Clato: The Cost of a Broken Heart

Chapter 19

BRUTUS

Damn the boy. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be running. He wants me to check on the girl. He's flipping out about it. Wouldn't even go back to his own sister's funeral until I agreed. I promised I wouldn't care this time. Dammit. It would be so much easier to admit I care about these kids if Mirren were here so there was someone who cares about me.

I stop cursing Cato under my breath when the girl's house comes into view. Her door is wide open. Oh hell.

The door swings precariously on its hinges as I crash past it. Clove looks very small surrounded by a puddle of blood. She isn't breathing. Her little white wrists are slashed open all the way up to her elbows. She's curled into herself as if even now trying to keep anyone else from harming her. She's done a pretty good job of it herself.

There's a knife on the ground which I throw away. Before I can attempt to deal with the mess of a girl on the ground, I call Enobaria who in turn will get some medics. They'll be here soon to patch the girl up. On the ground, blood seeps through and stains my knees. These are new pants.

Pulling Clove into my lap, I check her for other injuries. There's nothing except the deep cuts in her arms. And the obvious broken pieces of her heart. This girl's been through too much and it's starting to show. I shake her and notice the shallow breaths coming from her nose.

"C'mon kiddo, wake up. I know you're still in there. I know you're still fighting." She stirs a little and gives a moan of pain. "You can do it. C'mon kiddo, c'mon." Why won't she wake up? For the first time I allow myself to let go of focused plans and worry about the girl. I don't know what I will do if she isn't okay. I don't know how I can possibly tell the boy.

"Clove," I say fiercely. "Clove." At the sound of her name her eyelids flutter open and closed and then back open again. I force her to meet my eye. "Why would you do this? What good could this possibly do? Do you have any idea how worried we all are about you?" I'm not totally sure where the concerned parental questions are coming from, only that Mirren would be glad I'm asking them. Clove sees her slashed wrists and starts to cry.

At first I think it's because she regrets hurting herself. It was just a single moment of weakness and maybe we can salvage her before life ruins my newest kiddo. Then Clove speaks with a raspy voice.

"How could you save me?" She cries, "I wanted to die. Why won't you just let me die?" Clove passes out again in a pool of her own blood and tears. And I know she's hoping to never wake up.

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A/N I have entered Clato: The Cost of a Broken Heart and Clato: Cuts Beneath the Surface into the 2015 Watty Awards!! Please vote, share and tweet about them! I'd be so honored to have your support! :)