Safe In Her Arms

Bruises

Narrator POV~

Cozette is in the last stall of the girls' restroom sitting on the cold floor trying to avoid the little puddle of mystery liquid on the floor.  She touched the bruise starting to form on her left cheek and whimpered louder.  

After the encounter with the brown-haired boy, he left Cozette with a punch to the face and a quick shove to make sure she knew that she wasn't anything without those hockey girls. Cozette walked to the bathroom crying while holding the cheek he punched now not caring about using the bathroom.

 It must have been hours if you asked Cozette but in reality, it couldn't be more than ten minutes of her crying on the bathroom floor when she heard the bathroom door open. She quickly tried to lower her cries and whimpers which resulted in hiccups. A moment later she heard the voice of Cy floating in the air calling her name in question. 

Cozette panicked a little quickly wiping the tears from her face and wincing when she accidentally touched her lips. She brought her fingers to her face and saw blood.

"Cozette?', looking up from her hands she sees Cy standing in front of the now open stall she was sitting in with a concerned look on her face. 

Cozette let out a whimper and looked back down at her hand with the blood still on it and felt tears falling down her face. She cried harder, making her body shake, and wrapped her arms around her legs trying to hide the bruise on her cheek and the no-doubt bloody lip she just found out about. 

After a while of Cozette hiccupping which she did five times she knows because she counted in her head. She felt a pair of arms engulf her shaking form and pull her towards the warm body of Cy. Cozette stiffened at the contact while Cy rubbed her back and lowered Cozette's head into the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

"Oh Cozette, what happened?", Cy said.

Cozette just cried harder. It took a few more minutes until Cozette finally relaxed in her arms. Her tears turned into sniffles and occasionally hiccups but not as severe as before. She can now hear Cy whispering reassuring words in her ear now that it was not being drowned out by her cries. Instinctually she moved her first finger and middle finger into her mouth and cuddled more into the warmth Cy provided. 

"Are you ok Bear?", Cy said now running her fingers through Cozette's hair with the softest voice Cozette had ever heard. Cozette nodded her head still in Cy's neck and fingers still in her mouth not wanting to move an inch of where she felt safe for the first time since she was four. 

Cy tried to move Cozette from her neck to check the bruise and her bloody lip, but Cozette wanted none of that. She wined around her fingers and tried to move away from the offended hands trying to move her away from her safe spot.

"Come on now Bear. Let me see your cheek."

After a few moments of Cy gently coaxing Cozette out of her hiding space, Cozette finally relented and let Cy pull her in front of her face. When Cy got a good look at her face, she brought her fingers to the bruise and lightly touched it. Cozette flinched back at the touch but didn't make a noise of complaint at the touch. After her attention to her cheek, she moved over to her lip where it thankfully already stopped bleeding and started to crust over. 

"It's not too bad. The bruise will probably be there for a few days and heal on its own without any ointment, but we should be safe and get some ointment on it anyway. Let it heal a little faster if anything and then get a band-aid for that lip of yours.", Cy said with a boop to Cozette's nose. Cozette responded by wrinkling her nose and smiling at her.

"Does it hurt anywhere else Bear?", Cy said already looking over Cozette's face and arms before she got the sentence out. When Cy swiped over Cozette's stomach she winced and flinched away.