KILL YOUR DARLINGS ✸ Saltburn

𝒙𝒙. opposing factor

𖤐 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑾𝑬𝑵𝑻𝒀:
╰┈➤ opposing factor ༉‧₊˚.

THE LONG DAY SHE SO DESPERATELY wished to over, was finally over.

She had her pair of heels in hand and was finally on her way to the bedroom after not being in it since the time she woke up, which was unusual.

She walked down the familiar hallway and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

However, unfortunately for her, there was a sound of glass breaking, and it just so happened to come from behind the bathroom door, which she was now standing in front of.

She heard a groan of sharp pain coming from the other side of the white door, and although all Meredith wanted to do was plop into bed, she knew her conscience wasn't going to allow her to leave this alone.

With a subtle knock, she waited at the door.

"Someone's in here." Oliver's gruff voice calls back.

Worry washes over Meredith and she feared that he's hurt himself. Slowly, she opens the door. "I'm coming in."

She opens the door to the small room and peeks her head through, where she could see Oliver's hand oozing out blood and the mirror in front of him shattered.

It doesn't take the girl long to put two and two together. Oliver has taken his rage out on this mirror, and now his hand suffers the consequences.

The blood seeping from his hand begins to drip onto the floor as Oliver looks up at Meredith was his jaw clenched. The empathetic side of Meredith forces her to let out a sigh at the sight.

Without saying another word, she kneeled down and opened the cabinet under the sink. She grasped onto the bin with first aid supplies and set it on the sink's counter, using it as leverage to pull herself up.

"Have a seat," Meredith said blankly, yet with soft gentleness.

Oliver's confusion didn't last long until she meant for him to sit on the toilet seat.

Rummaging through the bin, she pulls out a bandage wrap, rubbing alcohol wipes, and cotton swabs.

First, she takes off the blood-soaked cloth wrapped around his fist and sets it in the sink.

"This is going to sting," Meredith warns, readying the wipes of rubbing alcohol.

Oliver nodded, readying himself but clearly, it wasn't enough because when the damp wipes hit the cuts of his hand, his entire arm flexed.

Although his movements were ragged and sharp, Meredith's were gentle and concentrated.

There'd been a subtle furrowing of the girl's brows and even her lips have begun to downturn into what appears to be a small frown.

Just the mere look of concentration on Meredith's face alone was enough to ease all pain. He was focused on her and only her and didn't bat an eye.

"How are you so good at this?" He asks after minutes of silence, voice barely above a whisper but his accent remains thick.

Meredith gave the boy a sad smile with a shrug, barely even sparing him a flick of a glance. "My father was never a very nice man."

The sentence alone explained to Oliver why she stayed here for the summer and for Holiday breaks, but he just couldn't grasp that someone so good-hearted and kind like Meredith grew up like... that.

"It's why I come here for the summer," she says softly, beginning to wrap the bandage roll around his clean-cut fist.

He shakes his head, his own brows knitting together with thought. "I wouldn't have guessed that."

He admits, and Meredith almost smiles. "Yeah? Why not?"

He gave a simple shrug. "You're so good, I figured you'd grown up with a perfect life."

Meredith finally meet his gaze, giving his hand a squeeze as she finishes him up. "Just trying to be what they're not."

They is her parents. And Oliver knows that. And it makes him think.

"Bad things happen to good people, Ol." She confesses with a sad, apologetic sigh.

Oliver doesn't say anything, but his eyes do. They say ten different apologies in ten different languages.

But, taking Meredith by immense surprise, Oliver kisses her.

He kisses her and this time she kisses him back—for a millisecond before realizing just how wrong this was.

She pulled away and her hand flew to her lips, touching them like they were some weapon.

"You should go to bed. Long day tomorrow." She says, antsy and panicked. And she storms out.