𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐫 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘍𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯

What If...

2546 words

Eleanor stared down at her hands, remembering the feeling of the red liquid and the bruises that covered them that night. Memories from the fight resurfacing in her mind as the sun crept over the trees. Behind her were the two girls she'd spent the night with, and if they were anything like anyone she'd ever slept with, she would've ran. Ran as fast as possible out of the woods and never see them again, but they weren't, she didn't move. Instead stared at her fingers, then at the dirt beneath her, then at the tree she was leaning against. Silence, peaceful, neither of the other two awake just yet to disrupt her thoughts, or that's at least what she thought.

"You're up early." Nell froze slightly, peaking over her shoulder at Shelby and smiling. "Yeah, the sun woke me up, I couldn't sleep after that." Shelby nodded and stood up, silently walking over to sit beside Eleanor, the two so close their shoulders were just lightly touching. "How'd you sleep?" "As good as anyone can, laying on the dirt and all." Shelby lightly giggled, pushing her hair back and tying it. "About the fight, we all had in the woods that day, I never knew your home life was like that, Toni either. I shouldn't have said anything-" "It's fine Shelbs. Done and over with. My family is a mess and there isn't anything that anyone can do to change it. That's just how it is. I'm used to it." Eleanor looked over to Shelby, the expression on her face showing clear signs that the fight was eating away at her, the guilt of even talking about it all like that.

"Your mom..." "I don't live with her anymore. She's in jail, or something. We got into a fight, it was ruled self-defense because my sister was a witness. She was charged, and now I don't know. Being trapped on an island gets you out of the loop." Shelby nodded as she bit her lip looking deeper into the forest. "I'm sorry about thinking you were Ms. Perfect. I just thought... How could anyone like you have problems? You're everything I dreamed of being my entire life. Guess you can't be human without issues." Shelby nodded, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on top. "Yeah." They went into a comfortable silence both staring at a flock of birds that were chirping away on a large branch, singing out into the once quiet woods.

"Fuck." Both Shelby and Eleanor turned to see Toni pulling a branch from where she was once laying, throwing into the tree line while simultaneously rubbing her side. "Did you just get stabbed by a stick?" Shelby laughed, covering her mouth while Eleanor stared at her, waiting for her to answer the question. "Yes and it hurts like a motherfucker." Toni fell backwards onto the ground putting an arm over her face blocking the sun. "Slow starter?" "Don't even, I see how long it takes you to get up in the mornings." Eleanor laughed, glancing at Shelby to see her uncomfortably holding her cross necklace, twisting it in-between her fingertips.

"Hey, you okay?" Toni peaked out from her arms, both of them looking at Shelby who still held the necklace in her hand, putting back onto her chest and nodding. "I'm real good." "It's okay if you're not, you know." Toni spoke as she sat up, pulling her legs to her chest. Shelby scoffed, shaking her head and looking away. "If you're a little iffy.." "Oh my God, stop. Oh, God. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop." "Okay, you just got into the tornado-drill position. I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and... and say you're not full okay." "Tornado-drill position is only used in dire stress." Eleanor smiled, lightening the mood slightly along with Toni both watching Shelby shake it off.