Married to a firefly • Completed

(17) Frail creatures

Levi

Poppy had taken off to the nurses office to get a bandaid for her knees. I rolled my eyes. Girls. Frail creatures, all of them.

I hurried up when I heard noises down the hall. The hallway was full of students talking and taking pictures. I couldn't even see what they were so amazed about until I heard Parker yelling.

"I suggest you leave her alone. Poppy doesn't deserve this crap you've been giving her for the last couple of years."

Poppy. He was talking about Poppy taking crap from Mick. My heart rate picked up and my vision went blurry around the edges. What the fuck was he talking about?

I pushed through the students gathering around Mick and Parker.
"What's this all about?" I demanded to know.

Mick huffed and pointed to Parker. "This little pussy here is defending that firebomb as if he were her sugar daddy."

And with that my patience was lost. I heard a loud snap as soon as my fist connected with Mick's nose. He winced and blood shot straight out of his nose.

"You little prick better watch your mouth" I whisper-hissed.

"What is wrong with you people? Got your brain cells fried during summer break?" Mick muttered.

"The firebomb you're harassing is my wife." The hallway went silent except for a few gasps. "I won't let anybody talk about her like that."

"Hell. How did that happen?"

"That's none of your business.
"
"Come on, bro. How did someone like her manage to trap you into marriage? Did she guilt-trip you with crying how she's alone in the world or anything? I didn't know you had a soft spot for unattractive women."

"Watch it, asshole. One more word and I'll kill you."

Mick raised his hands in an innocent gesture. "Sorry. Apparently she's gotten you turned into a softie real quick."

Before I could throw another punch, Parker grabbed my arm and dragged me away.

"Damn", I heard a girl whisper. "Him defending her like that was so hot. He must be so in love with her."

"Would have saved her quite some trouble if he'd married her like two years ago."

In love. Saved her trouble. I couldn't get the whispers out of my head. Two years... What did that mean? When we reached my car, I finally remembered to breathe.

"Fuck!" I yelled, letting all my frustration out.

"Listen, Levi, you need to calm down."

"I'll calm down when I feel like it. Now tell me what happened."

"Yeah, that's part of the problem. I can't tell you everything you want to know, knowing you'll storm in there skinning alive everyone who ever laid a hand on her."

"Laid a hand on her?" I asked disbelievingly. What do you mean by that?"

"I was figuratively speaking."

"Are you lying to me? I heard a scream that sounded oddly like her voice."

Parker had the decency to blush and look down. "You're right. It was her."

Rage built inside me again. I swear I heard the blood rushing through my body. "What happened?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"She came in with scratched knees. The girls were giggling like the stupid idiots they are. Mick said, he'd pushed her away from his car before she could do any harm to it."

She had told me she had tripped over her own feet. Why would she lie?
I forced myself to take a deep breath. "Go on."

"She apparently went to her locker and came down the hall. Mick and the girls saw her. They were making cruel jokes."

"What did they say?"

"I'm not sure, you want to know..."

"Spill it."

"Jessica said, she'd heard, that Poppy burnt the house down. Olivia joined in saying, she always knew nobody ever wanted to be with her. Mick told her...Listen, Levi, you don't need to hear this."

"I do", I growled.

"Fine. He said, her parents had rather died in that fire than spend the rest of their lives in her company."

My vision went blurry again and I felt myself starting to shake from all the anger flowing through me. "What the fuck!"

"I told you you wouldn't like it."

"That motherfucker. I'll kill him. Is that the reason she cried out?"

"No. I believe Poppy called Mick a bastard under her breath, but Jessica must have heard. She shoved her against the lockers and her books fell down. She was about to pick them up, when Mick grabbed her arm and yanked her back up, telling her to look Jessica in the eyes when..."

He was cut down by the ambulance racing towards the school back entrance. The schools back door opened and the nurse ushered a girl towards the ambulance. She wore a dark tank top and shorts. They were to far away to make out any facial features but he could see that the girls arm was sporting a bandage that had red spots on it. He turned back around, since he couldn't make out the face from the distance. Parker seemed to have paled.

"Why did they call an ambulance?" Parker started walking towards the ambulance with long strides.

"I don't even know who that is."
Parker looked at me. "Didn't you recognize your own wife? It's Poppy, for Christ's sake."

All the blood drained from my face. Damn. I started running towards the ambulance but they were already closing the doors. I came to a stop in front of nurse Andrea.

"What happened to her?" I barked, well aware that this was not my nicest voice, but not giving a single crap.

"And I should give you sensitive information, because...?" she snapped, her cool eyes focused on me.

"Because she's my wife."

Her eyes widened. "Sorry, I wasn't aware of that. She tripped and somebody tried to catch her. The skin on her arm probably ripped open again. We don't know yet. I've never worked with severe burns. That's why I decided to let her get checked up in the hospital. Since she's your wife I guess it'll be alright if you left to meet her there."

The skin of her arm? Severe burns? I felt myself getting sick. How could I have not known? She had gone inside that burning house to rescue her baby sister. How could I have not known she had gotten burnt while saving that precious life? Instead I had mocked her why she was wearing long sleeves all summer and hadn't taken time to jump in the pool once. I was such an idiot.

The truth finally began to sink in and it hurt like hell. I turned away and puked my guts out.