For the Love of Robin Hood

Chapter 5 - William

I sat down on the bed, frustrated, wondering why Robin had never mentioned any of this.  I can understand that she’d want to seem stronger then she really is, but I thought she’d tell me something like that.

Stop it, Will, I told myself sternly.  It’s not like you’re dating her, and you’ve only known her for a few weeks.

And it’s not like I’ve told her everything either, she doesn’t know very much about who I am.  There’s not much to my life, being from a rich family didn’t make anything difficult for me.  But I think that’s what made me like this, what made me want to run away.  I never liked how my parents just never cared, and how easily things came to me.  I guess I found an escape in Robin.

And I found love.

I shook my head to clear it of those cluttered thoughts, hoping my heart would stop talking so loudly.  For the few weeks I’ve been here, she’s given no sign that she thinks of me in that way.  Other than the almost-kiss.

That stupid bird.

I’d like to throw a rock at it.

But what would happen if we did kiss?

Would things just be awkward?  Or would we actually go out and risk everything?  If we broke up that would ruin everything, and if we stayed together then we could make unnecessary risks to save the other.  What the hell are we supposed to do?

I paced the room, trying to come up with an answer that would assure everything would turn out okay, but the only thing I came up with was pushing down my feelings and go on the way things are.  I can’t let Robin get herself killed, let alone because of me.

After a few more minutes of pacing and thinking, I heard someone walking towards the cave.  I looked out to see Robin coming, so I hurried over to her bed and sat down, trying to look like I hadn’t been deep in thought this entire time.

And I really didn’t want to look suspicious from reading her journal.

She walked in and glanced at me before looking away and hanging up her cloak.

“Hey,” I said, just barely audible.

“Hey,” she said without looking at me.

“Wh-where’d you go?” I asked.

“I went into town,” she said, and when she saw the look I gave her, she let out a sigh. “I didn’t look like me, stupid.”

“Oh,” I said as she sat down beside me on the bed. “Well, good, I guess.”

“William,” she said, and I looked up. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Today, just as the sun was disappearing, everyone in town…they were burning books,” she said. “They were burning Robin Hood just because they think I’m a cold-hearted killer, a murderer that slit your throat and N-Nick’s.”

Her voice failed her when she said his name, undoubtedly still thinking that his death is all her fault.  I had never brought him up because of it, any time I would tell her a story where he came in, she fell silent, no sign of a smile on her face.  I learned not to say anything about him within the first couple days; I knew that she would never feel any different about his death.  It’s all her fault, that’s the only thing she’d ever think.  It’s the lie she’d repeat in her mind over and over and over again, all until she had forgotten his being altogether.  But that would never happen.  I know he’d always be an awful memory to her.

“None of that matters,” I tell her, laying my arm across her shoulder. “You just need to stay out of sight, make sure no one catches you.  We can’t risk Hellbound nabbing you.”