Bee and the Boy

Chapter 4

"You didn't mention he was half firefly." Marina leans towards me as she whispers into my ear. 

"Didn't I?" I snap my gaze back up to him. "What are you still doing here?" I give him a small shove. He takes a small step back in response.

"I had to make sure you're okay." 

I cross my arms as Marina circles around Skater in fascination, much to his confusion. "C'mon let's go." 

Marina steals one more look before she joins me in leaving.

"I hate him so much."

"I know a place we can go to take your mind off of things." She takes my hand. "C'mon." I follow her as she leads me down a dirt path. We run out of bounds from the circus until she stops in front of a large brick building.

"Library." she presents the building with a flourish of her hands. I smile at her before rushing through the doors.

~

"I always wanted to know more about the giant ones." I march down a narrow aisle of bookshelves.  "We learned some things about them in school, but I always felt like they were holding something back." I run my hand along the book spines as I read the titles until I stop. I take the book off the shelves and head for the tables.

I flip through the pages. As I continue to read, my fascination begins to fade.

"What is it?" Marina pipes in, noticing the change in my expression.

"All this time I looked up to them, that they were heroes. all they do is destroy things." I slam the book closed and run out of the library.

~

Marina walks up and sits down beside me. "You okay?"

"I fell in love with the mountains when my dads read me a fairy tale when I was little. That's why I started drawing, hoping one day we could see them for real. Now we never will. They're the reason my dads are dead."

"Let's do it. The two of us." Marina jumps up. "Let's go see the mountains."

"What?" I turn to her, wiping a tear away from my eye.

"Yeah." She pulls me to my feet. "Just us."

She loops her arm in mine. "Y'know, not all of them are murderers." She jokes as she nudges my shoulder. "Hell, I could be a bad person, you don't know."

"Ha, right." I smile weakly as we walk back.

~

Back at the library, I casually browse through the books to keep my mind off what I recently read as I watch Marina writing a letter under the dim light coming from the table lamp.

~

We make a pit stop at the post office, just across the street from the library before heading back for the circus. I wait outside as she mails her letter. I imagine who she could be writing to when I hear someone walking up.

"Thought I might find you here."

I turn around slowly. "I don't need you," I say to Skater.

"I know you don't.." He stops himself. 

I wait for him to finish, almost as if I forgive him. But then I remember how he lied to me. "Leave me alone." I turn my back to him.

"I just wanted to give you a little bit of hope."

"Hope?!" I shove him out of anger. I watch as he falls to the ground, as his eyes fill with despair.

"I'm.."

I clamp my hand over his mouth to prevent him from saying another word. He keeps his eyes on me as I look around him

Grabbing a rock, I pin him down on his back before he can attempt to get up. I grind the rock against his wings until they tear.

Realizing what I've done as soon as I've done it, I get up off him. Skater looks at me as his eyes start to water. "I'm sorry."

I slowly take a step towards him. He crawls backwards away from me. Covering my mouth with regret, I do nothing as he takes off down the road.