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ELLIE'S FINGER TRACED the discolored line across Hayden's abdomen as goosebumps rose across her skin. "How'd ya get this?"
Hayden took a shaky breath, feeling the linen couch against her bare skin. "It was ..." She paused, thinking of the best way to tell her. "It was from my Dad."
Ellie didn't pull away or even flinch. Instead, she kept her fingers gliding up and down Hayden's skin. "He hurt you?"
Hayden felt a lump form in her throat. She hadn't spoken about the incident involving the death of her parents in so long. The last time she physically spoke of the event, Jesse was right there with open arms. She tried to push down the tsunami of torturous reminiscence. "It's complicated."
"If you want to talk about it," Ellie finally rested her hands. "I'll listen."
"Uh, well my mom had a runner on top of her." Hayden turned around to face Ellie. "I had just come back from getting water and I saw my Dad standing there, watching her try to fight it off. So I ran over there and killed the thing, but ..."
Ellie kept her attentive gaze on Hayden, her face falling slightly at the words.
"She was bit." Hayden let out. "And my Dad didn't save her when he could've, so after I made sure my mom didn't turn, I got angry. We got into a fight and I killed him."
Ellie reached out her hand and laid it on Hayden's upper arm. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not." Hayden admitted. "He was a horrible person and maybe I am too, but —"
"Hayden, you're not horrible."
"I took the lives of the people who gave me mine." The lump only swelled and it took a tremendous amount of effort to speak around it. "How could I not be horrible?"
Ellie reached out her hand and pushed a gold strand of hair behind the girl's ear. "It's not that simple."
Nothing was said for a moment.
It's not that simple.
The words absorbed into Hayden just to fizzle out into the chasm that sat inside of her. Every time she opened up to someone it got bigger and bigger; it was only a matter of time before it swallowed her whole.
Saving Hayden from her thoughts, Ellie shifted and held out her tattooed arm. "The chemical burn," She touched the bumpy skin. "I did it myself."
"Why?" Hayden asked softly.
"Uh..." Ellie took a second. "To cover a bite mark." She rubbed the spot on her arm once more. "Right here."
