Venom

16: What Lurks Within A Heart

Only first timer's run when the opportunity strikes. It's frightening to know your life is in a terrible situation that you might never get out of, but taking the first chance doesn't always lead to freedom. Sometimes it might lead to something worse, and the only way to cope with your choice is to tell yourself that you had the bravery to try.

But you don't always need bravery, sometimes it's patience that leads to the best choices. Then again, doing nothing might be the undoing of the restless.

I would need a lot more than an opportunity to run, not to mention running in my case was literally pointless, but even if I did go, where would I? I hugged the pillow closer to my chest, glancing at the closet door. I didn't care if it seemed cowardly to hide in the closet.

There were dinosaurs in this damn house.

I buried my face back into the pillow and groaned. Of course, I was bonded to a dinosaur, not only that I somehow managed to bring the only pair to have roamed around into a defenseless dimension. Well, maybe not completely defenseless, but the people in my dimension had a much better chance of fighting them off if they all banded together. Bringing my fingers into my head I scratched at my head for no other reason to come up with a solution to something. What? I had no inkling to as of yet.

Then again, so what? What did them being dinosaurs have to do with me- besides the obvious- anyhow? As soon as I found a way to detach myself from Venom, that was it, they were no longer going to be my problem. Whatever chaos they caused would be on them. As I repeated this to myself, I tried to push away the heaviness that sat on my chest. While I was impressively qualified at being able to repress my emotions, my mind was a different task.

Immediately, I caught the error in my judgment. Even if I found myself somehow miraculously freed from Venom, I knew that he would not drift away. He had remained by my side, persistently so, for years. Bond or no bond, he would follow if nothing more to see what I would do. Where he went Viper would follow. I was no match against the two of them, any trouble they caused...I cut that thought off. They were reasonably well behaved. I think. I wasn't around much to be a trustworthy source, but there haven't been any monstrous sightings that I recall that might have anything to do with the two of them.

The more my mind shifted through the information I knew, the calmer my mind became, but that still left my emotions to be dealt with. I knew my shock would wear off eventually, the fear as always would remain, but all I had to do was ride it out. There were a couple of things I was curious about, but nothing I could bring myself to care enough to muster the will to ask. All I needed was to return home, and anything after that could be sorted, if not, it would no longer matter.

With so much going on within my mind, I wasn't surprised to note when the sound of life stirring outside about meet my ears, alerting me to the new day. I hadn't slept at all, but I didn't tired, my body was a bit uncomfortable from sitting on the floor the whole night in the same position, but that I could overlook. Standing up shakily, my muscles protested as blood rushed down, I leaned on the wall for a moment and hobbled to the bed where I let gravity work in my favor and landed face first. I did nothing to soften my landing and simply laid there. For a moment I wished to sink, but when nothing happened, I lifted my head and took a deep breath, placing my hands under my I faced down again, without restricting my airflow this time.

Laying there, I tried to clear my mind. I would have to go down eventually. He would be waiting, no doubt, golden eyes ever so vigilant to anything I wasn't heedful enough to hide. Sometimes it felt like we waited for any small space to pounce on to get closer to me, only to do something completely unexpected with the new leeway. I should have cut off this train of thought, not realizing where my thoughts would carry me, but I was so submerged within my mind and Venom that when the sudden image of his face a breath away from mine arose in my mind, I froze. More than intense, his piercing golden eyes stared at me in a fashion so jarringly that it took the very breath from my lips away.