The Broken Doll (Brahms x Reader)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Brahms crouches down and beckons me with his arm to draw nearer. We stealthily move over to another tree, not far from where we had laid the traps.

" Lay low," he whispers, " and try not to make too much noise," he adds.

As soon as he says that, a muffled high-pitched noise starts beeping from the back pocket of my jeans. Brahms' head whips in my direction. With a gloved index finger over the lips of his mask, he hushes me.

" Sorry," I apologize as I quickly take my phone out to silence it. As I do, I find out what all the beeping was from. Notifications for emails from a few days ago came flooding through.

I gasped out of relief knowing that I finally had reception.

" Did you know that there would be reception down here?" I asked Brahms.

He nods hesitantly in response.

" That would've been nice to know earlier," I say, " Why didn't you let me know?"

" I figured you might ring the police," Brahms pauses for a moment and then looks at me for confirmation.

" I wasn't going to call anyone or say anything," I reassure as I look back down at my phone.

Since I can only get reception this far out, I should take advantage of it. I made sure to read all the emails my professor sent. He had been wondering why I haven't submitted an update on my documentary. As I was writing an email back, I felt Brahms' eyes peering over my shoulder. Reading every word I write out.

"Hello Professor,

I am sorry for responding back so late. I had not been able to reach you due to my location's poor reception. The documentary on the Heelshire's is coming along just fine."

I hit send, not knowing what else to say. As I put my phone away, my ears pick up the sound of rustling. Perhaps an animal is nearby. I turn my attention to Brahms who must have heard it too. He ducks down low, eyes squinted as he searches for movement in the tall grass.

" See anything?" I whisper.

Brahms nods, " Over there," he points.

I follow his finger over to an area between some pine trees.

It takes me awhile to find the animal since its fur blended in with the grass and soil around it. At first, all I saw was a brown blob. But as the animal moves into another position, I notice the long pointed ears and puffy tail.

Brahms' POV:

The rabbit props itself on its hind legs, black eyes staring in more directions than we humans can. It stands only a few feet from the traps, hypervigilant. At the loud cracking of thunder and sudden downpour of rain, the rabbit moves frantically, landing perfectly into it's own demise as the teeth of the trap snap shut onto it's feet. The rabbit shakes compulsively with it's squeals being drowned out by the noises of the storm. I hurry over to its side to end its suffering but, before I do, I turn around to warn Y/n. I see that she had already turned her back to me and I could just picture the look on her face. Either that of disgust or sadness... Perhaps a mix of both.

My hands wrap around the neck of the rabbit and with a quick snap, it's finally put to rest. I had practically became immune to this since I've done it more times than I can count on my fingers and toes combined.

I quickly release tonight's dinner from the trap and run back to Y/n.

She turns around to face me with saddened eyes as she catches a glimpse at the dead rabbit in my hand. Her lips dip into a pout and with the rain, it was difficult to tell whether she was crying or not.