Psycho Mate

CHAPTER SEVEN

   Forest set her phone on the desk. She turned around, coming face to face with Nate.  He was staring curiously down at her.

  "What?" she asked, giving him a raised eyebrow.

  He looked her up and down, his gaze staying on her legs for a moment. "Who were you talking to?"

  "A friend of mine." Forest said, glaring up at him. "Why do you want to know?" She furrowed her brow.

  "Because I'm curious. I also want to know whose sweatshirt that is."

  "His," Forest said, as if it were obvious.

  "Whose?" he asked.

  "The friend I was talking to on the phone. He sent it to me in a box, while he was overseas. I have another one from my dad, but I can't really wear it anymore, because it's what I was wearing when the fire happened." Forest looked at the floor. "The doctor said I was lucky to have survived. A nurse said the sweatshirt was the only thing that kept me from getting burned worse."

  "That-that's horrible!" Nate exclaimed, reaching out to hug her.

  "You saw my scars didn't you?" Forest asked. She didn't fight him, although she seemed somewhat uncomfortable with him hugging her. She pressed her cheek against his chest.

  "All I saw was your bandages. I didn't know..." Nate trailed off, somewhat uncomfortably.

  "Don't!" Forest exclaimed.

  "Don't what?" Nate let go of her so he could see her face. 

  "Don't-just don't start the pitying looks and the 'I'm so sorry.' I hate it! That's why I kept wearing long sleeves. I didn't want anyone to see them, because then they would only see me for my scars and not for who I am." Forest glared up at him, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

  "Forest-" Nate started, only for her to cut him off.

  "Do you want to see my scars?" She gave him an odd look, which told him that he was a little too easy for her to read his thoughts and feelings.

  "Forest, are you sure-" Nate started but was cut off by Forest, once again.

  "Answer the question! Do you want to see my scars?!" Forest was starting to raise her voice slightly. They both knew he wanted to. They also both knew he would, eventually, say yes.

  "Yes, I want to see your scars but-" Nate went silent as Forest pulled the sweatshirt off, dropping it on the floor. His jaw dropped.

    He could see the bandages all over her torso and her arms. She even had them over her chest. She, surprisingly enough, wasn't wearing a pair of shorts under the sweatshirt. Forest slowly began to unwrap the bandages. Not long after that, Forest had taken all of them off, with the exception of the ones covering her chest and the ones on her wrist from the cut she had made on it.

  Nate's horror was hard for him to conceal, seeing the burn marks covering Forest's body. They had started to heal, but even then, they were horrible to look at. They looked extremely painful.

  The most severe burn was almost exactly in the center of her stomach. It came up right below her chest and was much bigger than the other burns. It looked extremely painful, and Nate realized how painful it actually was, when Forest winced in pain as he reached out to touch it.

  Nate pulled back immediately after touching it, shaking his hand to try to get the weird feeling out of it. "That's so weird!"  he exclaimed, looking at the burn in amazement.

  "I have one burn that ended up destroying half of one of my tattoos." Forest turned her back to Nate, pulling her hair up off her back. He could see a small pair of wings on her back, half covered by a burn.

  "That-that looks awesome!" Nate exclaimed, seeming very surprised.

  "Yeah, until the burn heals! Then it'll just look ridiculous. I wish that fire had never happened. It was my fault, anyways." 

    Forest laughed at herself. "I was always a little clumsy. That was almost my undoing. The power went out. We were lighting candles around the living room. Mom accidentally broke a glass she had had sitting on the table. I went to light the last candle and stepped on the glass, making me drop the match."

  She laughed a little. "You would not believe how quickly the house went up. The end of my hair got singed by the flames. I blacked out. I don't remember what happened after that. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed." 

  She giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. "They had to strap me down to the bed at one point. I didn't want to stay in it. I didn't know why, and I still don't know now, but I had the feeling that something horrible had happened and something important had been burned in the fire."

  "I hope you don't mind but..." Nate stepped closer to Forest and wrapped his arms around her. "I can't help myself. It was too tempting not to do so." He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I don't blame you for hating people's pity. Whenever people see my scars they always say they feel sorry for me. I hate it."

  "I know it's normal for them to feel bad for you but I don't like people's pity. It makes me feel as if they think I'm weak!" Forest exclaimed angrily.

  "I don't think you should hide your scars. I think your scars are what make you beautiful."

  "Really? You really think so?" Forest seemed very excited, almost hopeful.

  "Yes, I do!" Nate laughed at her. "Now you need to get some sleep. You have only had four hours of it, and I know everyone needs more than four hours of sleep."