Don't Run

Michelle's Fists Taste Sweet

Alona stepped out of the shower. Staring absent mindedly at the floor as she dried herself off. Squeezing out her hair in a towel.

She slid her uniform on and buttoned up her shirt. Tapping her feet into her school shoes. When the door opened, Pat stood right behind it, startling her slightly.

"Michelle wants everyone to come to her house during lunch." The Cat didn't sound the least bit sorry anymore. She just looked at the rabbit with a pitiful and stupid expression. It was slightly infuriating to the Witch. What a sad and dumb cop out.

"Alright." Alona replied quietly. Walking past her and out the door. Shaking her head slightly. She made her way across campus and went through the day normally. Oddly not seeing the Boys at all. It was a Friday. Lucid surely would be lurking? Or maybe he felt too guilty about before? The Rabbit could only wonder.

It felt odd being back at the school after she revealed herself to the Polar Bear twins. Making people scared of her felt better then tricking them. But if she was outwardly violent like that all the time, they'd definitely lock her up.

As she was sitting in one of her classes, she finally saw Lucid in the window of the door. His eyes caught hers. He seemed different somehow, opening the door abruptly, walking in and grabbing her arm gently. She followed him silently. Looking at the ground as people turned to watch what was happening. The teacher looked puzzled. But Lucid wasn't someone you questioned. Even as a professor

They left quickly and he stopped in the empty hallway. Letting her go, his eyebrows knitted up in a frustrated expression. His eyes filled with something bittersweet. The wooden door was slowly shutting behind them, the sound of the metal bar sliding into its mechanism dragging out painfully slow, until it fully clattered shut against its frame. Isolating them from the room filled with people.

She looked so different to him. Not as frightfully flighty like usual. But resigned and broken. Just standing in front of him. Waiting to be taken advantage of. She wasn't surprised anymore. This wasn't new. And it drove that painful feeling even deeper into his chest. It stung, and he felt his fingertips go numb.

For a moment he looked like he was going to say something, but he shook his head and turned, holding out his hand. It wasn't demanding. Almost as if it were a question. But she wasn't naive enough to believe that.

She took it hesitantly and they walked through the building, out into the front and turning to the right. Walking into the now familiar woods. His prowling grounds. He took her deeper and deeper. Until she was slightly worried about his purpose. And then he shifted, sliding under a huge conflagration waiting to happen. A bush of dead bramble and vine. She got low. And crawled in. Pulling herself into his side, as he sat crescent shaped in the middle of the opening. Surrounded on all sides in a comforting enclosure.

She sighed and rubbed her face into his broad shoulder, curling up and laying on his big frame. His sturdy body covered in unbelievably soft fur. It tickled her cheek slightly. He also sighed, blasting the dirt from his settled maw. Side glancing at her. They sat like this for a while. Their chests rising and falling, a subtle wind whispering through the vines to them. He resumed his bi pedal form and hugged her back, burying his face into her hair.

It was way too late to be regretful. Too late to tell her what she already knew. She shook slightly, reminding him that even though she was used to it. It didn't make her any less scared. What could he do? What should he say. Was there anything he could even say that would make up for what he'd done? Of course not. Persistent and annoying was that ravenous feeling of possession. He wanted all of her. But the way he went about getting that was all out of order.

"I wish you hadn't run." He said quietly. And she suddenly froze. He nuzzled her shoulder affectionately.

"I wish I hadn't chased you." He said even more quietly. Biting it out bitterly. Alona knew he wouldn't change overnight or even at all. But this was genuinely shocking. His set ways didn't allow him to apologize just like the others. Yet in a roundabout way, he was saying he was wrong.