupid but who doesn't make mistakes? She doesn't seem to hate it here.'

'That's not the point,' he whispers after a moment of silence.
'What is it?' He swallows deeply.
'Literally the whole family abandoned her.'

I look at his face.. his eyes are red, I feel his pain.. he's really upset about it.

'Don't cry.. come here.'

He lays his head against my chest and I wrap my arms around him.

'I shouldn't be crying.' 'It's fine.. really, just get it off your chest.'

He buries his face in my chest as I hold him close to me.

'At least you seem to feel better,' he mumbles against my skin.
'Yea.. it doesn't feel like my skin is on fire anymore.'

'I just feel so sorry for her.'
'I know.. but like I said, you should let it go. She doesn't seem to hate it here, it looks like she has friends. I know it doesn't feel right.. still you can't let this haunt you.. you were a kid.'
'What am I now? An older kid?'

A grin appears back on his face making me smile as well.

'An asshole who's secretly sweet,' I look at him, a smile appears on his face.. he's enjoying the fact that I called him sweet, time for me to ruined it, 'actually no.. you're a youngster in my culture.'
'And you're a fucking tease in every culture.'

I'm not losing this competition.

'Of course I'm a tease Josh.. you will get to full of yourself.' 'Is that so?' He asks with a smirk.

He sits down on my lap and looks me straight in the eyes.. intimidatingly hovering his head above mine. 'Yes.' 'And how will that happen?'
'If I give you what you want you will get the feeling you can manage everything.'

He snickers at my response.

'Josh!'

The stool underneath us falls over making us fall as well.

I close my eyes waiting until I hit the ground.. but it doesn't happen.

'You really thought I would just let you die on me?'
'Dying is a strong word Louise.'
'Well let the scenario play out if you're so sure about that.'

Well someone is salty.
I watch how we fall over and see how I would land weirdly on my neck. After that our bodies move back again.. this whole playing out scenarios is weird.

'You would have broken your neck, so be thankful I pulled you in.'
'Thanks.. happy?' I ask annoyed.
'Tsk.. why are you being hostile, I saved your life.' I roll with my eyes.
'It scared me alright.'

'

'You could try to make him hover in the air?' He suggests as I keep nervously walk around the bathroom.
'I never have been able to make a heavy object float let alone a body.'

I sigh I can't just pull him in either, he will still fall over.. he reacts differently than I do here. I stop in the moment.. he doesn't. I throw my hands in my hair.. it's all tangled up and wet.

'I guess you just need to try to catch him.' 'I don't think I will be able to just catch him up.. I'm not strong enough.' Louise laughs at me. 'I don't know figure it out.' 'You don't know it either do you?' 'Not really.. wait unless..'

I raise an eyebrow waiting for him to finish his sentence.

'Alright listen.. maybe if you somehow can get the stool to stand steady, like making sure it won't fall,' he's silence for a moment, 'and if you sit down making sure you're steady as well.. maybe it will work. Worst case scenario you bruise a rib when you catch him.'

I sigh.. the plan sounds confusing, probably because he didn't explain it well.. I understood it though.

I secured the stool with extra weight and sat down. I'm basically preparing myself. He will hurt me once he falls on me.. he will still fall over but hit me instead of the ground. I hope he has an impulse catching himself up at least a little bit.

'Look Teddy.. I don't think you will get away without a scratch.. but.. this would hurt you two the least. Or just let him fall and get yourself out without a scratch.' 'Yeah no.'

I focus and let myself enter the real time again.