Ferox

17.

Zach eventually woke up, squinting before he looked over at me and shrunk in on himself almost as though he was scared of me.

The thought of Zach being afraid of me made me smile weakly, he could probably crush me without a second thought yet here he was.

"Hey Zach" I said softly, "You okay?"

"No" he whispered hoarsely, "no I'm not Awsten I attacked someone, I hurt him! I-I'm a monster!" In the dim light I could see Zach's eyes were wet like he was ready to cry again. I slowly reached out for him and he flinched back.

"Don't" Zach said and I frowned,

"Why?"

"I could hurt you"

"Guess that's a risk we'll have to take" I whispered and gently touched his cheek, rubbing it with my thumb and I sighed as I could feel tears slowly slipping down, "Oh Zach...you aren't a monster"

"I am" he whispered, "I am...I-I hurt Alex"

"Monsters hurt good people for no reason, you hurt a bad person for good reason...you were defending your friends"

"And I'd fucking do it again" Zach growled through gritted teeth and I pinched his cheek carefully,

"Zach. No...not right now...please"

Zach's posture slumped and he leaned into my touch, closing his eyes.

"I feel like a monster all the time" Zach mumbled after a while, opening his eyes to look at me, "I...it's just the knowledge that I could lose it...hurt my friends...hurt you and I'd be powerless to stop it I just..."

"You don't have to tell me" I said softly, "you don't have to tell me...come on...".

I gently took his hands in mine, pulling him up and bringing him to the bed. Making him lay down and he looked up at me, whispering like he was scared I would hurt him for asking such a question,

"Will you stay with me tonight?"

I smiled a little, "Sure Zach" I said, crawling into bed beside him and he pressed his forehead against my chest. I rubbed his shoulders with one hand and pet his hair with the other, humming softly and soon Zach's raggedy breathing evened out and became steady, letting me know he'd fallen asleep and I soon joined him.