Living Or Dying

Chapter Eighteen

"I'm an idiot an idiot an idiot an idiot..." Byern repeated again.

His head was starting to hurt from the constant thumping against his bedroom walls. Sherry had left to go to the mall with her mother, leaving Byern in a pit of emptiness to regret his text. Idiot, idiot, idiot rang for the umpteenth time in his head. He had long lost count of the number of times he had said it or how long he had been hitting his head. He was sure he had a concussion by now.

A faint knock at the door was barely heard over is own knocking. His mother opened the door slowly, taking a minute to watch her son's actions. Heaving her chest in a sigh, she stepped in and grabbed Byern's head.

"Do that anymore you'll get a nasty bruise." She shook her head.

Byern looked at his mother. And then the waterworks exploded. "I'M AN IDIOT!!!!!"

Falling forward, he grabbed at his mother's shirt, burying his face in it. The usual smells of ketchup and coffee enveloped him. The steady rising and falling of her chest brought back steadiness to his thoughts.

"Now child, tell my why you're calling yourself an idiot?"

Byern didn't open his mouth. Instead he brought his phone out. It didn't take him long to unlock it and show the texts to his mother. Trisha let out a long sigh, closing her eyes. She shook her head gently. It was all Byern could do to not cry out in shame.

"Byern...it's honestly not as bad as you think. You two have a wonderful friendship. Sherry even told me she wanted to give her child to us. That takes a lot of trust. She's a mother now, it should be impossible for her to do that. But She Trusts You."

Byern looked through his swimming sight. His mother held the gentlest look he had seen in a long while. He could hear his noisy breathing, and feel his chest heaving downward with each shake of his shoulders. He could only shake his head in reply.

"Sherry? What are you looking for?"

Sherry was looking intensely at a bookshelf. Something that she rarely did. Her mother only needed to glance at the genre listed above to know it wasn't the books Sherry was focused on.

"Sherry, if that boy is causing you pain, just leave him alone!" Pierrette sighed.

Sherry shook her head, if only hoping the blurriness in her eyes would be shaken away. "I can't maman; he's my only friend right now."

"What about that Elizabeth girl? Isn't she your friend?"

Sherry sighed. She turned around from the bookshelf and walked away. Her emotions were completely destroyed, shattered like the frail glass pieces they were. Sighing, she dropped her head towards the floor.

Bump. Sherry was thrown aside by the sheer mass of what she ran into. She rubbed her head, having hit a bookshelf. Blinking her blurriness away, she expected to see the other shelf had knocked her down. Instead she saw a massive hand.

"Gosh, I hope I didn't hurt you, miss. Are you okay?"

When Sherry's eyesight had returned completely she was taken back. The massive hand was attached to extremely built up arms, and a toned chest. The shoulders were wide enough to fill the entire walkway between the shelves. No wonder I ran into this guy...

"I'm fine, just... let me grab my crutches." Sherry grabbed one, the other had fallen to the other side of the walkway.

The giant noticed this, and turned to grab it for her. He almost knocked her back down with his sheer mass. Luckily Sherry was smart enough to realize what he was doing and duck.

"Thanks. What's your name?" Sherry asked.

At this the giant put one massive hand behind his boulder of a head. "Umm... My name's Beowulf. But you can just call me Wolf. And your name, miss?"

Sherry giggled. "My name is Sherry. It's very nice to meet you, Wolf." She stuck out a hand only to have it swallowed by Wolf's own hand. Sherry took a second to be surprised at this, but quickly waved it away.

"What are you doing at the mall, Wolf?"

"Eheheh... I just like to look at the books in the bookstore. And you, Sherry? What are you doing here?"

"Eugh. I'm kinda escaping from a friend right now. They said something really stupid."

Beowulf raised an eyebrow at this. Sherry could now clearly see his black irises. Before they had been covered by his very blond hair. "Want to walk around together then? It might take your mind off of this guy."

Sherry looked up on thought. "Sure! I just have to let my mom know. She's somewhere in this store."

Sherry pulled put her phone and quickly sent off the text. Beowulf stood silently at this, until a book caught his eye. He went over to it, pulled it out, and flipped through it. When Sherry looked up Beowulf was absorbed. She chuckled, and tucked her hair back.

"What book is that?" She asked.

"Mm. Dunno really, but it looks interesting. It's called Tsubasa Oni. It's about some demon brothers. Kinda peaked my interest."

"Who's it by?"

Beowulf shrugged. "I can't read the name. Some Asian chick."

Sherry laughed lightly, "And you say you're the one with the weird name."

Beowulf frowned, and retorted "At least I'm not named after an alcoholic beverage."

"Well excuse me!" She laughed. "My name is French, and it means loved one!"

Beowulf barked out a laugh. "Sure! That's what all girls believe, right?"

Sherry huffed, and turned around. She didn't wait for Beowulf to catch up as she left the store, but he did anyway.

A/N MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!